Post Game Quotes
11/24/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 24, 2008
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Opening statement...
"I wish we would have played the first 20 minutes like we did the second 20. I think we didn't come out mentally ready to play and that's on me. That's my fault. We told them that Winston-Salem State plays against you in the summer and they're not going to be intimidated in anyway shape or form and they weren't. I thought our defense in the first half was really good. As we all know and the stats show it, we had 18 turnovers. We were just trying to force things that we normally don't do. That was really disappointing for me, the 18 turnovers in the first half against a half court man-to-man team. You have to learn to adjust when they're making the charge call and they were all good calls. I thought the second half was more Wake Forest. We had 11 assists on 15 field goals. We shared the ball. Our pressure picked the tempo up a little bit because they lulled us to sleep in the first half with the four corners and running the shot clock all the way down. As angry as I was at halftime, when I walked in there, it was a good locker room. They were talking to one another, saying we got to pick this up. Sometimes you walk in there and kids are bickering at one another and that wasn't the case at all."
On what he told his team at halftime...
"I was really disappointed with our turnovers and I told them that. I thought we tried to force things. Instead of trying to execute our way out of stuff, our players tried to beat their defender by themselves. I think we had several charges because of that. We have to get better with that. Hopefully that's a lesson learned."
On Ishmael Smith...
"I'm glad he played because I knew the first time he stepped on the floor, he'd be a little rusty. I'm glad he got in there and got his feet wet. He was pain free yesterday and practiced the whole practice. I wanted to put him in more in the second half, but when we had a little cushion, I didn't want to take a chance. He looked good in practice yesterday. It was good to see him out there today. I think he'll be ready to go on Thursday."
On how much the team needs to improve...
"We need to learn from some of our mistakes tonight. When we're good, we can beat anybody. I don't know if we can beat anybody with some of the things we did in the first half. It's a learning experience. We just have to understand what makes us good - sharing the ball, playing good defense and rebounding the ball. Ish (Smith) made a couple of rocket passes that guys usually pick and put in. They have to get used to playing with him. Not only does he have to play, but they have to get used to playing with him. The more those guys play together, the better for us."
On the 76 Classic in Anaheim, Calif...
"It's a great field. Cal State Fullerton is a really athletic team. They have eight junior college kids and they're very well coached. If we're fortunate enough to win, then we'll play either St. Mary's or UTEP. St. Mary's won 20-plus games last year and has a terrific two-guard from Australia and two big kids. UTEP has four starters back. On the other side of the bracket is Arizona State and we know what kind of coach Herb Sendek is. Providence has five starters back. Baylor is racking up all kinds of points and our friends from Charlotte, who could have beat Clemson the other night. It's a terrific field. Someone said that six of the eight teams from that tournament will be in the NCAA Tournament. I hope we're one."
Wake Forest Sophomore James Johnson
On the pace of the game...
"It was slow. We are not really use to that. We had to bring the press on them to speed things up a little bit. Still a fun game, we came out with a win and that is what we need."
On the number of points you scored...
"Our team is good. Everybody in practice works hard so we trust everybody. If I only score 2 points I'm not worried about it."
On how important it is to win playing in different styles...
"Every win is a big win for us. To come out and see everyone's different ways of playing will help us out further down the road. I'm pretty sure we will see that out in California, maybe in the ACC, or even in tournament play."
Wake Forest Sophomore Jeff Teague
On adjusting to the pace of the game...
"We didn't really expect that. We were kind of caught off guard in the beginning. We had a lot of turnovers in the first half. Second half we got use to it and made them play at our pace."
On what changed in the second half...
"We became more aggressive with the ball. We were passive in the beginning and they came out ready to fight. Second half we sped up the game and I think that made us more aggressive."
On wanting to look like and be an elite team...
"We didn't look like an elite team in the first half. We came out tonight with them neck and neck with us. It was going to be a dog fight. We have to get our team on a roll; we cannot have any more lapses like that."
Wake Forest Senior Harvey Hale
On the second half...
"We want to be so good. Coach told us that we didn't look like an elite team. That was all he had to say to light a fire in us. The press helped us a lot to pick the speed up."
On the locker room at half time...
"I think we knew they were going to come after us but the guys were still being positive. We knew how bad we were playing."
On only giving us 31 points...
"Finally we are starting to guard and coach Gaudio won't be too hard on us in practice. Hopefully we can put it all together in California. We are going to have to step it up big time."
Winston-Salem State Coach Bobby Collins
On the team's performance...
"I thought first half we did a very good job containing their dribble penetration and their transition buckets. We had a game plan to slow them down a little bit. We thought if we slowed them down we would have a chance to be in the game offensively."
On the strategy to slow them down...
"Well we knew what we wanted to do offensively. We have been struggling a little bit in scoring. We are missing Brian Fisher one of our best shooters and we did not shoot well previously in our first two games. We knew we were going to struggle but we wanted to make it as difficult as possible for them to score."
On how this game will prepare you for the rest of this week...
"Well we thought we got better tonight. We have a bunch of young guys and they understand that we have to execute better on both ends, offensively and defensively."
On the press offense...
"The press offense hasn't been a problem recently. I just have to get my point guard on the same page as I am. We run our press offense everyday and they know what to do. It is just a matter of them doing it when they saw it tonight."
