Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest vs. Radford Quotes
11/11/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Recap | Final Stats | Photo Gallery 
WAKE FOREST VS. RADFORD QUOTES - NOV. 11, 2016
Wake Forest Head Coach Danny Manning
Opening statement...
"The first game of the year is under our belts. I thought we did some decent things at times, but we have a lot to work on. We're a young team as everybody knows - eight of our 13 guys are freshmen or sophomores. I thought Radford came out, played hard, and did some good things executing offensively and defensively. We'll be able to watch tape and see where we need to get better at. The game goes in the correct column as far as a win, so we're very excited about that. We have to build. We have to continue to get better."
On the team's play in the paint...
"In the first half we got good looks; we just missed shots. We're going to continue to shoot open looks. I thought our post guys had a bit more of a presence in the second half than they did in the first half. We have to try to mimic that effort in the first half as well. I thought we did a much better job getting paint touches also."
On John Collins' performance...
"John cannot rely on his athletic ability to always try and block shots. For us it's defensively jump to the ball. Instead of trying to time up a blocked shot there are a lot of times he should be already in place to take a charge. That's something that we talked to him about. We need John on the floor. We'll continue to work with him and share those words with him over-and-over again."
On takeaways from victory over Radford
"We were fortunate to get a win. We won by 21 points. The mood in the locker room was not a celebratory-type feeling, and as a coach that's what you want."
Wake Forest Sophomore Forward John Collins
On the team's occasional growing pains...
"Being young isn't an excuse but were obviously going through some growing things. I think it's all about that process of developing that maturity as a young team. Coach has been putting emphases on the defensive end. I think we came out with some fire, some energy but we didn't hold it up as much as we should have - then we brought it back. I think we just need to stay consistent. We have spurts when we play great defensively and offensively. Then we have spurts were we just are up, down, up, down. Coach trusts that that consistency is going to be big for us - offensively and defensively.
On his performance Friday...
"Statistic-wise it is the best game I have played. I feel like I came out and had a solid start to my sophomore campaign. I need to cut down on the turnovers but this stat sheet says it's one of my best games statistically. I can't argue with that. I'm happy with myself but I need improvement. We have a quick turnaround for Bucknell and we hope we can do the same thing [against them]."
Wake Forest Sophomore Guard Bryant Crawford
On the team's performance
"A win is always good but I still feel like there are things we have to work on. There were still moments in that game were we could have put them away early, but we let our foot off the gas. We have to sharpen up on those minor things and get ready for Sunday."
Radford Head Coach Mike Jones
Opening statement...
"First of all, we played hard enough to win the game, for the majority of the game. I thought we came out with the right intensity and the right focus. As the game went on, though, their size really affected us and it's almost like being a heavyweight boxer getting body blows all game - eventually it took a toll on us. In the second half, I thought we got really tired and then they really started to impose their will in the paint, which was something we really focused on before the game. We did a good job in the first half but second half it just got away from us. All game long they made it tough on us. Offensively, we were not in sync and they disrupted our flow by being aggressive in passing lanes and on ball screens and so forth. They made it tough on us to score. We got some good looks but didn't capitalize and I think a lot of that credit goes to their defense."
On Wake Forest's second half shooting percentage...
"It was more on our help defense, which wasn't very good. They ran some nice sets where they overload one side and lob it over to the big man. We knew that but we got a little bit lazy. We didn't have help on the back side and they were able to get a couple. Even when they threw it in there or drove it in there and they missed a shot, we didn't block them out and they got offensive rebounds, which was really the story of the first five minutes of the second half."
On Wake Forest's size and rebounding ability...
"We have to be scrappy to make up for that lack of size. If we're height-challenged against ACC teams like this then we're going to have to be scrappy. We talked about it with our guys three-to-four days before the game and I was really proud of the way they competed for the rebounds and loose balls. To get out rebounded by four against a team like this is not bad and that gives me some hope going forward."
On taking positives from this game...
"Like I said, the mark of any good basketball team is to play hard. That's the foundation that you have to have. We've had it pretty much all fall, with the exception of one or two practices. So that's a foundation. We have to be smarter and we have to have greater attention to detail. Tonight we didn't pay attention to detail but we'll learn from this and focus on our foundation and build from there."
