There were six media members to interview Ron Hunter, Jaylen Forbes and Sion James yesterday. Here is what Tulane's guys said in anticipation of tonight's game against No. 24 FAU as the Wave tries to break an astounding 52-game losing streak against ranked teams dating to December of 1999.
On how disappointed he was with North Texas loss:
"I'm disappointed every time we don't win, but I also understand that you played a good team that doesn't usually lose a lot of games in that building. I thought we just missed some shots that we normally make, but it's a tough league. Winning on the road is hard. Florida Atlantic goes to Charlotte and gets a loss. When you're in league play, you have to bring a whole another level of intensity, and I just though that their intensity was a lot higher than ours regardless of how well they play in that building. But they shot the ball well, so give them credit."
Of if league is better than people think:
"Oh, no question. And even myself. Top to bottom you can get beat in this league. You've got two teams right now that are ranked in the top 225 and a lot of teams with winning records that play good basketball. This is a really good league, and I'm just surprised in regards to the bottom teams how well they're playing right now, especially at home."
On adjustment with six new teams:
"Well, they're new and they're coming with a lot of credibility. North Texas just won the NIT and UAB was in the finals with them and then Florida Atlantic was in the Final Four (of the NCAA tournament). We didn't have that when UConn and that group was in the league when I first got here, so the league has gotten better. It's a great league. The great part about it is we're one of the good teams. I'd rather be one of the good teams trying to fight in this league than being one of the bad teams because this is a tough place to win. We've got to make that here that our home-court advantage is pretty good, and it has been since I've been here. We've got a pretty good home record ourselves. As great as it talking about some of the other teams, I always have to remind the people here, Tulane now has a good basketball program. I have to continually remind people of that."
On transition to basketball from football for fans and what they can expect to see:
"Football's over? I didn't know that. Well then come watch basketball. Again, I love what our kids are doing. It's going to be a great game, and then the next time we turn around the next (home) game and have Memphis coming in here, so we've got back-to-back teams in the top 25 coming in here to play a really good team. I'm excited about that. It's taken us a while to build our program up to the point where we can compete and not only compete, but we can win these type of games. We've earned the right to play in these type of games. That's what I told our players. When Sion (James) and (Jaylen) Forbes and (Kevin) Cross first got here, we couldn't win these type of games. They are to the point now where they've developed where we can win these type of games, and now we're one of the good teams in a very good conference."
On significance of win over ranked team for outside perception:
"Yeah, my job is hard enough to worry about the perception of my own players, so worrying about the outside perception is something I'll leave up to you guys in that regard, but one of the things, if you win the game, you've got to turn around and go play another good team, and then you've got to come back home and play Memphis. Win, lose or draw, you give it your best and you can't let this game affect what happens on the other ones. I just want our kids to play well. If you know anything about me, all my teams have always peaked at the right time. I want to make sure we're playing our best as we start to get towards March. That's what's going to be really important in this league--how many teams you send to the NCAA tournament and those type of things. We just want to get better every day so we're peaking at the right time."
On FAU strengths:
"They are really good in transition and transition 3s. When you watch them play and they are really rolling, they take missing and they get on the other end of the floor and they can make 3s. We have to make sure that we don't allow them to get those transition 3 baskets. The teams that have beaten us in the past, we have to defend the 3-point line. When we defend the 3-point line, we are really, really good. If you look at North Texas, we didn't defend the 3-point line although they made some incredible shots. We have to defend the 3-point line, regardless of if we're playing FAU, Sisters of the Poor or the Pelicans."
On giant RPI win if can get it:
"Yeah, but again, it's still too early for a lot of those things right now. What I want to make sure is that my kids are playing with a free mind. A lot of times when you start worrying about this and the RPI, although they don't use the RPI anymore, which shows how old we are, but I just want them to enjoy this, continue to play well and play free. That's the main thing I want our kids to understand. Play free. If we come in here and play tight, we've got no chance."
On Forbes, Kevin Cross and Kolby Kings having off days against North Texas:
"When our top three scorers are not playing at what I call their bare minimum, which they weren't the other day, then we're not going to win that game. It's like having a quarterback and receiver and running back all having bad days in football. If you get that, they're just not going to play well."
On if Cross is NBA player:
"That's not for me to determine. I think he's having a great year. He's a special type of player the way he plays. That's to be determined by some of the other teams, but I do think that not only Cross, but Sion and Forbes, we've got those caliber players that you better come in here and take a look at those players. Before you never had to come in here and take a look at them. We have those type of players now."
