The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB VS. CHARLOTTE COACHES' QUOTES
1/24/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 24, 2001
UAB Head Coach Murry Bartow
"It was a good win for us. Our guys really stepped up defensively and it
was a good night for us. This is a win we really needed. The guys have a
good look in their eye now. They think we can play. Right now we've got a
little momentum, so we hope it continues. Charlotte is really a
well-coached team. They have a lot of weapons. They go to DePaul and win,
they go to Marquette and win and we were able to pull this one out. I
thought this was an incredibly pivotal game. Right now our guys feel
pretty good."
On the play of P.J. Arnold
"Right now P.J. (Arnold) is playing pretty well. I thought his shot
selection improved. I thought he took some smart shots."
Charlotte Head Coach Bobby Lutz
"We did battle the first half to try to stay in it. We weren't playing
well, we weren't shooting well. We had some effort the first half to stay
in the game and give ourself a chance, but right off the bat we come off
flat and didn't execute the first two possessions and allowed them to get
the lead in a hurry. It just went downhill. UAB, when they get ahead, they
can get it going and that's what they did. Their shooting percentage was
solid, but a lot of that was playing with confidence from getting the lead.
We just weren't sharp. I really don't know why we played so well last week -- we had good practices, but for whatever reason we're not quite good enough to sustain it game after game after game. They played well, you have to give them credit, but it certainly wasn't a good performance by us. At halftime we had eight turnovers, six by our seniors. We had eight in the last two games. UAB's good, but its not like they are the best defensive team in the league. We were sluggish in every phase.
We just had to play harder and execute. You shoot 33 percent, 29 from the three and that doesn't bode well. We had as many shots as they did and for most of the game they were good shots.
Our rotations weren't sharp. Things that we've been doing in our rotation were just not there for anybody. I don't have an answer. What's really disturbing is that we had seniors on the floor making the same mistakes that freshmen were. And probably in larger number. I was really disappointed in them and not leading us better through a tough time.
They were quicker to the ball. You have to give them credit. They were aggressive and stronger. They beat us to the punch. They were just quicker and made things happen.
We knew (P.J.) Arnold was a really good scorer, he's been shooting the ball great the last five games. Twice we didn't rotate out on him and he buried the three just like you expect him too.
I just thought they were tougher than us. We didn't run our offenses well, we give UAB credit, but we just weren't sharp. We didn't finish strong, we didn't attack or get to the foul line as much as we would have liked."
