Recap | Final Stats | Notes

North Texas 60 at UT Arlington 65
Saturday, December 2, 2017 - Arlington, Texas

POSTGAME QUOTES

UTA Head Coach Scott Cross
On the Game: "We knew it'd be a tough game. You have to give North Texas a lot of credit. They played extremely hard. Luckily our guys took care of the basketball, that was the positive of the game. I didn't think we were mentally focused. I think that's why we didn't shoot the ball well from the free throw line, a lot of the offensive rebounds we gave up. The guys were just going to the basket instead of taking up space. A lot of the errors were mental errors. It's kind of funny because we didn't turn the ball over a whole lot and usually those things go hand-in-hand. But, I'm proud of our guys for figuring out how to get it done."

On the fans: "They definitely helped. Anytime you have a crowd like we did tonight, it makes you play just a little bit harder. Also I think the noise probably rattles the other team, it makes it a little bit harder for them to make the shots. We definitely have to thank the fans. The fans did come out to support us and the guys did come through. It was an exciting basketball game. We just have to continue to get better."

On difficulty of developing secondary rotations: "I let Coach (Greg) Young do the substitutions. I'll make suggestions at times. I'm trying to focus on what to run and how to execute. I trust him to make the decisions. It's tough. We have a lot of guys that are good basketball players and you have foul troubles that goes in. You have guys that can make big plays and have made big plays their entire careers. There are a lot of factors that go in there, but we do trust our bench. I think we have a great bench."

On last 5 minutes: "We were pressing a little bit. I think they had a momentum there because we had a lead and they cut it. You can just feel the moment change. I was saying a few prayers that our guys would figure it out and get the stops that we needed to. Luckily Eric stepped up and made some big free throws. I did think we were really aggressive on the offensive boards down the stretch and that played a big part in the win as well."

On game adjustments after receiving tight calls: "I always tell our guys just control what you can control. You can't control the officials. It's my job to talk to them. If you let an official call a foul on you and then you're whining and complaining, it's going to take you out of being in the zone. That may have played a factor. Sometimes it's an energy drain and you get a foul with one second to go, but it's part of the game. You have to play regardless of how the game's called and you just have to adjust."

UTA Senior Guard, Eric Neal
On the game: "It was crazy tonight. We didn't box out or get rebounds very well. The rice game was better. We haven't figured it out yet. We were low key playing good defense, but we just couldn't finish the plays out."

On shots in last couple minutes: "That's what we do, we hit shots. WE haven't been doing it the last few games, but big shot or easy shot we hit them. We work on our jump everyday during practice. We haven't really been shooting the ball really well, but we'll figure it out."

On the recent crowds: "The fans were there today. I love it. I think everybody that came out, I hope y'all keep coming. We're not trying to lose at home. We're not trying to lose at all. We're trying to get that top 25 ranking and go from there."

On falling short tonight of personal assists goal: "The game got ugly tonight. I wasn't able to give assists. I had to turn it into a score and be more aggressive. Get it to the rim. You have those games where it's just ugly like that."

On a teammate that encourages him to stay calm: "Kev (Kevin Hervey), we are kind of vice versa with it. Coach Maurice and all the coaches do a really good job at that. When my attitude starts kicking in and the calls start coming our way they just tell me to chill out. Control what you can control."

On his scores during the game: "Like I said the game got ugly. The assists weren't there and I had to be aggressive. More like Kev's kind of style. I just really want to lead the nations in assists. I'm really upset that I couldn't get more assists, but it just happens. You're just going to have to live with that."