Dan Fitzgerald
- He was hearing Tony Smith yell at him to "shoot" in his head
- The extra pass is always the better shot.
- Fitz was excited to play some point after playing there a lot last year. Blackledge did a good job of defense. He gives the team some spark. DJ, JM, and WM always give that, Blackledge brings that to the team too. He's a great player and great kid, just needs to bring energy every night - he has the skills.
- McNeal has emerged as a great leader, he always brings a lot of energy.
- Lott lives close to Fitz, so they'll carpool and are excited to get some time at home.
Tom Crean
- 54 deflections, Jerel had 11. Marquette won the hustle game (points in the paint, fast break points, ect).
- Cubillan has a foot injury going for a loose ball. Doctors cleared him to play, but needs a little rehab time, but Crean decided to start him in the second half.
- Extra pass is really crucial. Not a lot of players can make challenged shots. The extra pass creates a lot of open shots. Very important for the team. Offense was solid, but not great.
- Easy to get ball in the middle and to the FT line tonight. Need to make some more dribble penetration though. Tried a lot of different lineups, so the team wasn't as smooth, but they played through that.
- Blackledge is somebody they'd like to see become part of the rotation.
- McNeal being 7-8 FTs is great. 81% for the team is "strong", and hope people talk about this as much as the games where they missed a bunch. Jerel is doing great at playing his pace, and reading the game. He wants to get better. He's a dominant player in practice, and it's going into the games now too.
- MU played with 4 possible PGs at one point, and they didn't get a lot of rebounds, but it's great that you can do that. At the end of the game they went with 4 big guys.
- Matthews will be a very good player - getting better all the time.
- The break is much needed. They've had some short practices lately - Crean trying to read the team. DW said TC was getting "soft". One more game before the conference, and a dogfight every night.