Brian Thornton

Brian Thornton
Brian Charles Thorntonis an American volleyball player. He played for the 2007 NCAA national champions, the University of California, Irvine. He plays for the United States national team and appeared in the 2012 Summer Olympics...
ball came crunch far focus game heel kept rebound trap
We wanted to go out and focus on rebounding. It's been our Achilles' heel so far this season. This was a trap game for us, where if we didn't go out and rebound the ball well, we could be in a world of trouble. They still rebounded the ball well, but collectively, we kept them off when it came crunch time.
bad ball diving felt guy heard hit hurt knew picked scramble situation team
It was a scramble situation. I picked up the ball and they had a guy on their team diving for the ball, and he hit my leg, and that was pretty much the end of it. It really didn't hurt as bad as I would have expected. ... As the situation stood, I felt it and heard it, so I pretty much immediately knew I was done for the year.
ball great guards harder helping job reason whatever
They did a great job of helping off on me. Sometimes the ball doesn't get into me for whatever reason. ... It was harder for the guards to get me the ball than usual.
anybody ball beat defense good happens hard quite turned
It's disappointing. We turned the ball over quite a bit. When that happens and our defense isn't as good as it was, it's going to be hard for us to beat anybody in this conference.
against ball boards charlotte coming games good job physical rebound team
I think it's become a sense of desperation to some extent. We know that when we play games like Charlotte - we have another game coming up against a physical team in UC who does a good job on the boards - if we don't rebound the ball well, we're not going to win.
count free game hit knock shoot stretch throws
We didn't knock down our free throws like we'd like to. You shoot 100 free throws on game day but you can't hit the ones that count down the stretch. We still got it done down the stretch and got the win.
basketball bed couple gotten playing practices work worth
We had kind of gotten away from the basketball we had been playing in the past, and a couple 6 a.m. practices refocused us and got us ready. When you have these (school) assignments, you can't get to bed early. But it was worth it. If that's what we need to do to work and get better, that's what we have to do.
felt goes good guys hearts played prepare season socks support
It felt good to be here with the guys tonight. They played their hearts out tonight. It felt good that they all put on the long socks for me, as a little tribute. I'm still part of this team, and I'll be doing everything I can to prepare them and support them as the season goes on.
felt glad good hearts played socks support takes tribute whatever
It felt good to be here with the guys. They played their hearts out tonight. It felt good they put on the long socks for me as a tribute or whatever. Whatever it takes to win, I'm glad I could come back and support them.
beat best last nation playing realize team teams time twice
We realize we beat them twice last year. But at the same time it's a different team for us and for them. GW is one of the best teams in the nation right now, and they're playing like it.
eight game games hopeful wednesday
We can be hopeful that we have a game on Wednesday so that we can go out and play again. We have eight more games to go. We don't want to go out like this.
beauty cutting free hit practice team throws work
I don't think it was lucky. We put in work every day. The beauty of our team right now is that we're not cutting corners. We come out every day in practice and work our butts off. We didn't hit free throws the way we wanted to, but we kind of scraped it out. We got it done.
game lost overall
I don't know. This was a big game and we wanted to come out and play hard. And at times we did, but overall we just lost it.
ankle attacking basketball forward guy looking near prepared problem pursue rehab whether
I don't feel in any way this is a career-threatening situation. I'm looking forward to attacking the rehab in the same way I prepared myself for this season. ... I'm a guy who has a lot of things going for me, whether it's on or off the basketball court. I know basketball is something I want to pursue in the near future. I don't think I'll have a problem being able to do that when my ankle is healed.