Recap | Final Stats | Notes

UTA (20-6, 10-3) 68 at Georgia State (16-10, 9-5) 67
Saturday, February 18, 2017
Georgia State Sports Arena • Atlanta, Ga.

Postgame Quotes

UTA Head Coach Scott Cross
"It was definitely one of those games where you have to just stop and thank the good Lord. After that dunk and we were down 15… (GSU's) Isaiah Dennis just looked like his head was on the rim. Our guys were down. We took bad shots. For us to climb all the way back in… The steals we got. The shots we hit. Then, of course, the dagger from Erick at the end from NBA range with 1.1 second to go. There is no way to explain it. I am just thankful that our guys came out on top.

"Hopefully, will learn some lessons from today's game. Georgia State is a very good basketball team. That is why they have been in first place (in the Sun Belt) for such a long time. That was a huge game for us. We just need to enjoy it today, move on down the road and get ready for another really tough battle at Georgia Southern on Monday.

(On the final play) "The good thing about Erick (Neal) is that he loves the big shot. He is not afraid to take it. There have been times I can remember where he has been in similar situations and he has missed it. But, there have also been times where has hit the big shot. He wants it. It is tough to draw up something for him because they were in a zone. We were just trying to get the ball into the high post then scatter to a shooter along the 3-point line. He is tough enough mentally where he wants to take that shot. He felt it. That's probably why he took some shots early in the game that weren't so good. He is one of the best 3-point shooters we have. When he does take great ones, he is shooting it as good as anybody in this league. We needed him at that time to step up and take a huge shot and he did.

"That was one of the biggest shots of my coaching career. To do this on the road is amazing. It creates such and emotional feeling. I'm proud of our guys. They worked hard and they didn't give up.

"Georgia State's matchup zone was really good. I thought we could expose them a little if we had great ball movement. At times we did. At times we took bad shots. That's what they want you to do. They are aggressive. They are very active, get steals and deflections. They are a tough team to go against. It is a different style then you see from other teams in our league. Coach (Ron) Hunter does a great job and he had them well prepared today."

UTA junior guard Erick Neal
"The play was designed for Kevin (Hervey). Jorge (Bilbao) was supposed to set up a pin screen and Kevin was supposed to pop to the elbow. But, the play didn't develop. I saw the time ticket, so I just shot it and prayed it would go in.

"The defensive intensity level wasn't as good as we would have liked today. We will keep working on that. Thank God everybody kept fighting, kept pushing through.

"This win was very big for us. It takes us to Georgia Southern (on Monday) with more confidence."