We're going in there for a dogfight because we know those guys are going to be ready to play.

Our goal is to come out and play hard for 48 minutes. We were a little star-struck coming out. Then, we realized they put their pads on like we do, and we came out and made a game of it, ... My first comment to them at halftime was, 'did everybody get an autograph.'

Me and Paul (Davis) and Shannon (Brown) have to play at another whole different level to where we can make up for the youngsters. (Tennessee Tech) got a lot of second-chance points (in the first half). We turned the ball over too much and they got a lot of easy baskets.

I'm going to start watching his minutes anyway. But I'm not going to try and play him 48 minutes (Wednesday). I'm going to be very aware of his back problem.

We always talk about bending but not break. Tonight, we gave up that touchdown, but we stuck with it. They didn't score again after halftime, so the guys held them down.

I loved it. With those guys traveling so far, we didn't want them getting home at two or three in the morning. So, we just decided to make a day of it ... feed them, eat and have a good time.