Jamie Dixon Quotes (143 Quotes)

I think we passed the ball well and got a lot of good performances from guys on the court and off the bench. I thought all of our guys played very well.

Barry has been very important to our success over the years. Whether it was a director of basketball operations or as our associate head coach, he was a vital part to our program's rise to elite status in the Big East and nationally.

It's certainly a setback. But it's not as big as some make it out to be. The difference (Monday) was we played much better in the first half.

You're never perfect. But you're always trying to play great defense, do things right, and you have to continue to do it on the next play and the play after that. It's also about sticking with roles and principles. We're getting better at it in some areas, but it's something you constantly want to improve at.

We came back and played better in the second half. But we just didn't execute as well as we needed to. They were aggressive and that had something to do with it. But it was not a surprise. It was exactly what we thought.

We knew when we were going to play three guys at small forward that there was going to be a common theme. When you sit down and look at it, his game Sunday really wasn't a whole lot different from some of his others this season. His 3-pointers just went in. Sometimes your shots fall, sometimes they don't. ... He's got the ability to score. He gets open, there's no doubt about that. And he's becoming a better shooter. He just has to get more consistent with his form.

I didn't recognize our team on how we played early. Our patience wasn't there. Clearly, it wasn't our day.

It's a different thing. We think Aaron just had the flu. Keith seemed to be all right yesterday. We'll get more back from the doctors today. He was throwing up last night. He was pretty violently sick last night.

Hamilton is a big-time player who put up big numbers last year. He's had some injuries, but he can get it going at any time. He is very good around the basket. He can also step out and shoot it. I thought he was an all-league type player last year. And he's improved this year.

Sam played well against West Virginia the previous two games. He finished well in the second half. He got great passes from Aaron a couple of times. He's just a freshman playing against seniors. That's why he's getting better.

I thought we battled, we played hard, we got through some adversity with the foul trouble. We made some shots at the end but we didn't make them consistently throughout the game. They're a good team, but we need to play better.

They don't seem any different today than they were two days ago or before the Wisconsin game. I don't see any real changes. I think they just look forward to the competition in practice that day, and that's what they think about.

She then went to the house of a friend for an afternoon tea, where she said she wasn't feeling well and collapsed. She was immediately taken to Keller Army Community Hospital (in West Point), and then, transferred ... to Westchester Medical Center.

We want to help all our guys in any way we can, if they want to further their careers, but our focus is on our guys and getting ready for (first-round opponent) Louisville. People are smart enough to know when the right time is to talk about other schools. Every situation is different, so to give a blanket statement wouldn't be the right thing to do.

We were very efficient in the second half. We wanted to get it inside to Aaron from the start. We missed some easy ones early. Our patience was good in the second half. We used the clock and got shots at the end of the clock, which can wear down teams. We really had good clock management.

We're going to play our same style. We're going to play to our strengths. We're not going to change. We're going to defend. We're going to take good shots. We're going to move the ball around. We're going to do the things we've been doing all season.

I thought we'd see a lot more zone than we did. It got down to our penetration and Carl hitting those 3s. Our penetration was good, especially when they went man-to-man.

We knew Louisville was going to come back strong in the second half. I thought our guys handled it well.

We're 16-1. I wouldn't want to be complaining about that. No one would listen. We're getting better and improving every game. Even (against St. John's), we got much better in the second half.

Turnovers are a big thing to me. We're pretty good. Our goal is always less than 12. That's a tough number to shoot for, but it's a hard number to achieve.

We put ourselves in a position to win. But it just came down to free throws. There is such a fine line between a win and a loss. It would have been good if it would have went in, but we need to play better defense through the game instead of putting ourselves in that position.

It's time to move past this one and get ready for West Virginia.

It was just a big effort. Our shooting percentage was terrific. We just came out and made shots. They were good shots, but I thought we made some great decisions to get there.

