I was happy with the poll. I never imagined that we would be ranked No. 1 before the season. ... This group of kids is focused on making it to the finals.

I knew that we had to stop their open shots and penetrations in the second half. So we adjusted defensively and took away those opportunities. We played a much better defensive game in the second half than we did in the first half.

Every week I put him on the best offensive player. Tonight we used a different strategy and put him on the ball handler to disrupt it. He makes us tick defensively with his ball pressure.