Postgame Quotes
11/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Wake Forest Head Coach Danny Manning
Opening statement...
"UMBC came out tonight and had a great game plan. They had a team that came in and went blow for blow with us, and gave us all that we wanted. We go into the half and we have a one-point lead. It's everything we can do to have that lead. We found a way to make some plays in the second half. I thought our big guys were terrific. I thought our big guys led the way for us tonight. You can never count on making shots so to speak, but the shots that Dinos [Mitoglou] and Mitch [Wilbekin] missed, I'm okay with those. They missed some wide open threes, and I feel comfortable with those guys shooting them and continuing to shoot them. You've just got to give UMBC a lot of credit. They're well-coached and they play hard. They're definitely going to, in my opinion, be much better than people view them prediction-wise in their conference. Also, I think we got some really good minutes off our bench. Those guys are going to have to continue to be ready. Defensively, we have to do a much better job of not fouling. We had a lot of guys pick up bone-headed fouls by reaching with our hands instead of moving our body. That's something we definitely need to tighten up and take care of.
<>On maintaining defensive pressure throughout the possession...
"We have to do a much better job of guarding the basketball and being in strong help. It's something that we have to get better at. We've got to pick and choose when we apply that pressure, because Mitch [Wilbekin] and Bryant [Crawford] logged a lot of minutes, and they'll continue to log a lot of minutes until we get whole. We have to be a much better defensive team, just sound defensive fundamentals. We have to continue to do a good job of denying the wings, but once they get out to 35 feet or so, we need to let that ball go through and just be solid."
On dominating the second-chance points and rebounding categories...
"We go into every game and we talk about wanting to win certain categories. We definitely want to win the rebounding battle, we want to win the second-chance battle, we want to win the fast break battle. We want to win the points in the paint battle. We didn't win the fast break battle tonight, but second-chance points we did a pretty good job. But right now, with the way our team is made up, our big guys are going to have to do that on a regular basis, putting forth that effort going to the offensive glass. Those guys put themselves in good rebounding position, but you've got to reward yourself with all of that hard work by putting the ball in the basket."
UMBC Head Coach Aki Thomas
Opening statement...
"I thought Wake Forest did a good job down the stretch, getting key stops and rebounds that they needed to push them over the top. We struggled to keep them off the glass and we struggled to make free throws. It ended up costing us the game against a really good Wake Forest team."
On second half defensive pressure from Wake Forest...
"I thought we still got looks that we normally get. Wake, in the second half, really came out and overplayed us a little bit more. They really did a good job of forcing us back. But we were still able to get some three point looks that we usually get, and they just didn't fall, due to intensified pressure by Wake. So you have to give them credit for at least altering our shots and keeping us from getting cleaner looks. But I thought a couple of those looks, we normally knock them down, but we just didn't."
On adjusting to a tightly called game...
"Players will adjust, coaches will adjust. And we're doing that, it's early in the season. It is a little bit tighter and we're going to have to continue to get used to the freedom of movement that's really being enforced. I think we saw a lot of it tonight, whereas a year or two ago that wouldn't really be enforced as hard. I think we'll continue to adjust. I think the country will continue to adjust, it just takes some time."
Wake Forest senior forward Devin Thomas
On the missing players (Miller-Mcintrye and Hudson)...
"We just got to play better defensively. We didn't play well offensively at all. We turned the ball over a lot again today. It's just a learning process, but we'll get better. Especially when we get our horses back."
On the advantage inside...
"I could see from the first possession that they were doubling in the post right away. I think we could have made more outside shots. There were a lot of outside shots that you don't see Dinos and Mitch miss. It was probably just some first-game jitters and hopefully we'll improve and find our groove on Sunday."
Wake Forest sophomore forward Dinos Mitoglou
On the tough shooting night...
"Coach told me, that when I'm open from three, shoot the ball. I've got the green light. I'm really confident, but it just wasn't my day. I'll find it."
On Codi Miller-McIntyre being out...
"Codi's a great teammate. When he's on the bench, he's telling us what to do and what not to do. Now that he's not on the court, someone has to be a leader. Devin and I, we have experience, so we try to help everybody on the team out."
Wake Forest freshman forward John Collins
On the strong 2nd half performance...
" I got to say I was nervous. Obviously I wasn't playing to the best of my ability (in the 1st half). I picked it up tremendously in the 2nd half. Coach is telling me to keep logging minutes, get more experience, get my act together on the court. It's only my freshman year. I just need to keep working and keep getting experience."
On rebounding...
"Coach definitely stresses that. We dominated the boards. I don't what the numbers were exactly, but we dominated them on the boards. Dinos and Devin had tremendous games rebounding-wise. So, that was something that we definitely had to put an emphasis on and we did well executing."
