Dave Leitao Quotations

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What he is doing this season, I think all of us - players, coaches and media - should really savor. He's having a season for the ages. ... We all need to sit back and admire it because it won't happen for a long time after this.

Obviously, the game got away from us a little bit early. I think we talked about it for a few days in preparation that the first five to 10 minutes of the game were going to be the most critical, because that's when you have the opportunity to keep them (Duke) back on their heels and establish in your mind and in their mind that you're here to play. And we did not do that.

Because we're not whole as a group, sometimes we have to be a little bit like a chameleon and change on the fly.

Because we're new to this whole thing and relatively inexperienced in dealing with everything that comes in front of us, it's equally as challenging to bring a team back from a victory and an important victory as it is from defeat. So we've got to continue to challenge our guys in that way to remain focused and understand the job at hand.

For the third game in a row I thought we played with some mental focus and toughness. There were certain spots in the game when the ebb and flow could have gone one way or another, and we responded well. For example, in the second half we rebounded much better than we did earlier on.

He is being evaluated. He fell on his head and hit it pretty good.

He's been playing full tilt in practice for about a week now. But obviously, games are the best place to get back. Today did a lot, not only for us, but for his self confidence and my confidence in him.

He's having not only a career, but particularly this season, a year for the ages. I've watched it, I've studied it on film and now I've seen it in person.

He's having a career, particularly this season, for the ages. I've watched it, I studied it on film, and now I saw it in person. ... He really knows this game of basketball.

He's got some intestinal fortitude, which I don't know if I've ever seen before. Almost as if he has the mentality of a boxer or a football player.

I think what he is doing this season, I think all of us, players, coaches and media in particular, should really savor. Because he's having not only a career, but particularly this season, for the ages.

We didn't box out. I don't remember seeing somebody saying, 'That was a heck of a box out.' We didn't go after it. We were the less aggressive team on the backboards today.

We're trying to just continue to build off the last two games. It's equally challenging to bring a team back from a victory, an important victory, as it is from a defeat. We need to continue to challenge our guys to remain focused and understand the job at hand.

There are key moments in the first four of five minutes of a game where you can tell a little about the tone of the game. They got a couple loose balls and a couple of offensive rebounds, and we were a step slow. Anytime a team gets into foul trouble is usually an indicator that a team is a step slow.

We've got to do a better job of getting those guys a couple of looks during the game down low. Hopefully they'll learn from the experience.

This was a very good win for the guys and the growth of our team. We hung tough through a lot of different things.

What people ultimately start doing is they start committing more people to them.

Is he a long-term answer? I don't know. But somewhere along the line, we're going to need him to do things like that.

That's what you want a guy to do. He cares a lot about this. It means a lot to him. When he hasn't done something well, he's been able to respond positively.

There were some key moments in the first four or five minutes when they got to a couple of loose balls or got some offensive rebounds when you could see we were a step slow.

It's a little bit of a touchy subject; if perimeter players have a better chance of making a shot, getting them to pass it up.

I'm saying the same things I was earlier in the year. I just think now they're understanding it more.

In the beginning stages, (we need) wins like this to legitimize what I yell and scream about at practice every day. I'm proud of the way we toughed it out.

If he feels better, we'll take the next step. ... You've got to be very careful.

The game got away from us very early. We had talked about how the first five to ten minutes of the game would be critical because that is when you have the opportunity to not only keep all the outside factors out of the game, but also to get them back on their heels -? to establish in your mind and their mind that we are here to play. Obviously, we did not do that.