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South Alabama (13-15, 6-9) 75 at UTA (22-6, 12-3) 86
Saturday, February 25, 2017
College Park Center • Arlington, Texas

Postgame Quotes

UTA Head Coach Scott Cross
On having 4 players in double digits tonight and the team's overall offense:
"I think it speaks for our depth, I think we have a lot of different weapons. We have a lot of guys that can score and none of our guys need to get frustrated when they play and if the shot is there, they just need to take it. This team can score in so many different ways and I think the key for us is just playing together and just making the right play. We didn't always do that tonight but we were pretty efficient offensively even with the turnovers. I think it's going to be tough for teams to completely stop us because we have so many weapons."

On the team's collective defense:
"Well these guys can tell you, the majority of our time is spent working on defensive rotations, and it's something we've always worked on since day one. Even our shooters are worked into the defensive rotation, so it should be instinctive for our guys. The first half I wasn't really pleased with our defense, I thought the second half was a bit better especially the last ten minutes. Any win in the Sun Belt is a good win, we knew these guys were coming in and were capable of beating us, a lot of firepower as well and had some of the fastest tempo in the Sun Belt. That can be scary if they get going. They had a team full of big guys that can shoot for 3. It makes it tough and puts pressure on us defensively but luckily our guys did what they needed to do to take care of business."

On Drew Charles and his importance to the team in the 2nd half:
"He's always been that steady force for us, I mean he's done it all year long, you can look back to early on in conference when he hit those big shots when the going got tough. He's one of those guys that are always a calming influence. Nine times out of 10 he's going to take great shots, he's not going to force anything. He's in the gym all the time; he's going to hit four out 10 on all of them just about every time. It's been pretty amazing, it seems like his shooting gets better the tougher, closer and the tighter that the games have gotten this year and he did it again today."

UTA junior forward Kevin Hervey
On maintaining the lead during the game:
"They're a good team, we had some lows in there but I mean that's why we're such a good team because we put our second group in and they give us a push and help us extend the game so that when we put our starters back in we maintain it. They're a great team, gave us their best shot and I think we handled it well."

On the importance of Monday's game for the seniors and their send-off from the team and the fans:
"It's extremely important. Drew has been here for five years, he's a Maverick for life, Jorge's been here for four years, Jalen's given us two great years and I'm looking forward to seeing them play their last game and be successful. Hopefully we can send them out with a bang and a win."

On missing the last game played against Troy and how he plans to play it:
"I mean I just go into a game the same every single time. Just try and play for my teammates, be efficient and just try and play as tough as I can for however long I'm in the game."

UTA junior guard Erick Neal
On putting defenders on the edge:
"It's all about winning. We get closer and closer to this tournament and I'm just trying to find my groove. I realized that I find it way easier when I'm playing defense. I feel great when like I'm in my groove already without even touching the ball."

On the importance of Monday's game for the seniors and their send-off from the team and the fans:
"They're all like family so it's going to hurt to not see them next year. It's going to be like when we were sophomores last year when we had to say goodbye to those seniors, it's tough."