Gary Anders Quotations

I didn't want him to get discouraged. But you could see he was getting better in practice every day. We started giving him some game time.

Having the No.1 seed in a five-team district has a distinct advantage. That's something we're shooting for. Hopefully the kids will understand the importance of that.

I make a big deal to our kids you don't have to lose to learn lessons. Unfortunately, sometimes you do. ... They played better than us. The same mistakes we've been making while winning were really exploited.

I think having Davis in the middle gives those other guys a lot of confidence.

I thought the first five minutes of the second half were key. Nick shot the ball very well. But I also thought the third five minutes of the first half were key as well. Ashley (Thomas) really got things going for us. It makes things easier when you have two big guys running the floor and a guy to get the ball to them.

We have a tough stretch ahead of us. I have no reason to believe they'll approach it any other way than they have the first half of the season. I am surprised they've done this well so soon.

We emphasized before the game that we couldn't let the atmosphere and early intimidation blow us out. We tried to give it away early, but the kids bounced back. We knew (the speed) was coming. You can talk about it and simulate it all you want, but you've got to deal with it on the court.

We're not sure if he's done growing. He has a chance to really be good. He's got tools and a very good attitude. He's an A-B student. He has tremendous upside. You want to nurture him and bring him along, hope he stays hungry.

Everybody would obviously like to be home this time of year. We've been through it before. ... It's not easy there's no question about it. They're home for a reason. They won their district. That means they're pretty good.

Every time we step on the floor the intent is to gain some valuable experience. I look at the playoffs as we are one of the few teams getting that opportunity. We want to make the most of it and hope it pays dividends ideally now, but certainly later.

Thomas and Dewberry had 52 out of their points. ... We didn't feel like we had played particularly well that night. The kids certainly weren't devastated by the loss.

It was obviously a good week for us. Regardless of how the grind goes in January, these kids are much further along than anything I anticipated.

The first five minutes of the second half, I though that's when Ashley really got us going and that's when we exploded.

He really didn't know what to do in offenses and defenses. But he was still successful. I saw promise.