Nov. 11, 2007
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery
UCF Head Coach Kirk Speraw
It was a great ballgame and a great venue. A rabid crowd. The crowd really energized us late in the ballgame. They did a tremendous job of lifting us when we started to get tired, especially on the defensive end. Students were awesome. They gave us energy. We are going to need that with the schedule we have. It was a great way to open the facility.
On UCF's offense in the first half:
We did get on a good run. We were able to get some buckets in transition. I thought we did a good job of driving it to the hole. They wanted to stay out on our shooters and we were able to penetrate. Chip Cartwright and Dave Noel did a great job of penetrating. Our defense was the story of the game. Battling down low against the seven footers and making it tough on (Marcelus) Kemp. Dave did a tremendous job on Marcelus Kemp in making him earn his points. He is a great player and Dave did a great job of making it tough on him.
On the importance of the win:
It was the first one for this year. It was an important one for many reasons. It gives us a little bit of confidence. This (Nevada) is an outstanding program. I'm not sure that a lot of people in the southeastern part of the United States fully understand how good Nevada has been over the last five to six years. They are a great program. Everybody knows about Gonzaga. Nevada has been just about as good as what Gonzaga has been. For us to get this victory, I think makes a statement about where this program and where it's going.
On the team's confidence following this win:
I hope it helps our players understand how they have to play and what they have to do and that they can compete. This (Nevada) is a good ball club. We have to go back out to their place and play them right before Christmas. It will be a tough ballgame there too. They are well coached. They have very good players with an awful lot of talent. Normally, we don't play this caliber of team our first ballgame of the season so that part of it was tough. We didn't have a chance to get into a flow. We were thrown into the fire right away and I think they were too. It's a tough opener for either one of us. We are very appreciative of them coming in and playing us in the first game. There were a lot of teams who didn't want to do that. We are very appreciative of Mark (Fox) for bringing his squad in here.
On the play of Chip Cartwright:
Chip was outstanding. He pushed it hard and got in the paint. It seemed like he was in the paint all night long. He finished and got easy buckets. Kenny (Zondervan) ought to take Chip out to dinner because he was serving it up to Kenny. This has to be a confidence builder for Chip.
Nevada Head Coach Mark Fox
On his squad's play:
I think our inexperience showed in abundance. We just made a lot of mental errors that certainly cost us. We you have to take every experience you can and turn it into a positive. You learn what you can from it. We certainly have a lot to learn from in this game.
On UCF:
I thought their team played well. They are very well coached. They play together and they really played well. They shoot well. They spread you out. They are very sound defensively and they are a complete team. And they are experienced and smart. I really think they will have a good year.