“Tough loss. Very, very tough loss. Congrats to NC State, they made some big shots down on the stretch. That [Markell] Johnson three at the top, I thought we played good defense and we had a good contest - that was a big-time shot. I’m proud of my team. We’ve continued to fight through adversity. We’re on the ropes a little bit right now, but we have to fight our way off of it and we have to do it together. I thought we exhibited that today with the exception of the start of the second half. I thought we did some really good things. It’s been a really adverse week for us, a heartbreaking loss on Tuesday and obviously Malik’s [Ellison] injury. Then we had a couple days where we had guys out of practice sick—really, really sick. For the guys that were able to get out there on the court and give us minutes today, I’m really proud of them and I wish there was something we could do to get this feeling out of us, but we have to continue to fight. We have to continue to do the little things and understand the importance of it and the importance of doing them at every possession. We are a team and we have a very, very small margin of error and every play we have to be mentally and physically locked in. We are learning how to do that and haven’t figured it completely out yet, but today was a positive step although the outcome wasn’t what we wanted it to be.”

How long do you expect Malik to be out?

I don’t know. We will evaluate him tomorrow and hopefully have a better idea.

What is the nature of the injury?

It’s undisclosed.

What did you guys think you struggled with defensively tonight?

“Our two-point field goal defense was pretty good. Obviously, defensive rebounding, and then they made threes. They were a team that was shooting 30% from three in conference play over the last four games, 26%. They made some today. They made a lot of them today. Some of them were contested, some of them we didn’t get to guys. We lost a couple of guys, especially at the start of the half. I thought at times we got a little bit tired in our zone, didn’t rotate as quickly as we needed to be, but some of them they just made. Some of them, I don’t want to say they were dare shots, but we kind of played the percentages too and a couple of guys stepped up and made some.

Do you think there is a block for this team in late game situations?

“I thought a couple times as we drove, our focus wasn’t 100% completely on finishing. It was on trying to draw contact or thinking there was going to be contact and bracing for it. A few times there wasn’t any contact. So we have to focus on just the shot and not on anything else. I thought that played a little part into it. A couple times, we didn’t get the ball where we wanted to get it to. I can think of one off the top of my head where the shot selection wasn’t what we wanted. A couple times they played good defense and they contested shots and we just missed it. Some of it could be a little fatigue, too. As I go back and evaluate the tape I will have a better feel, but I know one possession we didn’t get the shot that we wanted, but other than that we got some pretty good looks.”

The sequence with the three 3-pointers in that one possession, did you want a 3 there?

We wanted the best shot that we could get and I thought in that possession we actually got some good looks.

Do your seniors play a larger role considering the circumstances?

Everyone does. It’s not just Jared or Sidy, it’s not just those two guys - it’s everyone on our team.

You went with a smaller starting lineup by starting Sidy, but with foul trouble you didn’t get to play the three guards together. How much did that affect how you wanted to attack them today?

It affected some, but I just thought the two guys that have been sick this week and missed practice were Au’Diese (Toney) and Kene (Chukwuka) and so with Malik out and with Au’Diese we weren’t sure and I was shocked that we was able to play as many minutes as he did. We were just uncertain. So certainly the foul trouble in the first half messed us up and we played a little bit more zone than we wanted to because we had X with two, Trey with two, and I think Kene had three towards the end with the foul that was reversed I guess, and Terrell had two. So we had to play a little bit more zone than maybe we wanted to in the first half, just to try to survive the foul trouble.

This was your seventh straight loss….

Thanks for reminding me.

This was your seventh straight loss, but the past two have been a combined five points, does it feel like this team is getting closer to breaking through?

I think we are. I think we are, but at the same time but at the same time we want to win. We had two opportunities for wins and we came up short. I don’t want us to be satisfied with just that, but we are getting better with experience.