Men’s basketball
Nate Linhart quotes
“Bubba is Bubba. He gets fired up for this game for sure. He was chatting with some people in the stands. Everytime he hit a shot, he let them know about it.”
“I kind of wristed it in. It was left handed. It was my go-go- gadget arm.”
“Especially after beating Miami, we knew they had confidence. We knew we would get their best shot.”
“I’m hoping it’s going to be on (ESPN’s top 10 plays). Just give me a 6, 7 spot. I’ll be happy.”
“I wanted this to be a very good year for me. I just was putting too much pressure on myself. It wasn’t going my way. Coach took my out of the starting lineup. Eventually I just started having fun. It’s just basketball.”
Tim O’Shea quotes
“If you’re a fan of MAC basketball, you felt you saw a quality game. Both teams played hard on the defensive end of the floor. Too bad we couldn’t get the rebound at the end of the game. I wish we would have gotten a better look.”
“We’re deeper and we’re more athletic. Orr was really the key to the second half for us. He made a bunch of clutch shots. It was really good to see. I took him out of the starting lineup a few games ago. He got back to playing the way I know he can play.”
“Obviously, this is a very tough place to play. To take it to the wire like this says some good things about my team.”
“The real strength of this Akron team, especially in this building, is their 3-point shooting.”
“Linhart has got a real knack for tipping the ball. As a coach, you’re dying on the sidelines. Sometimes the ball is bouncing your way, sometimes it isn’t. Of course, we had enough time to come down and get a better shot than we did. I thought we had some people open there, but we didn’t make a smart play.”
“I think this (Ohio) is a gritty team. Because it defends well and plays hard, I think we’re going to be in all our games.”
Keith Dambrot quotes
“You have Bubba Walther, the Akron transfer, guarded by Nick Dials, the reason he did transfer. I feel bad for Bubba, but I feel good for us, because I like Bubba.”
“I thought McNees and Roberts played great.”
“Overall, it was a good game. Conyers did an unbelievable job on Leon Williams. He fought him. He made him work.”
“We’ve felt all along that Conyers is the best defender we have in there. He’s strong. He’s quick. He comes to the ball well. He’s been an enigma offensively. We have to coach him better. He is a good who shoots when he should dribble, dribble when he should shoot.”
“Nate’s a good player. Nate doesn’t get his due really. People don’t understand why he plays so much. I thought Wood did the absolute right thing by getting the ball up. I thought it was going in. They were bringing guys over to him, which opened up Nate.”
“They pressured our guards so we couldn’t throw the ball to the block. They flustered us, but when we put McNees in, we handled the ball better.”
Middleton “had one of those games where he’s a little bit hurt.”
“They’re as good an anyone in this league. When you have those guys, you can play with anyone in the country. They beat up Maryland. That’s the hardest-playing Ohio team since I’ve been there. Are they as good as Jeremy Fears? No. But they’re better team guys. They used to be soft. We could throw it anywhere we wanted.”
“Bubba did what he thought was best for him. Bubba’s a big boy. He knew he was going to get it here. It’s the nature of the beast. In Buffalo, I’m Joe Pesci.”
“Early in the game, we couldn’t run at all. They’re big and strong inside, so we couldn’t bully them like we bully everyone else.”
“Bowling Green is really good. We have to make our team believe they’re really good. It’s not like the old Bowling Green. We have to win that game because we have Kent and Central Michigan after that, which is no picnic.”
“That was a big win for us. You have to protect your home court and we were very fortunate.”
“We win because we gave up 54 points. We lead the league in scoring, but that’s not why we win.”
