Wake Forest 58, Virginia Tech 55 -- Postgame Quotes
1/7/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 7, 2012
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Postgame Quotes Wake Forest 58, Virginia Tech 55 January 7, 2012 Joel Coliseum - Winston-Salem, N.C.
Wake Forest Head Coach Jeff Bzdelik
Opening statement...
"(That was) just a great, gutty win by a basketball team that is beginning to believe in themselves. They did a lot of wonderful things out there to put themselves in position to win this game and then most importantly, they made timely stops and timely shots at the end of the game when the game was in the balance. Obviously we did a great job on the boards. We've all talked enough about that. We finally did it. It's something that needs to continue to happen for us to be competitive within this league."
On responding when Virginia Tech tied the game...
"I think we've done a good job (of that) this season. In our non-conference games, when we've had leads, they've disappeared, which is going to happen - this is a very high level of basketball, even in the non-conference, you're playing teams that are salty veteran guys and it's game a of runs all the time. You have to just pull up your britches, get down and defend, rebound and make sure you get a quality shot down at the other end. That's the game of basketball. A couple of those games that we had in the non-conference season that we were able to weather leads that disappeared and then we came back and won helped us in this situation to know that we've done it before. C.J. Harris did a wonderful job as our leader to make big shots, and that's what has to happen. We all know that."
On the rebounding performance...
"We have done every rebound drill imaginable known to mankind over the last several days, and we've done that all year long. What we've talked about is that the mind is very powerful. You have to believe. It has to be a will-and-want to, and if you want to, you will do this."
On having C.J. Harris back from injury...
"C.J.'s non-conference stats are incredible. I don't have them in front of me, but I think it was like 54 percent from the floor and 53 percent from the three-point arc, almost three assists and 20 points per game and 79 percent from the free throw line. That's incredible, and then today, he was 3-for-4 from the arc. He is just a quiet, very effective player who everybody looks up to."
Virginia Tech Head Coach Seth Greenberg
Opening statement...
"First of all, I would like to congratulate (Wake Forest). I thought they controlled the tempo of the game. They made the shots that they needed to make. They hung in there despite us making a run, and you have to give them credit for winning a home game in ACC play. I was extremely disappointed in our basketball team, right from the start of the game to be quite honest. Our attention to detail offensively and defensively was not what it needs to be coming into a league game. We had great preparation for this game. Right from the first play of the game, we actually executed a play going in the wrong direction - Mescheriakov catches a `catch-and-shoot' and we don't make him put the ball on the floor, we let McKie go to his right hand, there were a number of plays. All of those things point to me that our guys really didn't understand."
You have four freshmen and two sophomores that play significant minutes at this level, and quite honestly we played like that. We didn't get enough out of our upperclassmen to combat that. But you have to give (Wake Forest) credit. On the last play of the game, we never should have gone underneath that ball screen. On the side out-of-bounds, if you want to know about that, what happened is that they switched the down screen and I didn't have time to switch our play on the second possession, which we would have switched a set or try to get a quick flare. It's extremely disappointing, but the good thing about league play is that we get a chance to play on Tuesday."
On the Wake Forest zone...
"They've been playing that 3-2 matchup (zone) a little bit. In the second half when we ball-screened that top guy and got a guy in the lane, we did some good things. We made turnovers - there were three possessions in the second half where we'd ball fake and pass the ball in the post and we made three consecutive turnovers on that type of play. And we drove to the baseline and kicked the baseline and didn't catch the ball. When we attacked in transition and then when we screened it and got in the lane, we didn't move enough off of that ball screen. We had some pull-ups. Their big guys blocked some shots and stepped up. I don't know how many blocks they had, but I thought that the big kid off the ball screen stepped up and that's when you have to make a play - see the help and redirect the basketball."
