Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest vs. Mars Hill - Postgame Quotes
11/5/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 5, 2007
Wake Forest Head Coach Dino Gaudio
Thoughts on the game...
"I thought we played pretty well the first ten minutes of it. Then I think it was too good too early. I thought we did a good job of sharing the ball. Our kids played unselfishly. Although we forced 28 turnovers I was little disappointed in the last 30 minutes with our defense. It's something we have worked so hard at that during our last practices."
On Freshman James Johnson...
"What you saw out of [James Johnson] tonight is what he's been giving us. He's a very skilled kid. He can shoot the three, and he can put the ball on the floor. He scored 17 points, he did a pretty good job. He's a very talented young man. I don't know if we've had a kid that size that could do some of things he does at an early age since Josh Howard."
On the upcoming lineups...
"I think we can play 10 guys, and they are going to get the opportunity every game to go out there. Whether their play merits additional minutes that will be determined by how they do on the floor."
On the first game back...
"I think it's cathartic for us to be on the practice floor, to be together. I know the most difficult times for me are when I'm by myself. Every night when I put practice together I look at last year's practices. Skip's name is there for the drills he had. We had a jolt when we put the UNCG tape on from last year. We turned it on and there's Coach [Prosser] walking on the sidelines."
Mars Hill Head Coach Terry Rogers
On what Mars Hill did best tonight...
"We drove down here, got out safely and hopefully will be back safely on our way back; just kidding! I thought at times we really competed and at times we didn't, but I think when you play a team as athletic as they are; I don't know who picked them 12th in the league, but if there's 11 better teams than them then something is up. They have an outstanding group of young men, and they really tightened the basket, and it made it hard for us to guard. But I thought we competed at times, there were short periods at time I thought we got away from the fundamentals and quit squaring up and facing the basket, and took some things for granted. But I was pretty impressed we competed generally."
On what he saw in James Johnson...
"Other than his name of course I didn't know who he was, but I'll tell you what, freshman year there's a bunch of good ones in there and he's an unbelievable athlete in his first game out of high school. He had 18-12, or whatever it was. He's quite an athlete and I'll tell you with the kids they have and the kids they've recruited, I know they're not throwing away this year of course but with the kids they've got coming next year this will really be an outstanding basketball team. To be honest with you, I was really impressed with the entire demeanor of the Wake Forest kids I thought that they carried themselves well. Coach Gaudio has got them playing hard, he's got them under control, they're very team-oriented, they distributed the basketball very well. To answer your questions he's going to be a great player."
On Wake's size...
"I really believe they are big enough, I mean I'm sure they'd like to be bigger but because of their athleticism and their strength, and the way they handle the ball I think they're going to be able to compensate. I think sometimes we get caught up in height, what's the difference in 6'11" and 6'9", what's the difference in 6'9" and 6'8"; because of their athleticism I think they go beyond their size."
