EA SPORTS MAUI INVITATIONAL

November 20, 2012

Roquez Johnson

Rick Ray

Marquette – 89
Mississippi State - 62

THE MODERATOR:  Coach, some opening comments, please?

COACH RAY:  Obviously, we\'re short of bodies right now.  We\'ve got two problems.  In the first half, we make mistakes and we just don\'t have enough bodies to hold guys accountable.  There is no substitution pattern to take guys off when they make mistakes defensively and offensively.  Then in the second half we start competing and fighting, and we just get worn down.

I give credit to our players.  They did not give up.  They haven\'t given up.  They continue to work hard and play hard.  We\'re just so short of bodies right now.  When you\'re playing three games in three days against quality competition.  Obviously, Marquette is a team that prides themselves on playing hard and playing tough, and they do a good job with that.

But I looked at some of the statistics and we did some tough, hard things.  The fact that we shot 23 free throws to their 8 free throws, I believe is a testament to our guys.

We\'ve just got to continue to work and to fight.  But one of our biggest problems right now is that we don\'t get enough ball reversals.  We\'ve got guys that attack off the dribble, but it\'s probably too early in the shot clock to end up with an empty possession.

I\'m happy with the fact that our guys are fighting hard, and with us having not enough bodies, we can\'t hold guys accountable and then we just get worn down.

Q.  Are you okay after that injury?

ROQUEZ JOHNSON:  Yeah, it\'s nothing serious.

Q.  Can you talk about just playing in this tournament? Obviously tough competition.  Is it going to make you guys better in the long run, do you think?

ROQUEZ JOHNSON:  Yeah, it\'s a great team.  It\'s like getting that experience and playing on better teams and stuff like that.  So I think it\'s for the whole team to get better as a group and stuff.

Q.  Coach, are you in search of a leader out there on the floor?

COACH RAY:  To a degree.  Leadership has got to come from a collective group:  The only person that had experience playing college basketball is Jalen Steele.  Roquez has stepped up and provided toughness.  Wendell Lewis provided a little bit last year.  We\'re just void of experience at this point in time.  So when you\'re void of experience, you\'re always looking for leadership.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports