Post Game Quotes
12/1/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 1, 2007
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Wake Forest Head Coach Dino Gaudio
On playing again in less than 24 hours
"I'm happy with the win after coming off the lost Thursday night, playing in less than 48 hours. Our kids did a good job in the second half. Our defense was solid holding them to 22 points. A big effort area for us is being plus 16 on the boards and it was a good effort in that area. James Johnson played pretty well for us and showed us a lot of emotion."
On playing Vanderbilt on Wednesday...
"On Wednesday, [it is going to be a] big challenge for us. They really push the ball up the floor. We really have to do a good job in transition defense. We need to score more points than we did tonight to win."
On the consistency of James Johnson
"Things don't bother him, even if you're yelling at him. He's a really confident kid. He learns from it, but it doesn't affect his psyche as much. He plays hard, and really has a good feel for the game. Three blocks, 4 steals on top of everything else, a really good job for a young guy in 26 minutes."
On missing shots
"We want them [the players] driving the ball and putting pressure on them [opponents]. When we came back from the Charlotte game, we broke the film and watched every shot we took. There were a couple of situations today where we had the ball right there at the bucket, and we're not going to get much closer than we're getting. We just have to finish it, to finish the plays. It will come around. I told the kids before the game that they are all very talented offensive players. It's all here [in their head] for you, and I'm not smart enough to be Dr. Phil. Hopefully it will come around for them."
Wake Forest Junior Harvey Hale
On responding to Wednesday night's loss
"I think we bounced back, especially defensively. We're trying to be a really good defensive team. For being such a young team, I felt like we bounced back well. Sometimes when you have a young team the guys start to relax. We bounced back and we're proud of what happened today."
On Freshman James Johnson's personality
"He's 20 years old, but he's a big kid. He loves to have fun. He works hard though. On one-on-one drills and other drills that we run, he really works hard. He plays like a 20-year-old on the court but when he's off the court he's a big kid. He likes to have fun and likes to joke around."
Wake Forest Freshman James Johnson
On the defensive intensity displayed by Wake Forest
"After the loss against Charlotte we noticed some things in film that we weren't proud of. We weren't getting back fast and we weren't pressuring the ball. We allowed their [Charlotte's] shooting percentage to be up way higher than we wanted. Today we wanted their [USC Upstate's] percentage to be under 30 percent and we got it to 32 percent."
On responding to Wednesday night's loss
"I knew from last year that these guys had character and it could only build. We got the loss and the next day the captains and upperclassmen did a great job. The next day in practice we just got motivated and we had to build on that. We did. We didn't worry about it [the loss] at all."
Wake Forest Sophomore Chas McFarland
On playing against 7-2 Nick Schneiders
"It was a little bit different. When I was in prep school, quite a few times I played against kids that were bigger than me. It was a little different. He's a pretty good player and he's got a lot of potential."
On his confidence level
"I'm just working hard everyday in practice. When the coaches have confidence in you, that gives you a little more confidence within yourself. Everybody else on the team seems to be behind me and that gives you a little more confidence too."
USC Upstate Head Coach Eddie Payne
On the youth of the USC Upstate team
"Just about the whole time we're out there we've got one guy that's played basketball for us. Everyone else is new. Most of them are freshman or from junior colleges so I try to keep perspective on things. We're doing some good things. We still have somebody making a mental mistake and just about every time we did that Wake Forest made us pay."
On the game overall
"If you look at the transition and second shot opportunities and points off of turnovers, we did a fairly good job guarding them in the half-court sets. But those other areas really hurt us. I think we did some good stuff. We'll have to analyze it and look at it and try to get better."
On Junior Forward Bobby Davis
"Bobby Davis really struggled, but hopefully, when we get into our league he'll be able to finish against guys that are a little smaller than these guys or Cincinnati's guys or Utah's guys. Hopefully he'll be a little bit more effective. I think he will be."
On Wake Forest's performance in the game
"I think Wake Forest looked a little more comfortable. We really tried to take away penetration and allowed some fairly open looks from the perimeter. I don't think we got hurt there. We got hurt on the offensive glass and in transition. They are also a young team. They are also looking to find identities and solidify roles, those kinds of things. It's going to take them some times but I like what I see. As an alumnus I like what I see. As a coach I didn't particularly like it. I think they're doing some good things and they'll be an improving team all along."
On Wake Forest Forward James Johnson
"I like him. He's got more outside capability at the four spot. He really plays like a three and I think he's going to be a guy that they'll be able to use in match-up circumstances throughout the season. I like him a lot. I think he's going to be a really good player."
