Jan. 29, 2005
Bowie State Head Coach Luke D'Alessio
That stretch in the second half there where you guys didn't score a field goal, what was going on there?
We were up by three, and honestly, I think that we stopped playing the kind of defense that got us back in the game, and offensively I think that we went to a one on one game, instead of reversing the ball and running our offense, and we got discouraged and stopped playing.
You guys were shorthanded, and only seven guys played, talk about that.
Yeah, we were, we had some guys out, and we lost one of our guys in the first half who could barely play, but we played the same guys against #1 Virginia Union and won, so that is no excuse.
You played Virginia Union and WSSU, do you think that the Rams are a top-25 team?
Its hard to say, because they have five losses. Top-25 teams are usually ones with only a few losses, but honestly, right now, they are playing as well as anybody, and they are a very quality team. They have beaten us, Virginia State, #1 Virginia Union, and Shaw and this is a very good team.
We said from the get go we had to dominate the boards, and we didn't do that, and so you know, that is how it goes. They played extremely well. Winston-Salem State likes to win ugly games, and they do it very well.
Bowie State's Lee Cook
What did you see defensively, did they do anything different?
No, nothing too much more different. A lot of movement, but we are used to playing teams with a lot of movement. Like coach said, we came in short handed and tried to turn it up, and I feel like we turned it up like, a little too late, and you know, the result was we came a way with the "L", and caught the short end of the stick, but you know you go back to the homefront and regroup and try to come out and play harder next game.
Did they squeeze you guys harder down low, and you were double and tripled a lot.
I am double and triple teamed every game, so I really can't say nothing about that. That is just what is going to happen. You know, when you got the stat sheet that I got, that happens. But it was a tough game, and we missed too much inside, and I feel like I turned the ball over too much, and a couple things happened that really weren't there. But besides that, it was really just another game. We could have played harder in the first half.
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Winston-Salem State's Audly Wehner
Well, you guys like to play ranked teams, and five turnovers, that is impressive. How were you able to get this win?
I think that we played hard and executed. Things went our way because of it.
Their front line, the big guys, you guys did a good job of defending them and slowing them down.
That was the plan, to just play hard and try to shut them down.
WSSU's Darnell Gregory
A season-high 29-minutes, you had it going tonight, is it the nature of the game that had you playing so well?
I knew, we all knew, it could be anybody's night. And tonight, I just did the little things to help us put and to help us win, and coach decided to keep me in the game a little longer.
You guys were nonchalant after the game. Is it just another game, just another win?
Because these are our short-term goals what we are accomplishing right now. It is definitely a great win and a good victory, however, the goal that we are really looking towards is to be CIAA champs. We have to take one game at a time.
WSSU's Rashad McGee
Rashad, talk about your team's guard play tonight, having only five turnovers as a team.
I don't know that we thought that we had to play a perfect game, but we knew that we had to definitely play smart. We had to keep organized and not play crazy, and not play their style of game, not to take anything from them, but we needed to stay in our system and play a more controlled style and because we did, we got the win.
You guys played #1 Virginia Union and you beat them now, the #13 team in Bowie State. Do you guys think you'll get into the top-25 or are you not worried about that?
We aren't worried about it. It is a long season, and like you said, you say we are nonchalant, but we really are just looking toward the CIAA tournament. We have a lot of season left. The ranking will take care of themselves if we take care of what we have to do.
The question is...Why do you played so well against ranked teams?
Any player worth their salt knows that you have to get up for all games, and if you can't get up for a game like this one then I don't know. You aren't nervous or scared before the game, but excited, and you can get up for them.
WSSU Head Coach Philip Stitt
What did you see tonight that maybe you haven't seen all year?
Well, we played well and smarter with the lead tonight. We had some resiliency tonight, and I think that we got off to a great start shooting the basketball and then we kept them from scoring a ton of points. I mean, 62 points for them, I know that they have had that at halftime a few times this year. So I think that those are a few big keys. And our guys, they just battled. They didn't care how big those guys were, the Division I transfers, and all that, they battled and played for the white jerseys, that's all.
Do you just want to skip the others and only play ranked teams every night?
I wouldn't want to do that. I am going bald fast enough, I don't need help losing my hair any faster.
Talk about the way these guys can respond to the pressure of playing these ranked teams.
Well, I mean, Rashad said it. As a coach, it is easy to get them up and step them up in these games, you really don't have to do anything. It is when you are supposed to be favored or supposed to be dominant, those are the tough ones. It is just human nature, you sometimes take people for granted, and we haven't been doing that this year. We lost a couple of games that we shouldn't have lost, and because of how we played, we have won a few that maybe we shouldn't have one. But this group, these guys have learned a lot over the last couple of years. We were 12-5 at one point last year, and we didn't get the job done at the end of the season. These guys don't want to do that.
