(On game): “Obviously from the beginning to the end we were so much better; so much more aggressive from the start to the finish and that’s exactly what we talked about doing and doing the things that we do. I thought our guys did it for 48 minutes tonight and when you play defense as hard as we did tonight it seems like the offense is easy. A lot of guys obviously played really well.”
(On lineup): “A lot of guys played well tonight. Our second unit played pretty well the other night. It’s great when you’re getting that type of contribution because everybody is sharing the ball and that’s what’s so important for our team right now.”
(On second unit): “They did good. Like you said it’s early, its only two games but they definitely have cohesiveness about them right now and I think it starts with Ramon Sessions. I think he’s doing a terrific job of leading those guys. He’s probably the guy with the most experience out there and I think he’s done a terrific job.”
(On game plan): “Our game plan was basically on the defensive end. Offensively we knew that if we’d get up the floor we would have easy opportunities. We wanted to get the ball from side to side. We didn’t look to attack. I thought we were able to accomplish all those things and in doing that we go a lot of looks.”
“Going into this season I’m pretty much confident knowing that I put in the work that I was supposed to in the Summer time. It’s a matter of just waiting for my number to be called and it did tonight and I was ready.”
(On conditioning): “No better shape than playing. You have to play your way into shape and just understanding the plays and where you need to be. Once I get that down I think that I’ll be better shape-wise and everything is just rolling.”
HEAD COACH LAWRENCE FRANK
(On the game): “They shot 62 percent in the first quarter; we're not going to win any games defensively when you're allowing that. I thought we had a great opportunity in the first quarter to be up big, and then we had some mishaps, and now we're giving up transition buckets, middle drives, and so it's not just offensive rebounding it’s the penetration, with the transition and the pick and roll leading to rotations and not getting to bodies…allowing frustrating things to impact our defense. You get what you deserve, we got what we deserved, they shot 57 percent for the game between their transition pick and roll attack. They had around 51 points; this is where we're at.
(On offense): “Offense is going to be bad early on, there's no doubt about that, the thing that is very disappointing is that we devoted a majority of our time on the defensive end. To have that type of performance was very disappointing. Offensively it is going to be a work in progress, but defensively we are just going to have to continue to build.”
“Brandon Knight was on…bench could not get synced - To me as a team we are seen as a unit, we need to start getting on a defensive rhythm. This is where we’re at. I think our mentality is when things are not going good for us offensively, I think it is tough on us and we surrender a little bit to the things that go on during the course of the game, that's when we have to learn how to fight. Offense comes and goes, that's the reality but defense.”
GREG MONROE
(On home opener): “Every loss is a bad one, especially at home. We wanted to come out here and get a good win in front of the fans on opening night.”
(On new system and first two games): “That’s no excuse to play bad, no matter the circumstances we still have to go out there and get stops and execute on offense. Those things we’re not doing consistently right now.”
(On effort): “Everybody from top to bottom, we need to get more effort, communicate more, everybody has to make sure to stick with the schemes.”
(On Brandon Knight): “He definitely played well. Came in on the run by himself and he definitely was a good spark for us today. Hopefully, he can continue to play like that.”