Postgame Quotes
1/10/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Recap | Final Stats | USATSI Photo Gallery 
Wake Forest Head Coach Danny Manning
Opening statement…
"I thought this was a very hard-fought game. I thought both teams competed very well. I think if you look at the stat sheet, you see a lot of similar numbers in certain categories. I thought we did a good job of sharing the ball and getting out to a decent lead when we made some shots. Like all teams in our league, NC State made a run, they made shots and they got stops. They cut the lead that we had and we were just fortunate enough to come away with a win. It's kind of like this a lot of nights in our league. One team will go on a run, and then another team will go on their run. I'm very proud of our guys for sticking with it and finding a way to come out with a win."
On sophomore forward Konstantinos Mitoglou's play…
"I thought Devin (Thomas) was really the key to that, to be honest with you. I thought he did a really good job of posting up. A lot of times, for big guys that aren't used to guarding perimeter bigs, you just kind of drop to the level of the ball just a little bit. You kick it out to Dinos (Mitoglou) and give him some space to shoot it. I thought Bryant Crawford made a great pass when he drove baseline and Dinos was in the corner. Dinos made some big shots for us, and I thought he played pretty good post defense. We're doing a good job of sharing the basketball. We had 15 assists on 25 buckets. So we have to continue to share the basketball. We have to do a much better job matching up in transition. We gave up far too many looks to good players who made shots in a lot of situations in this game."
On the three-point shooting in the second half…
"It was good to see that lid come off the basket for Mitch (Wilbekin). We have all the confidence in the world in him. He stepped up and knocked down a couple big ones for us. Whenever Mitch or Dinos (Mitoglou) or Cornelius (Hudson) get looks at the basket, they're ready to shoot and they have good technique. We're okay with them shooting the ball."
On learning from previous losses…
"The games that we've lost this year, we've lost to some pretty good teams. That's not an excuse. We've had opportunities in all those games to win them. We start out 0-2 in the league, and we lose to Duke and Louisville. At certain points throughout both of those games, we had opportunities to have it be a different outcome. We didn't get the job done. Getting our first win, hopefully that will snowball and give us a little bit of momentum moving into our next one. We've still got a long ways to go and we, as a team, have to get better like every team in our league wants to improve."
NC State Head Coach Mark Gottfried
Opening Statement...
"Well I think starting off we have to give credit to Wake Forest. In the second half, they took advantage of some mistakes we made defensively and made some critical threes. I think that was probably the difference in the game. At the same time, I'm proud of my guys. My guys competed really hard. We had some foul trouble to overcome, they played extremely hard, and they never quit. We're a team I feel, in my opinion, that's a good basketball team. I like my team. We just need some success. We have to get over the hump."
On being 0-3 in ACC…
"It is not any fun. I don't think anyone wants to be 0-3. I think it's different to be 0-3 and you're just not very good at all. I've seen bad teams before; we're not a bad team. We are a good team that is getting better. We do not have a lot to show for it yet in the league. We have gotten better and we're going to keep swinging to try and improve."
On gameplay after NC State 16-0 run…
"We had a small lineup in the game. We played Cody (Martin) at the four, which is really four guards for us. I thought we really hit the wall and got tired. We went back and subbed, so when we subbed we went big. We do not have enough guys to stay small so we went back with BeeJay (Anya) and Lennard (Freeman). I thought we lost them two or three times at the end of the press. Mitoglou hit a couple and Wilbekin might have hit one too. The big lineup probably wasn't what we needed at the time, but we had no options. We exerted a lot of energy during that run and needed to sub."
Wake Forest Sophomore Forward Konstantinos Mitoglou
On his shooting confidence...
"My teammates tell me when I'm open to just shoot the ball. When my teammates find me open, they pass me the ball and I have the green light to shoot it. I'm not sure what happened in the first half, but I got more open looks in the second half.
On rebounding in the second half...
"This year, Coach told me I needed to get better rebounding the ball, to be more effective stealing the ball, and also to be generally more active. Except for shooting, I have to find another way to help my team.
On playing the entire second half...
"I wasn't prepared for that, but as long as coach puts me in, I'm trying to show my best self."
Wake Forest Senior Guard Codi Miller-McIntyre
On defending Anthony Barber...
"We definitely made him work for it, but he's so fast he's tough to stop. I think his first three field goals were all threes. I think he was 3-for-4 from three and that got him going a little bit. It was tough for us to keep him out of the paint in the second half. He played a really good game. He even had seven assists, so it's not like he was only looking to score."
On winning their first conference game...
"I'm happy we're not 0-3 and I'm happy we won our first conference game. I think it's good for the freshmen, too, to get that confidence that we can play with people in our conference before we go on the road. We're definitely happy we're not 0-3."
Wake Forest Senior Forward Devin Thomas
On the keys to success tonight…
"Teamwork and defense. Those were areas we needed to do a better job with in recent games and that was better tonight."
On getting the NC State front court players in foul trouble…
"It wasn't me, it was the guards. They were able to drive the lane and pick up fouls on those guys. Teams have been doing that to us, so it was good for us to do that to them. Once they were in foul trouble it made them less aggressive."
Wake Forest Freshman Guard Bryant Crawford
On guarding Anthony Barber...
"Coach just wanted me to contain him. He's going to get his numbers, but as long as we're there every possession, the night would be difficult for him. I feel like all of our guards did their assignment and we were able to come out with a win."
On Dinos Mitoglou and Mitchell Wilbekin making threes...
"It was great. Everyone as a Wake Forest fan knows that Mitch (Wilbekin) and Dinos (Mitoglou) are our shooters. Everyone has off games at times, but for them to get back in their rhythm, that's great."
On getting their first conference win...
"It's very important to carry the momentum over to the next game."
