Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery | USATSI Photo Gallery

UT Arlington (1-1) at Minnesota (2-0)
Monday, November 14, 2016
Williams Arena (14,625) • Minneapolis, Minn.

Postgame Quotes

UTA Head Coach Scott Cross
"The first half, I felt like offensively our guys played the right way. (Minnesota) made a great adjustment by switching the ball screens. Their big guys did a good job of sitting down and keeping Erick (Neal) out of the paint. Once that happened, we stopped moving the ball. The next thing we knew, we were taking bad shots and contested layups. We couldn't score on them. There was a stretch for about 10 minutes where we absolutely couldn't score on them. Our intensity dropped, so there were fouls and layups on the other end. It is hard to win (that way). They did a great job on us. You have to give them credit for executing and getting it done.

"I think our guys, to be honest, lost a little bit of that chip on their shoulder â€" that grit. Last year we were picked eighth in the league and we had a chip on our shoulder. I think our guys thought that since they were up at halftime, they could just keep playing and (things) are going to fall our way. It doesn't work that way. You are on the road, playing against a big, good, tough team. It is a learning lesson for us. I guess I would rather learn a lesson now than in conference. Hopefully, our guys will be better. Our execution at practice and shootarounds hasn't been as sharp as it needs to be. Hopefully, our guys will be a little more focused moving forward.

"Our offense revolves around ball movement. When that ball sticks, we aren't as good. When we start playing one-on-one, we stop moving the ball. We can't win that way. We have good, passing guys that are good team guys that can shoot and pass the ball. So, we have to move the ball in order to be successful.

"Our guys are going to have to change their mentality. We are going to have to get that hard hat, blue-collar attitude. To get pounded on the boards is disappointing. It is a credit to them on how they crashed (the boards) and how they blocked us out. As many shots as we missed, we should have had a lot more offensive rebounds."