Tulane vs. No. 10/12 LSU
Dec 2, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 2, 2006
Tulane vs. No. 10/12 LSU December 2, 2006 New Orleans Arena
DAVE DICKERSON: Opening statement:
"This was a great college basketball game. We went into the game thinking that if we could play 40 minutes of solid basketball then we'd have a chance to win. Our guys did a great job of competing for 40 minutes tonight. LSU showed why they among the top 10 ranked teams in the country; they made plays when they had to. This is a great game for us to learn from and take another step forward and the biggest thing we have to do now is get this game out of our system and concentrate on Buffalo. This was a fun game to play. I wish we could have played it in Fogelman Arena, but we played it in New Orleans Arena. Our guys played hard, I'm very, very satisfied with our efforts."
On why the game was played in New Orleans Arena instead of Fogelman:
"I wasn't the coach here when this contract was signed so I have no idea."
On what changed during LSU's 16-0 run in the second half:
"We went through a stretch where we couldn't score. It was more than we couldn't score, we just couldn't get the ball off the backboard. They had 16 offensive rebounds and I would venture to say that a third of those offensive rebounds were converted to scores. They're a good team, they're athletic, and they're big. Their point guard is 6'5'' and our defense is good enough to stop them on initial shots but in order to win this game we had to get more rebounds than 29, so the disparity on the rebounding aspect of the game was the tell-tale of the game."
On the Tulane's offensive play in the second half:
"I think in the second half we didn't get enough shots period. You can't put this on our guards at all because you put this on our team as far as not being able to rebound the basketball. You look at 43 rebounds vs. 29, and 16 offensive rebounds vs. three. That's the game and we just didn't get enough opportunities in the second half to score. Take nothing away from LSU, they're a good team and they have great players and a good coach. But I'm really excited about my team, the effort we put out there tonight for 40 minutes and like I said, I have to do a great job as a coach of getting this game out of my system and concentrating on Buffalo because this would have been a great win for us but it would only have been our fifth win of the year. The most important thing is winning our next game and Buffalo is our next game.
On the progress Tulane has made since November 10th's 40 point loss against Butler to now:
"The Butler game was one of those games where they made shots early and we didn't. As a team they were a lot better than anyone anticipated. They're 15, 16, 17th in the country now, so they're a great team and when they left Fogelman Arena they went on to beat Notre Dame, Indiana and they won the Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament, so they were a great team. They were a hard match up for us, everyone on the floor could make 3's and everyone on the floor did make 3's for them, but I thought it was a good game for us in the fact that we had a chance to re-evaluate our team early in the season. We made some changes, we had some guys step up like Dave Gomez, and we got onto a little roll. Hopefully we don't have a setback like that again this year. Take nothing away from Butler just like I'm not taking anything away from LSU, Butler and LSU are two good teams in college basketball today.
On if he thinks his team has grown from the Butler game:
"Without a doubt. We're 4-3 now and you look at losing to Butler by 40 points on your home court you think the season is over and you don't have any chance. But we have some smart kids on our team who can rationalize that situation, so if I tell them that its only November 10th, we don't have to push a panic button, we just have to get better and just dig in a little more. Those guys can rationalize that and believe that and we came back three days afterward and beat a good UNO team on our floor where everyone played well. Its only December 2nd and we're still relatively new to the season and hopefully we can get better from here and our main focus now is beating Buffalo."
David Gomez:
On if it's special to play against his hometown team LSU:
"It definitely is. I'm from Baton Rouge, so I know most of the guys and I've been playing with them and against them since I was about 12-years old, so this games always a little special to me. I was proud of our team's effort, I think everyone stepped up and played."
On if he enjoys the challenge of going head to head against Glen Davis:
"I enjoyed it. I can't even count how many times I've played against him. There's the talking and the back and forth, and I think that's one of the things I think is fun about playing basketball. I was glad I got the chance to do that again today."
On if he (Dave Gomez) thinks Tulane surprised LSU when they took early lead:
"I definitely think they underestimated us. Last year they beat us pretty bad and my freshman year they beat us pretty bad too so I guess it's understandable for them to come in and underestimate us, but we came out and played hard and I think we had something to prove and I think we showed them."
