Battle of the Bronx: Jeff Neubauer quotes

Fordham head coach Jeff Neubauer's opening statement:
"One word we really talked about with our team coming into this game was poise, and our team certainly showed poise down the stretch. The absolute key to winning here in Draddy was going to be value for the ball, because Manhattan was number one in the country coming into the game at forcing turnovers and turnover percentage, and our guys really did do that. We only had 13 turnovers, our guards for the most part really took care of the ball, so I don't think I did a great job preparing our team to attack the zone, however, our players really took care of the basketball."

On not calling a timeout on Fordham's last possession:
"Yeah, it's a good question, and it's something I've actually thought about lately. I don't usually think about the end-of-game situations a lot, but we know where the ball wants to be. We're gonna put the ball in Nick Honor's hands, there's absolutely no question about that. We have run a flip-it ball screen for him at the end of every half. There's no question what we're going to do, so there's really no point in calling a timeout and saying, 'Hey, we know what we're gonna do,' so this time, it worked well."

On Nick Honor and what he brings to Fordham's lineup:
"Nick's been consistent. This game was a little bit different than his previous six games just in what he could get against their defense, but he's been consistently mentally tough, he's found shots he likes. He wasn't able to create as much for his teammates tonight because of their zone, but he's also been really solid as far as taking care of the ball."

On Antwon Portley and being a more complete player:
"I think the main idea is that we have a lot of young guys, as you mentioned, and so this was a battle of two teams that may be the two youngest teams in the country. Freshmen were out there for both sides, but what Antwon does give us is some experience. He gives us a guy that's been through a war or two, and that really does help our other guys."

On significance of Fordham's rivalry with Manhattan:
"The way I talk to our guys, every game is an important game. In college basketball, you only get like, 31. This isn't the NBA, where you're playing 82 games and that's just called the regular season. You only get 31, so every game is really important. With that being said, here locally, when you talk about the alums of Manhattan, the alums at Fordham, this game really means something. So anytime there is a rivalry game, where fans and students really care about the result, it's important."

On being able to grind out a win and what it means moving forward:
"It's simply where we are, and the fact that value for the ball-wise, we only had 13 turnovers, the fact that that's where we are, that's something I'm really proud of. Now, everyone has had trouble attacking Manhattan's zone. Everyone. They have really guarded well this year. I could have done a better job helping our guys, but our guys did what we asked, and they took care of the ball."

On Honor, Jalen Cobb, and Ty Perry:
"We do have a big group of freshmen. Jalen Cobb's the other guy that really came up big, he looked very comfortable in this atmosphere, so obviously Nick Honor hit the big shot -- Jalen Cobb -- we've got a whole group of them that are really contributing. Chris Austin coming back from an injury, he's going to help us quite a bit. Onyi Eyisi, I really thought Onyi was going to be the key to tonight's game. He only ended up playing six minutes because he had five fouls. Onyi really could have helped tonight."

On defending Pauly Paulicap:
"Well, we didn't want to foul him because he's a better free throw shooter than some of their other guys. We were trying to create a turnover before they could even get to that part, but we weren't able to do it. That was a really tough matchup where all three of our centers fouled out."

"There were a couple of guys on their team coming into the game that had low free throw shooting percentages, but Paulicap was 65 percent last year from the line, so I wasn't expecting him to miss any. Obviously, we did talk about rebounding and free throws -- it's an important part of the game, especially with Manhattan's team numbers coming into the game -- but Paulicap's one of the better free throw shooters."

On exploiting Manhattan's low scoring:
"One thing I said to our team was that Manhattan hasn't played a game whole yet. This is the first game they've played whole. Pauly Paulicap is by far their best player, he was a double-figure scorer last year, he blocked over 70 shots last year, and he's only played five minutes until this game. He adds so much to their team, so Paulicap being there tonight really helped their offense, and then Warren Williams has gotten a lot of good reps because Paulicap's been out, so he was a force as well."