Wake Forest Athletics
Post-Game Quotes
11/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 24, 2009
Wake Forest Head Coach Dino Gaudio
Opening statement...
"I'm glad that game is over. I mean that in a good way. I thought our kids really did a good job guarding tonight. We held them to 32 percent shooting. They took 26 three's and made four of them. I felt like they made 14. You come out of the game with nine block shots. I thought Ish (Smith) was really good tonight. He pushed the ball really well. He had three assists, no turnovers, two steals. I thought he was terrific. Our guys scored the ball a little bit. It's good that we had a comfortable lead so we could keep C.J. (Harris) and Ari (Stewart) out on the floor for us. We played a lot of kids. I thought it was a good win for us."
On if C.J. Harris and Ari Stewarti will play together more...
"I know Farouq had four fouls, but he only played 22 minutes. Ish is the only kid that played 30. I think we had that opportunity to leave those guys out there. Let's go ahead and let them get some seasoning because we're really going to need those kids. We're going to need C.J. and Ari. They're going to have to help us as we go through this thing. I think the more experience they get in game time, the better. We lived with a couple of C.J.'s mistakes. He had five turnovers. Our freshmen got beat a couple of times off the bounce. I think there's nothing like game experience. When we have an opportunity, let's give it to them."
On the importance of C.J. Harris being able to spell Ish Smith at point guard...
"It's huge. He is really a mature freshman. Off the court, as well as on the court. He's really composed. He doesn't get flustered too much. We'll always put him in a game with Ish for about two minutes. Let him get his feet wet a little bit and touch the ball once or twice. Then when we take Ish out, he has already had a little bit of game experience where he can go to the one. He's going to have to be that guy for us. Konner (Tucker) can play some one as well. He's not the kind of point guard that Ish and C.J. are. He's more of a possession control point guard. In the preseason, when we first started practicing, he was running the one and did a great job for us. He doesn't turn the ball over, he's really steady. We were limited. We didn't have Gary (Clark) or Konner tonight. No question that C.J. has to be that backup point guard."
Winston-Salem State Head Coach Bobby Collins
Opening statement...
"Tonight our game plan was to value the basketball and not give them any easy looks and easy baskets because I told them we couldn't defend turnovers and we had to do our job of rebounding because I knew they were big. Early, we wanted to make sure that if they were going to beat us, they were going to do it from the outside and not on the inside. That's why we packed it in. We gave them some looks. They took some and they made some, but I thought that was to our advantage. We went into a five or six minute spurt where we couldn't score or didn't score. That's when we kind of built ourselves a hole and they capitalized on it. Ish is just so quick that we just couldn't contain him and he broke us down anytime he wanted to. We kind of adjusted and backed up off of him and tried to make him shoot some shots, but he's a smart player and he did a really good job."
On the size matchup...
"I thought we matched up with them pretty well with size. McIntoche Alcius is 6-8 and Corey Morris is 6-10 in size and Mac is quick, so for height he has his quickness. On the perimeter, Aminu is 6-9 and he's numbered with Shelton Carter but I thought Carter would have caused him more problems on the other end. Unfortunately he didn't shoot the ball particularly well tonight. I know he can really shoot the basketball for us; he just needs to start shooting with a lot more confidence. I thought they really broke us down in transition. That's where all their passes came from. They had 28 points in the first half in transition and that was our Achilles heel tonight."
On the inability to keep the score close after the first few minutes...
"Well, Marcus Wells is a freshman and he gave us a spark and he did some good things. Once he gets tired he kind of goes into a mode where he is just going through the motions and I have to do a better job of substituting him when he gets tired. He wants to play through it and sometimes he does some good things, but most of the time he doesn't. All four games that we have played, there's always been a spurt throughout the game where we don't score. In some kind of way we have to address that and make some adjustments where that doesn't happen."
