March 17, 2006

Northern Iowa Student-Athletes

Senior guard Ben Jacobson

About a couple of misses in the 2nd half
"Yeah I am just frustrated. I had a couple of good looks coming down the stretch there. `E' (Erik Crawford) penetrated and kicked it to me. It was a real good look and I just left it short so I was just frustrated with myself that I was unable to capitalize."

On the end of his career
"I'm down right now. I didn't want to play my last game. Sometimes you have to face reality and that is reality. Coach had some nice things to say. We're just upset. We've been really close three times and today it was different than the past three years. We just came out sluggish the last three years. Today we came out with a lot of fire-jumped out to a big lead. We were just unable to hold on. Our defense was good enough to hold a team that is that big and has that much of a size advantage on us to 54 points. I would have thought that would be good. We only scored 19 points in the second half. We tip our hats to them. We gave it our best, we just didn't make shots."

On the future of UNI basketball
"I think it is going nowhere but up. Coach McDermott does a great job. I know they have got some great recruits coming in. They'll be moving into a brand new basketball facility next year. Nothing but good things for the program. I think we can proud of that. We wanted to help them turn the corner by winning some games in the NCAA tournament because that's one of the few things that we have been unable to accomplish. We're rooting for them."

Senior guard Erik Crawford

On the shots not falling
"It's a little frustrating when the ball is not going in. I wouldn't say we were going to go crazy. We tried to get the ball inside. Grant did a good job of getting the ball up there, drew a couple of fouls. There were some key stretches during the game when we had an advantage, maybe we should have tried to pound it in there a little bit more. Maybe the fouls that came late in the game could have come then and [Roy]Hibbert would have been in foul trouble. Obviously it is frustrating as a player if you're not making shots. Its just something we have to get over and fight through."

On the future of UNI basketball
The future is really bright for this program. The recruits that are coming in next year are all very good players. We got a chance to play with them over the summer at team camps. I don't see this program falling off anytime soon. I think they're going to have a bright future. The new arena is going be great for the program and for the community.

Senior guard John Little

On the pace of the game
"For the most part of the game that was the pace we wanted to play. We wanted to get up and down a little bit more. It seemed like in the first half when were running up and down we were able to get open shots, swing the ball quick, and get the ball inside. I think we played at our pace most of the game. Towards the end we kind of gave up a couple of baskets defensively. We kind of got out there and denied and they were able to get some of those easy baskets back door. Besides that we played about the pace we wanted to."

On the future of UNI basketball
"We have great players coming in and we've got experienced guys coming back next year that are going to help bring those guys along. We have a great coaching staff. I think that our program is going to keep rising. Northern Iowa is going to be a name you're going to keep hearing."