Our defense fell apart for one quarter, but after that, we played them pretty even. If we had played all four quarters like we did the first, we would have been fine.

If we play good defense, by the end of the year, we'll be a pretty good team.

Last year was tough because we graduated so many guys in 2004. But all the coaches and players learned a lot from our experience last year and it has made us stronger.

We had a good effort and we played hard. I thought we played pretty good defense against them. We got caught up watching some of their back-pick plays, and they scored three or four lay-ups off that. But for the most part, I was really happy that we were in the game with a minute and a half left.

Both teams predicate what they do on defense. They (both) are pretty demanding in that sense.

They're usually a pretty good free-throw team. That's what it came down to, they played great defense.