I wanted to. I actually thought about putting him in when it was a close game. I have no worries about putting him in.

They lost so many close games, that they have to be a concern for people. And also teams that can really shoot the ball and get it going, those teams are always a concern because there are always some games where they can beat anybody.

Every time these teams have gotten together in the last five years, every game has been like this down to the end. Every game has been a battle.

I thought they were really a tough team and got after it. We knew that coming into the game and we know it now. It was two teams getting after it, playing aggressive.

We had to go and change some minutes with the foul trouble. But it's not a surprise the way we responded. I expect those guys to respond.

We did a lot of things well, we battled, we played hard. We have to do some things better, take care of the ball better. We need to get to the foul line more.

It came down to free throws. It's amazing how it's such a fine line. It's amazing how one little thing can go from making you feel happy to feeling disappointment.

It's probably tougher for my dad and my mom, who want to figure out a way to go to both games.

He was somewhat light-headed and dizzy, but he battled through it. He wasn't running the floor like he usually is able to, but he still managed to grab 20 rebounds. That says a lot about him as a player.

It's as tough as it has been, no question. There's no question the league has gotten tougher the last couple of years. When we first got into the conference seven years ago there was talk that the conference was down a little bit. The conference is on the rise the last couple of years.

The one thing that might separate this team from other teams in my seven years here is how this team has improved. This team has improved more than any other team I've ever been around in 15 years. The players have improved tremendously. And maybe that's because we have a lot of young guys.

We had been in contact throughout the time he was home. He mentioned some things.

We haven't played in so long, it seems. I know the guys are anxious to play. I'm sure glad it's Saturday. I don't know how much longer we could wait to play a game. The guys want to play, and I'm ready to play.

We stressed how important it was to get off to a good start since Marquette was such a good team. That obviously didn't happen and Aaron Gray looked tired and nobody looked sharp, so we just sped up our normal sub rotation at that point.

It's been a strength of ours, executing against the zone. We didn't do as good a job today. ... The key was that we didn't finish off the first half. We should have been up by more.

Not often do you lose a game when you shot over 70 percent in a half. It is tough to lose a game when you shoot that. I thought our offense was good and we made good decisions and (had) good looks. Its amazing how one little thing can change the outcome of the game.

I thought we just battled and ground out a victory. We beat them on the boards, which is a thing we knew we had to do coming into the game, and we beat them badly. We also had to get better at making free throws, and we need to improve defensively. We still have a long ways to go.

Time to get ready for West Virginia. We won't focus on this one too much. We have to get ready for them.

One of our strengths as a team is that we don't foul or over-extend ourselves. We try to play sound positional defense, which keeps us out of that kind of trouble. Even with the depth we have, we always stress to our guys that we can't give fouls away.

The quality of teams in this league is outstanding. It's the best conference in the country. No one is even debating that anymore. We used to say it in recruiting and somebody would say, 'Well, maybe the ACC.' Nobody is questioning it anymore.

He was pretty sick for about two days. But he looked like he was fine today.

It's just more of the same. The names have changed, but you know you're going to have good teams every night. We're playing against the best people. There's a few more, but they're all good. To be in the best conference in college basketball is a great thing for the university.

The trademark of our program is finding the open guy, and we didn't do that today. I don't think we executed. Our patience wasn't there. I didn't recognize our team because of how we played early. The impatience and forcing things just put us in a hole.

Our guys understand what their roles are.

I'll be very proud of that. That one means a lot. That's one of the things we sell in our recruiting. We talk about the university, about the City of Pittsburgh, about graduating and about getting better. We have concrete proof that kids get better here.

This team has improved from the beginning of the year more than any team I've been around. From the exhibition games through the 14 (regular-season) games, they've improved tremendously. But we have a lot of areas we can improve in. Maybe that's because of our youth.

His defense was very good. He did not hurt us defensively. If he does that stuff, the points will come. We have to get him running more and to the boards.