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Nov. 25, 2003
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
GW 73
GW Coach Karl Hobbs:
on FIU's big rebounding advantage:
on GW's fast start:
GW guard T.J. Thompson
on his role in rallying the team as the lead shrank:
"We were on our heels too much early. It took us a while to recognize that we were supposed to be here and we were supposed to compete. We cut the lead to 3 and I'm proud of the kids for doing that."
on the quality of GW's team:
Florida International 67
"At some moments, we looked like a team that can become very good. At others, we looked like a team that looked like it lost its focus at times...I think its early season and our youth, which at times makes us daring when we don't necessarily need to be. We just need a little bit more poise."
"They were very courageous and determined. When we put their back against the wall, they came out fighting and got after everything. They just outworked us a few times on the offensive glass, and that's something we've got to improve on...I wasn't surprised by that. You're talking about a team with some good strong physical bodies, and they went after the boards pretty hard."
"Thank goodness we went up by 14-0, because that made the difference in the game. We need to learn to play with leads."
on the team's erratic play in the 2nd half:
"We got caught up in being up by so much, and thought the game was over. We weren't really focusing on putting it away...We felt like we could blow them out, and that's when we started making dumb mistakes that we normally wouldn't do in a tight game."
"At that time, I had to do a better job of pulling the guys together. For most of them, this is only their second year. I've been around the longest, so I need to calm them down and make sure we know we have to put it away and stop fooling around."
Florida International coach Donnie Marsh
on GW's fast start:
"GW came out and attacked us. We didn't show a lot of poise early....they were really aggressive out of the gate."
"A lot of those guys impressed me. [Karl Hobbs] has a terrific squad. Pops [Mensah-Bonsu] was terrific. He knocked them down when they needed him. T.J. [Thompson] does a great job of running things. When they needed to settle down and get something, they put it in T.J.'s hands and he made the play for them."
