It kind of just typifies our whole year, having to scratch and claw through it all. It's not always easy. We were playing the number five or six team in the country and we knew it was going to be tough, so I'm proud of the way our guys did compete.

Of course, you always want to be No. 1. We had to scratch and claw our way back, and anything was possible.

I've never seen it like this. Never . . . You've got to scratch for everything you get here. Claw. Bite. And it's going to come right down to the end. We know that. No nights off. There's no room for error.

He's arguably the best there is. Against him, you've got to scratch and claw the best you can.

We understand we have to scratch and claw our way to every one of these victories down the stretch. It feels real good to know that we're still in the hunt. We feel we're absolutely a playoff-caliber team, even though we're a young team. And we know we have to go out there and prove that.

This is not going to be an easy year,