Recap |
Box Score
Saint Louis Head Coach Brad Soderberg
"What was different tonight from the North Carolina and Gonzaga game is that we stopped them relatively well with our base defense, which is a man-to-man, so that was encouraging. The bottom line is that we didn't make shots. When you shoot 15 percent from the three-point line in a game where your opponent basically stays in a two-three zone in the second half - which was great coaching - that was the obvious thing to do because we haven't proven we can make the three-point shot, especially since Drejaj is not in the lineup. I actually think we played better defensively tonight than we did at North Carolina. It's disappointing that we played as well as we did defensively and yet we had a 10 point loss."
"It's no secret, we are either going to solve the zone (defense), or we are going to see zones the rest of the year. Until Anthony (Drejaj) comes back, we've got to find somebody to throw it in from the three-point line, because we can't keep cramming it down people's throats with Vouyoukas. Ian is taking a beating down there, but continues to produce. Another double-double for him tonight, but we got to have some guys make some shots from the three-point line."
"I'm pretty sure the issue the rest of year is going to be if we can make shots when teams play zone. That is what it is going to boil down to. I know Kevin (Lisch) is a better shooter than what he showed tonight, and Dwayne (Polk) is definitely a better shooter than what his numbers are."
"We are not quite a complete team yet. We are very good in some areas, tonight we really defended and rebounded. We added the inside scoring presence. But right now the perimeter shots going down is the part we are incomplete on."
Iowa Head Coach Steve Alford
"I'm really pleased with our guy's effort. We knew it was going to be a tough game. Their only (home) loss was to Gonzaga and that was only a one possession game. Brad (Soderberg) always has his teams ready to play. I thought they were really well prepared and they really battled. They are going through kind of what we went through the past few weeks without Jeff (Horner) with (Anthony) Drejaj being out. I think this will be a team that will do a lot of good things in the Atlantic 10."
"We needed to get us a win. We have a very difficult task ahead of us, starting the Big Ten at Wisconsin and then coming back home against Illinois. We needed to have momentum. To get 11 wins, plus a road win, plus some really key non-conference wins, I'm pretty pleased through 14 games. We have had some obstacles we have had to get though, and our leaders of done a terrific job."
"Our bench came up big tonight, we thought we were a little bit deeper than they were. Our bench did give us a big spark in particular when they got out to a big lead."
Saint Louis freshman guard Tommie Liddell
"As a young team, we need to learn to make baskets down the stretch. We were having good shots, unfortunately they weren't falling, and it just went downhill from there. We played some pretty good defense, but big teams are making big shots against us."
(On how the team feels heading into conference season...) "We feel pretty good actually. We want to show the A-10 we are way better than (the preseason projection of) 13 of 14 teams. I think going into conference we are going to surprise a lot of people."
"The teams in the A-10 are going to be looking for us know that they see us playing tough competition and we're right there. We just can't get over that hump. But as the season goes on I think we will find ways to win down the stretch."
