Dec. 17, 2005

Recap |  Box Score

Head Coach Brad Soderberg

"It's weird how 'guaranteed games' are never guarantees. As hard as the coaching staff can try to prep their players on how hard its going to be, how good a team is despite the fact they don't really have a name that is recognizable, I think it's human nature for players to not fully grasp how hard it's going to be.

"I think this is the first time we've been 3-0 in `guaranteed' games since I've been here. It's so hard to fully get energized for it. We weren't near the emotional level as we were for the North Carolina game for example. How do you duplicate that? How do convince your players they need to play at that same adrenaline level? They try do, they want to, but it is hard to get that going. I'm really proud of my guys because they didn't drop their heads at halftime, they were confident and kept plugging and defending. Eventually, things started going well.

"Kennesaw State is used to winning basketball games. Coach Ingle's average record is 23-9 during his five years at Kennesaw State. They are not going to go away, and it is not going to be easy. So, at halftime, I just told the guys you might be surprised, but I'm not. I knew this was going to be hard, and it was. My only two disappointments was at half we had nine turnovers, and Vouyoukas only had two shots. Once we cleaned that up - we had five turnovers in the second half and Vouyoukas got eight shots - everything got better.

"We couldn't or wouldn't get the ball to Ian. Since we weren't getting close shots and we were missing medium and deep shots, everybody gets tight. But it was a phenomenal defensive effort in the first half. I'm not disappointed, particularly because of the way we bounced back in the second half.

On Kevin Lisch. "He is a heck of a ball player. He works as hard as any kid I've been around. I gave him a big challenge to defend a player who averages around 20 points a game. He really had him locked up until he made three threes late in the game. Kevin did a real phenomenal job.

On Tommie Liddell. He doesn't try to do things he can't do. He is a gifted athlete and has a good knack for scoring around the rim. It was another quality performance for him.

Freshman guard Kevin Lisch

"We really played some good defense and that is what kept us in the game. Like coach told us at halftime, the offense will eventually come and it did come in the second half. We really weren't worried, we just wanted to keep that defensive intensity up, that is what carried us.

On his first collegiate start. I really wasn't anxious at all. I've been starting my whole life since probably the first grade. I think it's a bigger adjustment for me to come off the bench. I feel good with whatever the personnel needs are at the time, it doesn't matter to me whether I start or come off the bench.