Dec. 16, 2003

Head coach Fran O'Hanlon:

On his team's 5-1 start:
"We've gotten off to a good start and I think we've gotten better with each game. A lot of that has to do with some of our younger guys getting experience early and rising to the challenge. Also our depth is better than it was last year, so those two things put together have helped us get off to a good start. Looking at the schedule, we have as tough of a schedule as we've had since I've been here and it's not going to get any easier. Over the next week we have three very challenging opponents. After exams, coming off a 10-day break it's always difficult. Lycoming is 5-1 and then we play Cornell and Princeton, two teams that beat us last year pretty well, before we head out to Southern Cal."

On his team's progress:
"I've been happy with our progress. We do a good job defending, and we're able to do a lot more things than we could last year. Last year we played a lot of zone and this year we're playing more man-to-man. I'm happy with our progress but there's still some things we have to do to get better."

On Lafayette's improved rebounding from a year ago:
"Our intensity is better throughout the course of the game. Playing man-to-man allows us to rebound the ball better because everyone has more responsibility as far as assignments on who to block out as compared to a zone. I think Justin (DeBerry) and Winston (Davis) are doing a good job rebounding from the perimeter. Having Sean Knitter, Jamie Hughes, Jamaal Douglas and Andrei Capusan, those are four pretty good basketball players inside coming off the bench. They give us minutes and come in with a lot of energy. They know their roles and go in and hit the boards and play defense and give us whatever help they can scoring-wise."

On the play of the underclassmen:
"You don't know how they're going to react until they've been through the fire. I thought at Rutgers we showed some inexperience and I thought we grew from that. I also think that having the seniors we do has helped bring them along. If they were out there by themselves I don't think they'd be as successful as they've been. I think the seniors have settled them down and given them a lot of confidence."

Senior forward Mike Farrell:

On what he sees as the biggest positive thus far:
"The fact that we're winning close games. Last year we were in a lot of close games and we didn't come away with a lot of W's. Now we have a sense that, if a game is close, we're going to win."

Senior guard Justin DeBerry:

On the seniors sharing the load with the underclassmen:
"Everyone on our team is unselfish and I think you see that when we play. I think we all have a respect for everyone's abilities and we understand that if we're going to be successful, we have to trust each other offensively and defensively. We all know what each other can do, so we don't feel like we have to make it happen every time by ourselves. If everyone gets that attitude, then it's a lot more fun to play."