Wake Forest Athletics
Post-Game Quotes
3/9/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 9, 2006
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ACC Men's Basketball TournamentMarch 9, 2006
#12 Wake Forest 78, #5 Florida State 66
WAKE FOREST HEAD COACH Skip Prosser
Opening remarks
PROSSER: This was a wonderful win for Wake Forest. We beat an NCAA team in Florida State. I think in the second half we rebounded much better, we guarded much better, and for a change we made our free throws down the stretch.
Second half four turnovers, first half 10 - so we got a lot more efficient in terms of our possessions and to keep a team with the rebounding prowess of Florida State to five offensive rebounds speaks to a great effort by our kids. I'm very proud of them. I'm not sure a whole lot of folks gave us much of a chance in this one and I'm very proud of our players for emerging with a win.
This is a group that likes to play, and more importantly I think they really like one another. We had a team meal last evening where we said we didn't want this to be the last team meal. We want to keep this thing going for as long as we can.
On Chris Ellis' jump shot
PROSSER: Early in the year in non-conference play he hit a very high percentage with that knuckle ball. In the conference season he has not done that and that has allowed teams to crowd Eric (Williams) and make it much more difficult for us to score in the post. A little bit against NC State and certainly in the first half tonight, he really kept us alive. When he can do that, it really extends the defense and makes things a little more palatable.
WAKE FOREST SENIOR Eric Williams
On his play against Florida State
WILLIAMS: Coach told me to come out in the second half, don't worry about the fouls in the first half. Play like you want to stay on the floor. Coach said just try to impact the game any way you can. I may not have had the most steals, but I tried to get my hands on a lot of balls to try to deflect it any way I can. I think that helped us a lot on the defensive end.
On how frustrating it was being double- and triple-teamed
WILLIAMS: I'm pretty much used to it now. It's always frustrating when you can't get the kind of shots you want. I was able to get a couple of good passes to Kyle (Visser) under the basket, getting open looks for 3s. That's what makes me, I feel like, a complete player, because I try to look for my teammates if someone's open.
WAKE FOREST SENIOR Justin Gray
On his play against Florida State
GRAY: I just tried to come out and try to get people shots early on in the game. Coach told me everybody has their role to play in the game. My job being a point guard is to try and make everyone around me better. We had a couple of plays that were good, and when I came off the screens guys were open, and they were willing and ready to shoot. I give all the credit to my teammates for making shots.
On the free throws at the end, what the team was thinking
GRAY: We want to win. If we were going to win the game, we've got to make free throws. When it comes down to tight games, it's always either inbounds plays, or easy layups, or it comes down to the free throw line. Today guys stepped up - Harvey (Hale), Chris Ellis, Big E (Eric Williams) early on in the half - making free throws. If you can make free throws, it makes the game a lot easier on you.
On the chance for redemption in the ACC Tournament after a disappointing regular season
GRAY: A wise man told me (referring to head coach Skip Prosser) "The last thing you do is what people are going to remember," and that's exactly what we tried to do here. If we're going to lose, we're going to go down swinging, and play and leave everything out there on the court. Some games it's going to come down to the ball bouncing your way, but we're trying not to let it happen that way. We just want to go out and leave everything on the court, every possession.
FLORIDA STATE HEAD COACH LEONARD HAMILTON
Opening remarks
HAMILTON: We got beat today by a team that I thought executed better in the second half than we did on the offensive end. I didn't think we executed very well in the first half. We were up eight points in spite of ourselves. Sometimes that's good because normally you come back the second half and regroup. Wake Forest made some offensive adjustments the second half and got a couple of baskets early on that gave them some confidence. We never seemed to get into any type of offensive rhythm. I think that made the biggest difference in the game. Obviously, them being so much better on the boards than we were today gave them some second-shot opportunities when we did get stops. They got 13 offensive rebounds, and if you give a team that many second opportunities in a close game, that's something very difficult to overcome.
You have to give them credit because they came out in the second half and played with a lot of spirit, played like a team that was extremely focused. I thought we fought them a little bit in the execution standpoint on the offensive end. They had a couple guys make some shots that went in and we had some good looks that just didn't fall.
On the Seminoles' chances of gaining an NCAA bid
HAMILTON: I don't have any say in the criteria that's already been determined and me making speculations right now would be just that, speculations. What we have to do is maintain hope, and hope that we've done enough during the season to go to the NCAA Tournament and past that, there's not a whole lot more we can say.
FLORIDA STATE SENIOR ANDREW WILSON
On last 6:40 of the game
WILSON: We just weren't able to get into any kind offensive rhythm out there. They did a great job of taking away our inside game. When our big guys started kicking it out to our perimeter shooters we were not able to knock any down. They did a great job of defending us and they deserved to win the game tonight.
On Wake Forest and their No. 12 seeding
WILSON: We felt that coming into the game that Wake Forest had a great team. They have four seniors that have been there (ACC Finals & NCAA Tournament) and done that. They've been in the NCAA Tournament and played deep into the NCAA Tournament. We did not take those guys lightly, we just did not get the job done.
FLORIDA STATE SENIOR TODD GALLOWAY
On last 6:40 of the game
GALLOWAY: We just weren't able to hit shots. We had shots that we normally hit that didn't fall. We just didn't hit our shots.
