Post Game Quotes
3/8/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 8, 2008
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Wake Forest Head Coach Dino Gaudio
On Wake Forest's execution...
"I thought our kids really played hard and really followed the game plan. Our defense was a big key to the game for us. We were trying to do the best job we could on J.J. Hickson by digging down on him and trying to make him work in crowd. NC State does a marvelous job of reversing the ball and trying to isolate their big kids inside. Because they have such good shooters they can space it out on the perimeter."
On turning points in the game...
"There were a couple of big plays. We were down by three and James Johnson made a big conventional 3-point play, then a couple possessions later Ish (Ishmael Smith) came down and hit a cold-blooded three."
Breaking the four-game losing streak...
"The kids played really aggressively. We were coming-off a stretch where we played three games and six days. We lost to Maryland here by four, went down to North Carolina and lost in over time at GT. When we went up to Virginia Tech we just weren't the same team. We were mentally worn down and I'm proud of the way we bounced back tonight. You really learn about your team in terms of whether they're going to stick together, whether they're going to point fingers, whether they are going to splinter. It's a long season. It's been a long year for those kids. But they showed a lot of reliance and bounced back. We have 17 wins, 15-2 at home. A couple of weeks ago we beat one of the best teams in the country. Everyone's optimistic. And everyone's in the league is 0-0 now (going into the conference tournament)."
NC State Head Coach Sidney Lowe
Opening statement...
"I thought they (Wake) played well. They did a nice job, especially coming out of the gate. They jumped on us. I think our kids bounced back and got into the ballgame and worked hard. They made some plays. They made some big-time plays that they needed to. They had some big blocks. A couple of their guys really stepped-up and played well for them. But I thought our kids hung in there and gave a pretty good effort."
On NC State turnovers...
"We had 16 turnovers and I would dare say 12 of those were really enforced turnovers where we made errant passes or traveled with the basketball. That's something we've been talking about and working on and dealing with pretty much all year. Especially when you go down on the defensive end and you have to get stops. And we did that. You can't go down on the offensive end now and turn it over and give it back to a team. We did that again today and that definitely hurt us."
On the NC State run in the first half...
"We got those stops and we had a nice run going but we turned it over and that's what you can't do. You certainly can't do it at home and for sure you can't do it on the road. You've got to keep control of the tempo of the game and give yourself an opportunity. Especially when you're a team like ours. When we execute and take good shots, most of the time we can shoot a pretty good percentage but when you're turning it over, you're not giving yourself and opportunity."
Wake Forest Guard Jeff Teague
On the type of player he is...
"Growing up in Indiana you have to play basketball. You don't play football. If you want to play, you have to learn how to play different positions. If I want to play the minutes I want to play, I have to learn how to do something else."
On Ishmael Smith...
"Ish is a great player. He's our leader. He's always making the big shots. When we need a big shot, he takes it and he knocks it down. That's why I'm so confident in him. Anytime he takes a shot I know it's going in in crunchtime."
Wake Forest Forward James Johnson
On the importance of the NC state game...
"Regardless of whether it's an NCAA tournament game or a regular season game, we're an organization that likes to win. Obviously, we've recruited players that like to win. So that's what we're going to do. Every game is big for us. We felt like winning this game is going to be a big bounce into the ACC tournament. Hopefully, this will give us some motivation and some push so we can do well in the tournament."
On if Wake Forest can make a run in the ACC tournament...
"It can be done. We've got the guys to do it. As long as we work hard, remember the basics, remember how eager we were to play after Coach Prosser died. Everyone was so eager to play. We held good teams and good drivers out of the paint. The coaches showed us some game film and how motivated we were. We were all like, 'Dang, that's not us anymore.' So we need to get back to the basics and we're feeling pretty confident."
