Jeff Lebo Quotes (62 Quotes)

We're small. We have to play aggressively. We can't back off because we're too little. We don't play the brightest by any stretch of the imagination. We just make some plays. If I had any hair, it would be out. We foul way too much. All of that has to do with us being small. We really have to play that way, but we have to be smarter.

Florida presents a lot of problems. Their speed, athleticism and their ability, and they are playing awfully well. We have a lot of work cut out for us.

This is one of our better non-conference teams coming in. I thought when we scheduled this it would be one of our toughest home tests this year.

It was big for our confidence, and everybody contributed. We didn't really have one guy that had to pick up the slack. We had a lot of guys pick up the slack.

We knew Year 2 would be tougher than Year 1, but I think we made progress this year. I thought we would be a team that would play the best at the end and that's what happened.

I thought Moses and Brett were terrific. They're guys who haven't played much, but they gave us some execution and energy and got us back in the game.

We thought we had to make threes and they had to miss some. They made theirs and we were still in the game, which is a tribute to our players. We just didn't have depth and firepower at the end.

When they get ahead, they can spread it out and put the ball in Rondo's hands, and he can go by anybody. He made some key plays in the second half to keep us at arm's length.

He's taken the whole league by storm. He has a track record of doing it at other places. He had success early and that's big. The kids bought into it and the crowds are coming out.

It was pretty typical of the games we've had. We had a 10-minute stretch where we had a meltdown.

We're in better shape than I thought we'd be at this point, but we still have a long way to go.

Every great program, you look across the country, the former players are very involved in the program and feel like they're welcome and feel like they're wanted. I still feel special when I go back to North Carolina. To have played there, I can walk into the office and still feel special.

We stopped ourselves -- it didn't cost us the game, but it didn't help us. We need new shot clocks, along with a lot of other things.

That was not a PG-rated halftime. I thought in the second half we had a lot more energy. The first half was horrendous. One thing I did tell them is they couldn't have beaten a bad JV team in the first half.

They're a team that shoots the ball very well and can shoot the three from a variety of positions.

It's a lot to ask of anybody. I don't care if you're a senior. It's phenomenal. He's calling offenses, defenses, out of bounds stuff, running the team. He's been fantastic.

It helps, no doubt about it. We still have areas we struggle in, but it helps to have a win. When we study film, there's a different look in their eye after a win.

We talked about it. We don't want to finish there. We don't want to come in last. This is our time to do it.

I told people when we scheduled this game that (Winthrop) would be one of the best teams we would have played - and they were. They're tough and they don't care where they go - and most people won't play them. I don't know why I did.

The team battled hard, but we just weren't good enough tonight. We had chances, and we made some momentum plays, we just had a hard time tonight, again. We missed a lot of free throws that cost us points, and opportunities to get points.

Our hope was that they'd shoot in the mid-30s (from 3-point range) this game. They can beat anybody when the ball's going in the basket. I'll just tell you that. They've proved that.

He played a lot of 2 at Laurinburg, but he really wasn't, to me, a legitimate 2. He fit better at the point guard position just because of his decision-making skills. He always knew where the guys were on the floor before he got the ball. He made the simple plays.

We made a run at it. Then we make two bad plays in a row and they capitalize. We try to cut it to four and can't and it goes back up to 10-12.

It'll be tough for us to go in and play them in their hometown, with probably the majority of the people rooting for them.

You don't think we'll walk out of there with a 17-point win, do you We don't ever do it easy. I was just watching that clock tick and trying to get to the house.

You've got to go into these things positive. You've got to go in with the idea of being very loose. Typically in these tournaments, tightness goes with people who are favored.

There's many challenges. We'd be here for 10 years if I wanted to explain all of them.

The difference in the game was (Darrel) Mitchell. He made unbelievable shots at crucial times. He just made great plays on his own.

Most coaches look at it as another season. Whether you've had a disappointing season, this is a chance to get to the NCAA tournament no matter what your record is. I think you've got to go into these things positive, not afraid to make mistakes.

The difference in this game was turnovers. If you look at the stat sheet, we shoot it better than they do, but it was the turnovers that hurt us.

They have big players who dominate inside. What makes Glen so good is his ability to move his feet. You don't see guys who move their feet at that size. We'll be in for an unbelievable battle inside.

They've lost a ton of close games. They've been a bit inconsistent.

In college basketball it's just difficult to win in somebody's backyard, especially at Arkansas where they seem to play three notches better at home. Most people play better at home, but they are one of the exceptions, I think, in the country that play so much better at home than on the road.

I'm proud of the way the team has grown up and played. You saw a team that didn't look like an SEC team in weight and size, but looked like one in heart.

When you're struggling, you don't have a lot of senior leadership to pick people up. They're forced to play a lot of minutes. Instead of watching somebody in front of them and being apprentices, they've got to play.

That's what they do. They make it difficult to get the ball inbounds.

We had a hard time near the end.

The guys hurt. It's frustrating. We played well enough to win. We just couldn't get it done.

Turnovers killed us. It's just very frustrating as a coach. We've stressed it, we've explained it, we've showed it. We have a slim margin for error and when we turn the ball over 23 times, you're not going to beat many people.

We did an excellent job (on Steele) in the first half with our mixing. We did a nice job there. Gee was the one who really hurt us.

He thought it would hurt the small-town feel. He called it a vanishing aspect of American culture.

With a lot of youngsters on the court, you never know what to expect.

When you're struggling, that stuff happens to you. We had eight points where we made shots but funky stuff happened. Plays like that just hurt you.

They know we need to add some pieces to the puzzle, but I think they all feel good. We're still a ways away, but I think we have a good foundation of kids. We started in the hole so badly, but we're getting there.

We wanted to take one (shot) and have time to get an offensive rebound. We got the rebound and got jammed pretty good. The clock was running down and we shot it pretty quickly. We got the look we wanted the first time.

I thought we looked very fatigued against Mississippi State and kind of hit the wall.

We just weren't able to score when we need to in the second half. We have troubled scoring, that's our Achilles' heel. We really don't have a low-post game and we have trouble manufacturing points.

Once we broke the press, we did good things. We don't score 64 points in some games.

When you have turnovers, you can just see the body language of our team when they occurred on tape. It really hurt the team.

I think he really set a tone for this team as far as leadership for the future. And what he said those 10 minutes, I'll never forget as long as I live.