March 7, 2007

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Dayton Head Coach Brian Gregory

"Bobby (Lutz) and Charlotte have added so much to this league in the last two years and when you have the type of offensive firepower that they have you know that there is a difficult task ahead of you and they proved it in the first half and we tried to do just about everything and couldn't get anything going. But give our guys credit because they stuck with it and grinded one out in terms of just playing great defense in the second half and really turning the tide with our aggressiveness both on the glass and offensively taking the ball to the basket and making plays."

"Brian [Roberts] showed why he is one of the elite players in this league in the second half through his aggressiveness and London (Warren) made some big plays as a freshman point guard in a situation like that. We have done that in the last couple of weeks where everyone has made some big plays and it has been fun to watch these guys growing up right in front of you and making play after play and its not just offensive plays it's a hustle play, it's a defensive charge, it's a scrap rebound and that's why we've won 19 games are now able to advance."

"They were more aggressive in the first half and if you're more aggressive and you're making aggressive plays fouls are going to happen, we were not playing as tough as we needed to; one in this league, two against Charlotte and three if you want to advance."

"We get to play a great team tomorrow a team that won the league. We're just going to go out there and play as hard as we can that's what we've done all season and good things have happened to us. Even when we've lost I think we've grown as a team and we're not there yet but we're one day closer to where we want to be."

Dayton Junior Guard Brian Roberts

"London (Warren) has developed into a real good point guard, he's light years ahead of where he was when he started here and that's just a credit to him and how hard he's worked, how well he's listened to the coaches and just buying into the system that we have at Dayton."

"Xavier's a real talented team and you can't focus in on one player with that team, they're all talented and can do some things so like coach said they are a great team, we know the match-ups we have and I know what I have to do and we need to take that into the game tomorrow and hopefully we can come away with a win."

Charlotte Head Coach Bobby Lutz

"Obviously, Dayton played a terrific second half. We were happy with the first half and being up seven. We just couldn't make a stop in the second half. We played three different defenses, but it didn't seem to matter."

"They played well. They made big shots. On the other end, we had a lot of good looks that just didn't go in."

"We executed our game plan very well in the first half. In the second half, if you look at it, defensively it seemed to be a combination of a lapse or two and the other team making plays. You have to give Dayton some credit."

"Last year we were a great second half team throughout the whole season, that's something we'll have to go back and look at this year. It's one of those things that drives a coach crazy. Sometimes we try to do a little too much. We're a better team when we try and stay within our structure. When we screen and execute our stuff, we shoot a pretty good percentage. When we break that off, we're just not as productive."