Wake Forest Athletics
Post Game Quotes
1/29/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 29, 2008
Recap | Final Stats | Notes | AP Action Photos 
Wake Forest Head Coach Dino Gaudio
Opening statement...
"I think our guys really gutted out and played with a big heart to get a win tonight. We didn't play real well I didn't think. A lot of that credit goes to Frank's [Haith] kids. I thought we really played with a big heart."
"The key for us in the game was trying to keep them off the backboard. They had 18 offensive rebounds against us last year, which equated to 21 points. To hold those guys to seven offensive rebounds was big. I'm proud of those kids in that locker room."
On Smith's Final Shot...
"Jeff [Teague] played really well tonight. We huddled up as coaches and they're telling me, 'Hey, Jeff's got 27. Who are we going to go to?' I said, 'Hey, Ish [Smith] hit it against Virginia Tech. We're going back to our point guard.' He hit a big shot."
On the amount of zone played by Wake Forest...
"When we watched the tape of the game last year, our zone was good against them. We've been 95 percent man-to-man all year. It really helped us in the second half get a little bit of a cushion and then they came back. I think we had five straight stops and then they made a little run on us. We thought we might be able to play some seeing what happened last year."
On Ishmael Smith's impact on the team...
"He's done a terrific job for us. To see where he was last year as a freshman, maybe over-penetrating, maybe getting too deep into the lane; he now does a great job of if we don't have anything, pulling it back out, getting us into a set so we're not like scrambled eggs out there. We've won three ACC games and he's hit game-winners in two of them. We'll keep putting the ball in his hands at the end."
Miami Head Coach Frank Haith
Opening statement...
"Obviously it was a disappointing loss, I thought our guys in the first half allowed them to stay in the game, I thought we had a chance to get some separation and we allowed that by just not good secondary and transition defense. We gave them some open looks and I thought that got them going, especially [Jeff] Teague and [James] Johnson, and they got comfortable. Then the second half it was just a dog fight, the crowd got into it, but our kids kept fighting. I thought Dwayne Collins had a play there to win the game, missed a lay-up, but it shouldn't have come down to that. I felt like our transition defense was poor in the first half. It looked like Jack [McClinton] had the ball on the side over there too. I give Wake Forest credit; they made the plays to win the game."
On Jack McClinton's assertiveness...
"I don't know that, he only scored two points in the second half right? I don't know if that was a case of him being assertive, I think that they went to the zone and we still scored, we shot fifty-something percent. When I look at those numbers I don't worry about his assertiveness. What we have to do is shoot a high percentage and we felt like our strength in this ball game was in the paint. We wanted to get our post guys involved. But I look at those numbers and I feel really good about what we did offensively."
Wake Forest Guard Jeff Teague
On his performance...
"I was throwing it up and everything was going in. I was feeling good on the court. Usually L.D. [Williams] gets us off to a good start but he's not here. Coach told us to just stay aggressive and Ish [Smith] would get us the ball. He did that and we both found our shots."
On Ishmael Smith...
"I always have faith in Ish. He's a big shot taker. He hit the big shot against Virginia Tech. I knew he could do it again. He's a great leader. He just took over the game."
Wake Forest Guard Ishmael Smith
On the teams performance...
"You can't say enough about what Jeff [Teague] did. He did all the dirty work, I think; I just did the easy part. James [Johnson] was having a tough night, which you have, and Jeff just picked it right up. Harvey did a heck of a job in the second half defensively on Jack McClinton, he was just beating up first half and Harvey held him to two points in the second half."
On whether or not he was surprised that he got the final shot...
"Not surprised at all. But I will tell you this, as a point guard you have to find your hot man. Jeff was our hot man and I just kept finding him and kept looking for him. He was knocking down shots for us. But when they tied the basketball game, I came down, called the play, I did slip, he blocked the shot. But don't give me two chances, because I'm going to end it for my guy."
"I wanted the last shot. I've gained some trust from the guys where at Clemson I knocked down a big shot, Virginia Tech and here again but still you can't say enough about what Jeff [Teague] did."
Miami Guard Jack McClinton
On Wake's defense...
"Like Coach [Frank Haith] said, when they went to the zone the middle of the zone was open and we were getting some easy buckets in there, and that's where the sweet spot was like he said. I trust my team and my teammates did a good job, I had two points in the second half but there are a lot more things that caused that loss besides me."
On anticipating the last play...
"Yes I knew it was going to be some type of isolation, he [Ishmael Smith] made a good shot and we couldn't convert at the end."
