Men's Bracket Game Two

No. 3 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 78

No. 6 UTSA 66

Wednesday, March 10, 2:30 p.m.

Postgame Quotes

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Head Coach Perry Clark
Opening Statement - "We were able to keep our composure after halftime. They gave us a different look. They did some things different than they did in the first two games. It took us a little bit by surprise. We got in some early foul trouble. But Kevin Palmer showed senior leadership and maturity. He didn't lose his focus, he didn't get frustrated. He started the second half hot and when he gets going it energizes our whole team. He hit a couple of tough shots and played much better defensively. The biggest thing was, our staff did a great job of identifying what they were doing to us. The kids did a good job of recognizing that as well and turned it around in the second half."

On playing Stephen F. Austin in the semifinals - "They're very talented. They play with a purpose. We will have to do a much better job offensively than when we played them in the regular season. They're a very good shooting team and are well coached."

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi senior guard Kevin Palmer
On defense in the second half - "LaMarr had great defensive pressure, he had three steals and he was able to get out and we were able to get some passes. Jawan jumped into the passing lanes and got some steals. Overall it was a good team effort."

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi senior guard LaMarr Drake
On reading UTSA that lead to offensive changes - "I think it all started from our defense. In the first half we weren't playing together as a team on the defensive end, but when went into the locker room at halftime we just kept our composure and everybody came together and said our game is playing defense and getting transitions. The big men really helped us with the blocks, rebounds angetting it out for the fastbreaks."

UTSA Head Coach Brooks Thompson
Opening Statement - "Obviously we're very disappointed. We have a locker room full of disappointed guys. I have to give Texas A&M-Corpus Christi a lot of credit. They played really well in the second half and we didn't. It's unfortunate because we have a bunch of seniors who came here last year and got to the championship game and felt like they could do it again. I felt like the first 20 minutes of this game we played as well as we did all year long, but after the break coming into the second half we didn't perform as well as we did in the first half. We weren't very fluid offensively and  we weren't as disciplined defensively. I thought once we got into a half court game we were really guarding them well. But once they got their transition and momentum going they became a very tough team to play. I thouthg they did a very good job of exposing us with their size and posting us up to get some easy baskets. We tried to play some zone and weren't real fortunate with either. It's a disappointing loss. We felt like we could come in here and win it."

UTSA senior guard Omar Johnson
On second half - "We tried to find what we were able to do in the first half and it just didn't happen. We played really well in the first half and got away from that. You hate to say anything or be critical of your basketball team after a loss but I thought that we quit doing what we were doing before. I thought the flow of our offense really struggled. We guit getting as many defensive stops and rebounds that kept us from getting out and scoring some easy baskets like we did in the first half. We didn't change anything from a strategical standpoint, we just quit doing what we did in the first half."