First, a snippet from the game story in tomorrow’s News & Advance:

RADFORD—Liberty basketball coach Ritchie McKay offered a mea culpa following his team’s 92-85 victory at Radford Saturday night.

“We owed everyone who came to the game and follows us an apology,” McKay said, referring to Tuesday’s 37-point home loss to VMI. “I personally owed an apology for the way our team played and the way we represented.

“No disrespect to VMI, but it was really uncharacteristic of us. We put our guys through a lot the last two and a half, three days. They responded like people with character who are proud to be a part of a program do.”

For more, read the full story in Sunday’s News & Advance.

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Now for the quotes that didn’t make the newspaper story:

Liberty coach Ritchie McKay

On the physical nature of the game

“I thought the game was really physical, but I thought it was fair. I thought both teams played like it was a tournament-like atmosphere. I was really proud of the way our team responded. I was very pleased with our effort.“

On James Spencer’s play

“We had to make a decision on who we were going to play, and he’s a very, very good defender. I thought he earned it in practice with the way he played, and I thought his attitude was great. He played an exceptional game. He did a great job and affected the game.“

Offense coming together without Jesse Sanders

“You know how much Jesse means to us, so to win a game against the team that won the league championship, that’s a big step for our program. Hopefully we can get him back quickly, because we need him if we’re going to make a championship run.“

Were James and Bill Weaver going to have to hit shots in the second half?

“We were ready for that. We were ready against VMI, but we didn’t execute. When people play you five on three, somebody’s got to make them pay for that.“

On Parakahouski

“He’s a tremendous post. What makes him so hard to guard is that he’s not a selfish player. He got 39 points on 18 shots? He’s hard as anyone in the league to cover.“

On Radford’s continual comebacks Saturday

“I’m trying to say this with humility. Our guys haven’t been intimidated by the venue or the significance of the game. We played well at Clemson and played well at Virginia. We played a good first half at Old Dominion. We’ve just been staggering without our point guard. We wanted to do too much.“

Johnny Stephene only playing one minute

“My decision. He’s not in the doghouse or anything.“

On the success of road teams in the Big South

“Being at home will be an advantage, but there are some very, very good teams in this league. You take anyone for granted in this league, you’re going to get beat.“

Seth Curry

What did you learn from not having Jesse Tuesday

“They kind of played the same defense. So we learned how to attack it. Coach was working hard trying to find ways to get open shots for our leading scorers, and hoping the role players would get in there and hit some open shots and set some good screens.“

Kyle Ohman scoring off handoff plays in the first half

“That was just Kyle feeling it. He was just improvising out there. The basket was so big for him that he couldn’t miss in the first half. If he’s going like that, it’s hard to stop him.“

On holding Radford off

“We just had to keep fighting. They’re real big inside so we had to keep fighting on the defensive glass. You can’t give them two or three shots like we did a few times. They’re going to get some easy buckets because they’re so big. So we had to just keep fighting.“

On free throw streak ending at 41

“Forty-one in a row and then I miss four? Man, what’s going on. Guess I’ve got to start another one.“

James Spencer

When did you find out about starting?

“I didn’t find out until we had practice on Wednesday after that bad loss. I was working really hard in practice and coach put me up to the test.“

How does more responsibility push you?

“You’ve just got be ready to step up. Jesse had a bad injury, so I knew either me or Johnny (Stephene) had to step up. He gave me an opportunity. I made the most of it.“

Feeling confident with shot?

“We shoot it every day in practice. Coach is always talking about confidence, and confidence comes with repetition. So I’m in practice, shooting on the gun all the time.“

Winning without Jesse?

“We just had to play a little bit smarter. We were just rushing. With Jesse, he runs the offense really well. He slows everything down and controls everything. The last two games, we were a little hesitant. I was just trying to get a feel for it. After Tuesday’s loss, we worked really hard in practice. The coaches were helping me out, telling me what to do. That helped out a lot too.“