2017 PUERTO RICO TIP-OFF post-game quotes, Iowa State 104, Appalachian State 98

IOWA STATE Coach Steve Prohm – “This was really good for our team. We were excited to get here to Myrtle Beach just to continue to grow. Obviously, we got off to a rough start in our first two games but this team – we’re not worried about November, to be honest, we’re worried about trying to figure out how to be the best team we possibly can as we get into January, February and March. I thought we made some strides the past couple days. I told the guys regardless of what happens today we’ve got to keep making strides. Great to win, great to see Nick (Weiler-Babb) seven assists, one turnover, 23 points, Donovan (Jackson) to make shots. I think the biggest thing is the things we’ve talked about; tempo and pace has been great today. Defensively the last 10 minutes we got a little lackadaisical, so we’ve got to stay on that and finish in games.

“When we did get to spots and we didn’t transition the right way, the guys know we’re not very good and we get all stagnant. When we do run, Donovan gets to hit 3s and Nick gets downhill in the paint, it’s harder to defend. I was looking for make or miss, are we pushing tempo? And we did that for the majority of the game. That’s something we need to preach in order for this team to max out.”

Iowa State Guard Nick Weiler-Babb – “For the most part it was good setting the pace. For the most part we’ve been kind of walking it down, we’ve been a slow-paced team the past two games, so we had to switch that. It was good having the ball in my hands having to make decisions, just being able to determine what’s going to happen on that play. I played point for most of my basketball career until I got into college, then I moved off the ball. I felt pretty good, but I’ve got such good players on the wings, even if I don’t have the ball I trust them to bring the ball down and do great things.

“It gave (Jackson) and (Lindell Wigginton) more freedom on the wings. They didn’t have to worry about bringing the ball up or out-letting the ball, they ran freely. I feel like it took a little burden off their shoulders.”

APPALACHIAN STATE Coach Jim Fox – “Congratulations to Iowa State. They’re a good team, they kind of made everything today. We didn’t get it done and our guys are very disappointed. We’ve got to be better than we were today. We went through some spells there where we tried to play as people we were not. What happens is it carries over to the defensive end and we really struggled for a couple rounds there. Our bad offense led to bad defense and that’s the most disappointing thing.

“Our guys played extremely hard, but we have to learn that playing hard is expected in our program and we have to execute also. The problem we had was suddenly when the ball stopped, and we tried to go one-on-one with no swings of the ball and that’s not who we are. Obviously, we want to attack the rim and get fouled but we can’t just have the ball stop at the top of the key and suddenly just put our head down and go.”

Appalachian State Guard Justin Forrest – “Like Coach said, congratulations to Iowa State. I’m proud of our team competing and fighting to the end of the game. We’ll go watch film and fix what we need to fix and come back tomorrow ready to play.

“First of all, I want to thank my teammates for believing in me and getting me the ball. It’s just in our offense. The coaches trust us when we’re out there we’re out there and call the play every possession they. Just being with my teammates and having them trust me in getting me the ball and me just doing whatever our offense says we do.”