On how disappointed he was with North Texas loss:
"I'm disappointed every time we don't win, but I also understand that you played a good team that doesn't usually lose a lot of games in that building. I thought we just missed some shots that we normally make, but it's a tough league. Winning on the road is hard. Florida Atlantic goes to Charlotte and gets a loss. When you're in league play, you have to bring a whole another level of intensity, and I just though that their intensity was a lot higher than ours regardless of how well they play in that building. But they shot the ball well, so give them credit."
Of if league is better than people think:
"Oh, no question. And even myself. Top to bottom you can get beat in this league. You've got two teams right now that are ranked in the top 225 and a lot of teams with winning records that play good basketball. This is a really good league, and I'm just surprised in regards to the bottom teams how well they're playing right now, especially at home."
On adjustment with six new teams:
"Well, they're new and they're coming with a lot of credibility. North Texas just won the NIT and UAB was in the finals with them and then Florida Atlantic was in the Final Four (of the NCAA tournament). We didn't have that when UConn and that group was in the league when I first got here, so the league has gotten better. It's a great league. The great part about it is we're one of the good teams. I'd rather be one of the good teams trying to fight in this league than being one of the bad teams because this is a tough place to win. We've got to make that here that our home-court advantage is pretty good, and it has been since I've been here. We've got a pretty good home record ourselves. As great as it talking about some of the other teams, I always have to remind the people here, Tulane now has a good basketball program. I have to continually remind people of that."
On transition to basketball from football for fans and what they can expect to see:
"Football's over? I didn't know that. Well then come watch basketball. Again, I love what our kids are doing. It's going to be a great game, and then the next time we turn around the next (home) game and have Memphis coming in here, so we've got back-to-back teams in the top 25 coming in here to play a really good team. I'm excited about that. It's taken us a while to build our program up to the point where we can compete and not only compete, but we can win these type of games. We've earned the right to play in these type of games. That's what I told our players. When Sion (James) and (Jaylen) Forbes and (Kevin) Cross first got here, we couldn't win these type of games. They are to the point now where they've developed where we can win these type of games, and now we're one of the good teams in a very good conference."
On significance of win over ranked team for outside perception:
"Yeah, my job is hard enough to worry about the perception of my own players, so worrying about the outside perception is something I'll leave up to you guys in that regard, but one of the things, if you win the game, you've got to turn around and go play another good team, and then you've got to come back home and play Memphis. Win, lose or draw, you give it your best and you can't let this game affect what happens on the other ones. I just want our kids to play well. If you know anything about me, all my teams have always peaked at the right time. I want to make sure we're playing our best as we start to get towards March. That's what's going to be really important in this league--how many teams you send to the NCAA tournament and those type of things. We just want to get better every day so we're peaking at the right time."
On FAU strengths:
"They are really good in transition and transition 3s. When you watch them play and they are really rolling, they take missing and they get on the other end of the floor and they can make 3s. We have to make sure that we don't allow them to get those transition 3 baskets. The teams that have beaten us in the past, we have to defend the 3-point line. When we defend the 3-point line, we are really, really good. If you look at North Texas, we didn't defend the 3-point line although they made some incredible shots. We have to defend the 3-point line, regardless of if we're playing FAU, Sisters of the Poor or the Pelicans."
On giant RPI win if can get it:
"Yeah, but again, it's still too early for a lot of those things right now. What I want to make sure is that my kids are playing with a free mind. A lot of times when you start worrying about this and the RPI, although they don't use the RPI anymore, which shows how old we are, but I just want them to enjoy this, continue to play well and play free. That's the main thing I want our kids to understand. Play free. If we come in here and play tight, we've got no chance."
On Forbes, Kevin Cross and Kolby Kings having off days against North Texas:
"When our top three scorers are not playing at what I call their bare minimum, which they weren't the other day, then we're not going to win that game. It's like having a quarterback and receiver and running back all having bad days in football. If you get that, they're just not going to play well."
On if Cross is NBA player:
"That's not for me to determine. I think he's having a great year. He's a special type of player the way he plays. That's to be determined by some of the other teams, but I do think that not only Cross, but Sion and Forbes, we've got those caliber players that you better come in here and take a look at those players. Before you never had to come in here and take a look at them. We have those type of players now."