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Appalachian State (15-18, 9-9 Sun Belt) 68, UT Arlington (20-12, 10-8 Sun Belt) 84
Sun Belt Conference Championships - Quarterfinals
Friday, March 9, 2018
Lakefront Arena o New Orleans, La.

POSTGAME QUOTES

UTA Head Coach Scott Cross
"I was really proud of our guys. I felt like we played a really good all-around game. We watched App State the day before yesterday and we knew from the way they played, the way they shot the basketball, that we were going to have to play great defensively. I think outside of the offensive rebounds that we gave up we played outstanding on the defensive end of the floor. Erick Neal had one of his best offensive games, but more importantly I think it was one of his best defensive games. He was guarding, in my opinion, a top five player in the league and he made it very difficult for Shabazz to get shots off. It just shows his competitiveness and I'm proud of these guys. Kevin did a great job of feeding Erick the ball when he was hot and telling me to run things for him. That shows their teamwork and selflessness and it's a beautiful thing to see. I think the sky is the limit with this group and as long as they play together great things will happen."

On the speed of the game: "I think our guys knew that the level of intensity increases conference tournament time. Before the game we wanted to make sure we were the one who set the tone in terms of toughness and intensity. It was one of our better defensive games. It starts with Erick. You could tell he had that look in his eyes that he was going to play great defensively. Then the ball started dropping for him and once he gets in the zone he can shoot it as good as anybody in the country. It's a testament to our guys. None of them got selfish. They kept giving him the ball. It's also a testament to Erick. When he started missing some then we started going back to Kevin and Kaelon, and getting the ball where it needed to go. Our guys played the right way and I'm proud of them on both ends."

On defensively taking away to three: "Taking away the three is our defense in general. Unfortunately, at times teams do get the three-point shot off on us because we do gap it and try to keep them out of the paint. App State is a great three-point shooting team. They shot it extremely well in their first round game. And they did it against us a couple times this year. In both games they shot the ball really well. We just wanted to make sure everything was contested. Even in the first few minutes of the game, they hit a couple of shots that were contested. But over the course of time if you make them shoot tough contested shots, they're eventually going to miss it. So our guys stuck to it. They didn't panic. They kept defending and were able to get the stops down the stretch."

Senior Guard Erick Neal
On playing harder for the tournament: "We're seniors so we know what it takes. We've fallen short every year and we're not trying to do that this year. It's our last go around and we're trying to make it to the big dance."

Senior Forward Kevin Hervey
On limiting turnovers: "It's a testament to the guy sitting next to me [Erick Neal]. He took great care of the ball today and he was hot. We kept giving it to him and just rode him to the win today. He played an excellent game."

On playing harder for the tournament: "We're seniors. We have eight seniors. We've all played here before. You've got to raise your level of intensity when you play here. We're just trying to play as hard and as tough as we can as coach preaches. As long as we play tough and we play hard and play defense I think the sky is the limit for us."