Feb. 2, 2008

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Post-Game Quotes
Loyola vs. Cleveland State
February 2, 2008

Loyola Head Coach Jim Whitesell
"Our guys played very well together tonight, especially on the defensive end. We really helped each other. With Cleveland State, you've got [Cedric] Jackson and [J'Nathan] Bullock, two all-conference players that are guys who can score at any time. Jackson's been such a key in getting other guys baskets and he's had several triple-doubles this year. Obviously J.R. [Blount] had a tough assignment on him, but I thought our guys did a good job with helping each other. Defensively, we did a very good job on the boards against a team that rebounds really well. Tracy [Robinson] gave us a nice lift in both halves and did a great job at the free-throw line. We just had a lot of guys come up with nice stretches offensively."

On the early second half struggles
"In the second half, right away, it just seemed like the ball bounced sort of weird for us, and they got within 10. Then we recovered a little bit when Tracy [Robinson] got a big three when we were getting kind of stagnant, so that big basket helped us to exhale and go back to play."

On Suits & Sneakers
"With Anthony [Smith] passing away, it certainly hit home. I think the NABC has done a wonderful job with fighting cancer. It's fundraised millions and millions of dollars. But tonight, obviously, one of our guys is sorely missed and it's a great tribute to our guys, the way we played. And surely [Tracy Robinson] had lot to do with that and he was also one of Anthony's best friends on our team that's still on our team. So I'm very proud of that."

On building from experience
"Our game at Cleveland was fairly close and they just out-performed us and out-executed us at the end. We've had a lot of close games this season. I think our guys are more confident, we're helping ourselves. We're not shooting ourselves in the foot. We're not coming up with that turnover when you're down a basket. We've gotten smarter and learned from some of the rough experiences."

On Tracy Robinson's impact on the game
"Tracy was very active offensively early in the game. He was the guy that kind of catalyzed us. And I know he scored, but he also made the extra pass to score. He did that several times to get us going and got some low-post play and did some nice things. He had that big three in the second half that just got us to back to playing. Sometimes you just need that guy that will step up and get a basket. He certainly played very well this week."

On the team's improving play
"We don't score that easily, but defensively, at times, we've done such a good job and we're getting better. Our guys are understanding how to guard better. We've played better defense, we've taken care of the ball better, and we've also moved better at times and cut down on turnovers."

Loyola senior forward Tracy Robinson
On the passing of former Rambler Anthony Smith
"It's been a rough week. I was one of the first people up here in Chicago to receive the news about [Anthony Smith]. I've just been trying to pay my respects to `50' all week. It's just been a roller coaster for the most part."

On his game tonight
"I got going early. A couple shots fell for me and I got to the free-throw line tonight, too, and I took advantage of that. I was a lot more aggressive tonight. I made a couple mistakes out there, but they were aggressive mistakes."