What Bob Huggins Said Following the Win Over Youngstown

On the difference between the first half and the second half

"We had zero enthusiasm in the first half. What I wanted to tell them was that I grew up playing on the playground, playing in the park and all that kind of stuff. If I had come out with that lack of enthusiasm, they’d never pick me again. We were bad. (There was) just no enthusiasm. And (Youngstown State head coach) Jerrod (Calhoun) did a great job. Jerrod did a great job of knowing a lot of the things that we do and taking some things away, but we just didn’t have any enthusiasm."

On fifth-year senior guard Sean McNeil’s leadership in the second half

"I think he and (fifth-year senior guard) Taz (Sherman) are good teammates. They’re really good teammates. I think they saw an opportunity to get some other guys involved. In the second half, after we had a brief conversation at halftime, they figured out that for us - and I’m not in favor of it, I think it’s a bad thing - the NET (is important). If we play a one- or two-point game, that kills us. I hate that we have to look at things like that, but it is what it is."

On the non-conference opponents

"That’s absolutely right, but I think, to be totally honest, (Radford head coach) Darris (Nichols) wanted to play. If Darris wants to play, we ought to play Darris. AK (UAB head coach Andy Kennedy) wanted to play. I think that’s kind of my obligation to try to help those guys if they think it helps them. And Jerrod wanted to play. Those are three guys that I have the utmost respect for and guys who are very close to me. I think in Jerrod’s case, he’s very close to this program, with what he’s done, not just here, but in Fairmont and in this state. We ought to bring those guys back. That’s more what it was than anything else."

On fifth-year senior guard Malik Curry

"He’s made plays for us all along, it’s just that he does it in spurts, so you probably don’t notice it as much until you look at the final stats. He’s a really good ball-screen guy. He kind of got us going at the beginning of the second half. For whatever reason, the ball got stuck. It’s hard when the ball gets stuck."

On opening Big 12 play on the road at Texas and TCU

"I would guess that a lot of our guys - when we’re warming up on one end and Texas is warming up on the other end - are going to say, “Oh my gosh, they’re big.” They’re really big, and there are a lot of them. We just have to do what we do. We got outrebounded by 12 today. Can you imagine what that would be at Texas? We have to do a better job. It seems like the older guys, JB (sophomore forward Jalen Bridges), Taz and those guys, are more in-tune with what I’m telling them. Those other guys have been wherever they’ve been, and I don’t think there’s the urgency to continue to be one of the premiere programs in the country. A lot of them are at a place where it’s like okay, oh well. We are what we are and we’re not good enough to be there, so let’s not worry about it. We’re here. With the legacy that we have here, I don’t want Jerrod calling me saying, “What is going on over there?” We have an obligation to some of the greatest alumni in the world and to a state that loves basketball."

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