I was as proud of these guys as I was any team I've coached. We got down early and they battled back.

I'm hoping that last year's success helps us and that the kids enjoy the coaching with the staff we have.

We went into the game with that attitude (Monday) at practice. I told them there were two things we can accomplish. For one, get back to .500 -- it sounds better -- and knock a team out of first place.

You're not going to beat anyone shooting the ball like that or rebounding like that.

They do a lot of good things. They're quick, they're big and they can shoot the ball really well. Our big key is how we shoot the ball.

Coaches are never satisfied. The overall grade of the game was an 'A,' but finishing at the basket was a 'C-plus' and our rebounding was about a 'C-plus/B-minus,' but in the overall context we played a really good game.