COUGARS

FROM PULLMAN -- We have additional quotes for you to read from WSU's 73-61 win over UCLA last night. Read on.

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KEN BONE

"Our guys I thought played with great poise, determination to execute on offense, we were able to get some good looks at the hoop right near the basket."

(On handling UCLA's zone) "It didn’t bother me too much. I don’t think it bothered our guys too much that it slowed down because we were going to play a few guys a lot of minutes. Them going zone actually helped us a little bit."

(On not tensing up when UCLA made a run) "I feel like a number of our kids played with a great level of poise. We really didn’t panic during that time. Down around that 3-minute mark we had some costly turnovers and we just gave them opportunites that fortunately they didn’t capitalize on all of them."

(On the rebounding) "It was very impressive for us to come up with 21 offensive rebounds and them have 23 total rebounds. Obviously we’re not the size of those guys. I thought our kids just left it on the floor. Played determined, battled."

(On what the win means) "I think it means a lot. We’ve been scrutinized quite a bit -- how bad we are, we’ve lost this game and that game and how we lose the games and everything else. It’s nice to go out and beat a quality team and play good basketball."

(On Dexter Kernich-Drew's game) "Dexter, to come up with 11 rebounds, play 39 minutes I guess it is. With the effort, I remember one time he just dove for a loose ball. Hadn’t seen that a whole lot but I thought tonight he played extremely well and hard."

(On Royce Woolridge attacking the rim) "It was because UCLA has the ability to really get into you and as they started pressuring him a little bit more, even though he never had a break during the game, he had the court sense to attack the rim."

(More on offensive rebounds) "I wouldn’t say it was part of the scout we really hit on. We said, 'guys, we’re undersized and we’ve got to be warriors on the boards.' Get a guy like Will (DiIorio) out there and he has influence on other guys and all of a sudden other guys are just scrapping."

(More on what the win means) "When I think of that question, I just think I’m so happy for the guys. Their attitudes, it’s a great  group of kids. It’s one of my most favorite teams I’ve ever coached. They’re a great group of guys, they work hard every day. Their attitudes are good. It’s just nice to see them finally get rewarded with the win."

DEXTER KERNICH-DREW

"Obviously it was really good to finally get a win under our belt. It’s been 10 games now since we’ve won. It was good to send Brock off with a big win against UCLA as well."

(On the rebounding) "We’re not the biggest team so we’re going to do whatever we can to try to scrap and win the game. Mike wasn’t playing, DaVonte wasn’t playing. … I just tried to do what I could do out there, get as many boards and secure the ball for us."

BROCK MOTUM

(On getting so many easy baskets) "They were playing so tight all we had to do was screen them. Once we set good screens guys were wide open and we just had to make the passes. We ran a lot of stuff early that was working."

(On what the win means) "I was happy individually to finally beat UCLA while I was here and proud of these guys. ... I feel like we’re getting better, inch by inch, it’s hard when we still come up short. I’m just happy these guys stuck with it. It could have been easy to give up a long time ago. I’m just proud of these guys."

(On scoring so much in the paint) "I think 21 offensive rebounds had to do with that. That was big. They didn’t do a great job boxing out. We knew that coming into the game. Unfortunately for us we missed a lot of easy layups but fortunately for us we got a lot of tip-ins."

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