'We Gave Up'

As bad as the final score looked for the Bulldogs against Illinois in Chicago over the weekend, it sounds like things were actually a lot worse. Check out what junior center Albert Jackson had to say about the game and the aftermath:

On what was said in the team meeting that followed the game:

"Basically, he just went through the whole game, piece by piece, of everything that contributed to us not being successful. The main thing he hit on was us just not playing with enough passion. The last 10 minutes, we gave up. I don't like to say that -- I've never had to say that -- but as a team, we gave up and let them pull away. It should have been a 14-point loss that turned into a 30-point loss. He was just saying that you've got to have more pride."

On what the team's captains said to the team after the game:

"The captains of the team, we all had different things we wanted to say. My main thing, I just said we need to get tougher -- mentally, too. When we hit adversity in the game, we were arguing a lot, people were saying stuff back and forth to each other. You can't have that. When the other team and the crowd is going against you, you've got to stick together, and I just really felt like we did a poor job of supporting each other."

On if there was a game last year that was similar:

"I can say really on Senior Night, we were really down. Ole Miss came in and just whupped us. That was a game that was kind of like this game, but one thing we didn't have last year, we never gave up. It was similar in being beat by a lot of points. We have the same attitude coming into practice as we're going to get better, come out and play better, and that's the same attitude we had after the Ole Miss game, and then we came out, of course, and went on a run. I'm not saying we're going to go on that same run, but we have the same feelings to lead up to it, so hopefully we have the same results."

On the difference between the close game vs. Western Kentucky and the blowout to Illinois:

"They shot the ball excellent, but besides that, I think the guys -- I really don't have an answer for it. It was probably more hostile at Western Kentucky, the talent was about the same, we just didn't have it in us at the time. We had adversity, and guys just didn't find it in themselves to break out of it. You can't be like that. You can't have one night where you fight like at Western Kentucky and lose because of simple mistakes, and then have another night where you have the same opportunity, but you just give up."

On what needs to happen Tuesday vs. Virginia Tech:

"A lot of people may feel like this is a must win. That's not how Ifeel. I feel like for us to be a successful team, we've got to showimprovement every game. We're a young team, and I think this game,we've got to show the heart and the determination and we have toexecute as a team. Win or lose, I feel like we have to showimprovement."