USF Head Coach Stan Heath

On the game...
“I give Notre Dame a lot of credit.  After a big win like against Louisville some teams fall into the trap of a let down game after that but they came out and played well.  They jumped on us early and made it tough for us, playing in a hole.  I give them a lot of credit.”

On the drought in the second half...
“I thought they forced us into tough situations, especially (Dominique) Jones, when we tried to drive the ball, which led to us taking some tough shots, and tough passes.  We also had a few good looks that did not go down.  Defensively I thought they made a great effort to make sure we did not have easy looks or easy lanes to create. “

On getting back in the game in the second half...
“I thought we created a lot of our offense in that stretch with our defense.  We had some guys get into the open floor and create easy points in transition and at the foul line.  We were also able to knock down some shots in our half court offense, which help out a lot as well.”

On Notre Dame's Luke Harangody down the stretch...
“He is a great offensive player and we tried to throw a guard down on him and throw a few double teams at him in an effort to keep him off balance, but he is a great offensive player and it is tough to throw him off. “

USF Player Quotes
Dominique Jones ? So. ? G 
On the rallying to start the second half...
“We knew that we had to come out and be aggressive and be smart, and that's what we did, but we just weren't able to pull it off.”

 On the team's scoring drought at the end of the game...
“We had a couple bad decisions. We had a few good looks, but we didn't knock them down. We had a good chance at winning this game.”

 
On losing another close game...
“We have to get the positives out of this. We came out and played hard. The negative thing about it is that we've been in a lot of close games, so there comes a time when we need to push past and win a few. Our team is still getting better, and we are still young. We are planning on being ready for the BIG EAST Tournament and getting as many wins as we can.”

Jesus Verdejo ? Sr. ? G

On going through tough scoring stretches...
“It seems to happen in every game, that we go through a long scoring drought. That's something that we have to get better at; maybe get the ball to Dominique (Jones) more because he knows how to drive better than anybody else, or maybe throw the ball inside more, draw fouls, and get to the free throw line. That's what (Notre Dame) did, and they drew a lot of fouls and went to the free throw line a lot.”

On guarding Notre Dame's Kyle McAlarney...
“(Kyle) McAlarney is a tough guy to guard because he just keeps moving. He made two key three-pointers on me at the end and that was the difference.”

On improving despite the loss...
“We have improved so much from last year to this year. We know we can play with teams now. When we get to the last five minutes, that's when we need to man up and turn the corner. We're right there at the end; we just haven't finished. Other teams have, and that's why they are so great.”

On taking positives from the game...
“There were a lot of positives today. We did a lot of things to almost win this game. But the last thing that we didn't do was make shots. (Notre Dame) made shots when they needed to.”