Postgame Quotes
1/21/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 21, 2009
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Wake Forest Head Coach Dino Gaudio
On Wake Forest's defense...
"Our staple all year was our defense. That really let us down tonight. We needed stops; we didn't get them. There was a little clip in the second half where we charted that they scored five or six times. We got stopped, then they scored four more times. That part is a little disheartening."
On Virginia Tech's hot shooting...
"I think we lost a little bit of discipline on the ball. They hurt us a little bit with penetration. We have to make guys miss. We can't hope they miss. When we know A.D. (Vassallo) can really shoot, we have to make sure we are there with a high hand in his face. We have to make him miss."
On the team handling the loss...
"I think it's a tough locker room in there. I really do. I think they have big hearts. They fought and scrapped to come back each of those times. We got it cut to two and had the ball. We didn't convert, but there's no doubt in my mind that those kids will bounce back."
Wake Forest Players
Sophomore James Johnson
On being ranked No. 1 coming into tonight's game...
"It was fun while it lasted but now it's just going back to the drawing board and practicing hard and playing hard like we've been doing. All our hats are off to Virginia Tech but we're going to work hard and move on to the next game just as if we would have won."
On losing first game of the season...
"You can't let it affect you and your season. We have a lot of basketball left. Just like if we would have beaten Virginia Tech, we'd talk about tonight, and then tomorrow the next team. That's what we've got to do. We've got to practice for the next team which is Duke so there's no time to slack off or cry or try to lick our wounds, we've just got to come back to practice and go hard at each other."
Sophomore Jeff Teague
On coming back after tonight's loss...
"Oh, we're going to brush this one off. We are good guys and we're going to stick together, and we're all going to come back and try to get this victory against Duke."
On physicality of the game...
"Every time you play Virginia Tech it's going to be an aggressive game like that. I think they're one of our biggest rivals. They've got our number. We've only beaten them once in the last couple of games so we came out and knew it was going to be physical."
On Virginia Tech's shooting...
"We were fouling a lot but guys on their team that we didn't expect to make shots were making shots. I think everybody on their team was making shots tonight. They're out hitting fade-away jumpers and thinks like that. In a game like this anything can happen, anyone can get hot, and that was proved tonight."
Virginia Tech Head Coach Seth Greenberg
Opening statement...
"We were very fortunate. This does not diminish what Wake Forest basketball is right now. They are talented, well coached, tough, competitive. I thought getting (James) Johnson and having (Al-Farouq) Aminu miss some minutes at the beginning of the game gave us a chance to have some flow and try to get into their depth and we took advantage of that. I thought our defense in the first half was great. It was as good as we can play defensively against that level of team. We shrunk the court. We handled the ball in transition. We kept them out of transition. We finished plays and we made shots. In the beginning of the second half, when we were trading baskets, which I was really concerned about, we made a lot of shots. I don't know how many we made, but we made a bunch in a row and we were very fortunate. That team right there is scary and we were very fortunate to have a chance to win and finish the game. I'm real proud of our guys. I thought they really bought into how we needed to play to have a chance to win. I thought we showed toughness. We got great contributions from Hank Thorns, Cheick Diakite, Dorenzo Hudson and J.T. (Thompson). I thought they gave us great, great minutes. We made just enough free throws down the stretch and contained the ball well enough down the stretch. There was one stretch in the middle of the second half where we didn't do a good job of containing the ball. We changed our defenses enough to stay out of foul trouble and not get beat off the dribble as many times. It's a great win for our program. It just shows you what the ACC is all about. It's a perfect example of just how good this league is and that there are no easy outs. You have to play at a really, really high level every night to have a chance. Now our challenge is not to drink the Kool-Aid. Enjoy this, get on the bus and enjoy it. The second we get to Blacksburg, it's over with, because in this league it can be very fleeting. You can be on top of the world one day and you can be finished the next. We have Miami on the road and then Clemson. You've got to understand that it's great. I'm very proud of our guys. We're getting better, but I'm also realistic enough to know that every single team in this league is a team that can play at the very highest level. It's brutal each and every night. For this moment in time and for this night, I couldn't be more proud of our team."
On beating a ranked team...
"I thought we were great defensively in the first half. We were close last year. There's a very fine line between winning and losing. You can play really well in this league and lose every single time you play against a ranked opponent. That's just the way it is. It's a stop, a rebound, making a free throw, getting the ball inbounds. There are so many factors that go into it. I don't get caught up in that. I get more caught up into if we're making progress or getting better. We made enough plays at the end of the game to finish the game and that's the positive time."
On the Virginia Tech offense...
"The second half they pushed up on us a little further. We just really tried to spread them, drive it and kick it. The first half we tried to move them and get their big people in ball screens. We tried to attack them some in transition. They're so good on the offensive glass. If we were able to rebound it, which we didn't a whole lot, but when we did, we did try to push it and get some easy baskets. The big thing for us was not letting them get behind us in defensive transition. We did a good job of outnumbering the ball. Excluding on our turnovers, they didn't get behind us a great deal. I think we got them at a good time. We did the things that we needed to do."
On Hank Thorns...
"The three he hit was huge. Malcolm (Delaney) had to guard (Jeff) Teague and handle the ball. I just thought we needed a second ballhandler in the game. He did a great job of getting open. He did a great job of changing pace. He did a great job of getting us moving, shorting passes and using his dribble. The three he made was just huge."
