USF Men's Basketball
USF vs. Hampton
Dec. 2, 2009
Postgame Quotes
USF Head Coach Stan Heath
On the game with Hampton...“I really liked the way we started off the game today, we defended, we shared the ball very well and we got up to 25 and I think we let up our guard a little bit and lost a little bit of focus and didn't finish the half necessarily as well as I would have liked. I thought the second half we picked it up, we didn't turn it over very much, we started sharing again, I always like looking at assists and turnovers, seeing 20 and 10, these are very valuable stats that shows us being unselfish when sharing the ball. This time of year it's easy to lose your focus and so I was really happy we were able to get the win and play some guys, it wasn't as smooth as I like but still solid.”
On the balanced scoring effort tonight…“No, and you need to have balance this is a good team that doesn't lack when its one or two guys all the time you get to see a guy like Toarlyn coming in getting double figures and then
Chris Howard who is playing some of his best ball games right now, he's climbing the ladder with some of the best guys in our history, he kind of set the tone, I always love seeing four or five guys in the double figures.”
On the BIG EAST schedule coming up…“This is what I talked about at the end of the game with the team, I think we were a Big East team tonight for about 30 minutes and I guess that's one of the challenges that's playing the game the right way you're not necessarily looking at the jersey and that's where we have to get, I do think our team is smart enough to have enough experience that they saw somebody with the Big East across it they would be smiling different, this wasn't necessarily one of those nights where we played the full forty minutes.”
Hampton Head Coach Edward Joyner Jr.
On playing a team like USF...“They outplayed us; they beat us up. When you have a team that size and that stature from the guards on down, you know, they did what they should have done. They were prepared for our zone, they hit the three point shot, but that's what we try to make you do so we don't mind. In some instances, we don't mind if you hit that. We're really daring you to take that. But, they made some shots and then once their shots didn't fall they did the right thing. They went inside. Their big guys produced. And if they didn't make the shot they got the rebound, so consequently, and we got a team that if we don't make shots you know it's pretty hard for us to stay in games with teams of this stature. You know teams in our league and other places I think we can have some down nights shooting and we can still be in the ball game but not against a Big East team. Or at least not this Big East team.”
On being down early...“And I think part of it is, this is the first game we kind of played in the bright lights I guess. You know, and then having the added pressure of for what happened with Theo and things like that. I think maybe they came out trying to play in some parts too hard but in other parts not hard enough. And then trying to find a balance in between that. When South Florida started out, I think that first stat sheet I got was 6 for 7. You know, it gets hard then. And then you begin to doubt yourself and doubt what you're doing. And then you have to fight your way back in it.”
USF F Toarlyn Fitzpatrick
On adjusting to the college game...
“I am getting more accustomed with what to do and what not to do. Coach always preaches to set our screens, so a lot of times I am out there to get other guys open. A lot of the time I get open right under the basket, and that is where I score a lot of my points.”
On his role as a freshman...“I definitely try and let the game come to me. I am a freshman, and I have accepted the role of the guy who comes in with fresh legs and a lot of energy on the glass.”
