Post Game Quotes
11/13/2019 10:19:00 PM | Men's Basketball
UNC Asheville Head Coach Mike Morrell
Opening Statement:
"I was really proud of our guys' effort. I thought that Wake was really good to start the game, especially in the first five minutes of the game and the last five minutes of the game. When you do that you give yourself an opportunity to win the game. You got to give them credit for that. Between that, I thought our guys really fought. In the second half we got into a lot of foul trouble. Because of that we weren't able to be as aggressive as we wanted to be on defense, especially in the half court. For us, we got to figure out a way to win games when we can't do that. Wake did a really good job defending us and we didn't get much in the way of scoring. At the line a lot with 70 free-throws between the two of us. That's a lot of standing and watching. But I'm proud of our guys. We fought, we tried to follow the plan, and I thought Tajion gave us some great minutes. For us, if you want to try and win on the road in the ACC you got to be better down the stretch and we weren't good enough, but still proud of our guys effort."
How difficult was it for your guys to match up with someone like Chaundee (Brown) or Olivier (Sarr)?
"I tell you what, I was impressed with Chaundee on film, more impressed with him live. He is a heck of a player. He plays hard. If you love basketball you gotta respect a guy like that. We're subbing guys into the game to try to block him out on free-throws. That tells you what kind of respect we have. We started five sophomores tonight. It's a great lesson for them that if you want to try to go on the road and beat a team like Wake Forest, those are plays you gotta make a guy like him miss more than twice. 6-8 from the field and 11-11 from the free-throw line and 11 rebounds, best player on the floor tonight. Really impressed with his game. Tough matchup for us. Good player."
After seeing how close Columbia came the other night, how much confidence did you have coming in here that you had a chance to win tonight?
"That game had nothing to do with it. We don't really focus on what other teams do; we just focus on our self. Our goal is to always be the aggressor for more minutes than the other team. Obviously watched the Columbia game. They had a really good game plan and ours was about 180% different than theirs. Neither is right and neither is wrong. I thought they executed it to a tee. I think it was tied with 7:30 left to go and we can't ask for much more. If you asked me before the game, I would have signed up for that seven days a week, twice on Sunday as they say. But we just got to close the game out. I'm proud of our guys for that. We were down 16 in the first half to fight back. It was a one possession game before we gave them that dunk at the end. For us, being the youngest team in the country last year and playing two of your first three [games] on the road, at Tennessee and Wake, I'm proud of our guys effort. But Columbia, I worked for a guy named Shaka Smart, and he always used to say that, 'it's about us man, it ain't about what the other team does. When you focus on ourselves and get our guys ready to play, I believe in our guys enough.' Wake's a good team and they really showed it in the last eight minutes."
Wake Forest Head Coach Danny Manning
Opening statement...
"Well for us, today's game got off to a much better start for us offensively we got off to an 8-8 start and that set the tone for us. I thought we did some really good things particularly getting to the free throw line where we shot forty free throws. Field goal percentage in both halves was really good. We have to do a better job went we get a 19 point lead in the second half they started driving the ball and getting to the free throw line and breaking us down. For us to finish the game on a 13-1 run and then to not let them score a field goal for the last seven minutes was really big for us."
On Olivier Sarr's performance...
"9-9, eight rebounds, 21 points, I liked all of that. The way they were playing us, you give Olivier credit he gave us great juice, he gave us great energy. But our guys did a really good job finding him. Coming off those ball screens, they were really getting after Brandon (Childress) in terms of trapping him, and Brandon was able to have some poise, pivot, pivot, pivot and find an open guy and a lot of times it ended up being Olivier or a big at the rim. Olivier came in with huge minutes for us really really good. We have to continue to get that kind of action from everybody. For us to shoot 70 percent both halves that outstanding basketball in terms of offense. We have to do a better job of taking care of the basketball, our senior guards had 10 turnovers, we can't have that from them."
Getting in the bonus at the first TV timeout in the second half...
"Well we talked about it we want paint touches and free throw attempts. You get paint touches that leads to free throw attempts. I thought our guys did a really good job of having that poise of wanting to get to the free throw line so I'm very happy with that"
On 50 free throws combined for both teams...
"You never know what to expect when you're talking about officiating. You just gotta roll with it. UNC Asheville they're on the road so they figure their not going to get a good whistle you know that's always your mindset when your on the road. 50 is a lot."
On pressure of having an underdog make a comeback...
"Teams are going to go on runs, you just have to be able to withstand those runs. For us to finish the game on a 13-1 run and to limit them to no field goals in the last seven and a half minutes of the game, those are huge steps for us.'
Opening Statement:
"I was really proud of our guys' effort. I thought that Wake was really good to start the game, especially in the first five minutes of the game and the last five minutes of the game. When you do that you give yourself an opportunity to win the game. You got to give them credit for that. Between that, I thought our guys really fought. In the second half we got into a lot of foul trouble. Because of that we weren't able to be as aggressive as we wanted to be on defense, especially in the half court. For us, we got to figure out a way to win games when we can't do that. Wake did a really good job defending us and we didn't get much in the way of scoring. At the line a lot with 70 free-throws between the two of us. That's a lot of standing and watching. But I'm proud of our guys. We fought, we tried to follow the plan, and I thought Tajion gave us some great minutes. For us, if you want to try and win on the road in the ACC you got to be better down the stretch and we weren't good enough, but still proud of our guys effort."
How difficult was it for your guys to match up with someone like Chaundee (Brown) or Olivier (Sarr)?
"I tell you what, I was impressed with Chaundee on film, more impressed with him live. He is a heck of a player. He plays hard. If you love basketball you gotta respect a guy like that. We're subbing guys into the game to try to block him out on free-throws. That tells you what kind of respect we have. We started five sophomores tonight. It's a great lesson for them that if you want to try to go on the road and beat a team like Wake Forest, those are plays you gotta make a guy like him miss more than twice. 6-8 from the field and 11-11 from the free-throw line and 11 rebounds, best player on the floor tonight. Really impressed with his game. Tough matchup for us. Good player."
After seeing how close Columbia came the other night, how much confidence did you have coming in here that you had a chance to win tonight?
"That game had nothing to do with it. We don't really focus on what other teams do; we just focus on our self. Our goal is to always be the aggressor for more minutes than the other team. Obviously watched the Columbia game. They had a really good game plan and ours was about 180% different than theirs. Neither is right and neither is wrong. I thought they executed it to a tee. I think it was tied with 7:30 left to go and we can't ask for much more. If you asked me before the game, I would have signed up for that seven days a week, twice on Sunday as they say. But we just got to close the game out. I'm proud of our guys for that. We were down 16 in the first half to fight back. It was a one possession game before we gave them that dunk at the end. For us, being the youngest team in the country last year and playing two of your first three [games] on the road, at Tennessee and Wake, I'm proud of our guys effort. But Columbia, I worked for a guy named Shaka Smart, and he always used to say that, 'it's about us man, it ain't about what the other team does. When you focus on ourselves and get our guys ready to play, I believe in our guys enough.' Wake's a good team and they really showed it in the last eight minutes."
Wake Forest Head Coach Danny Manning
Opening statement...
"Well for us, today's game got off to a much better start for us offensively we got off to an 8-8 start and that set the tone for us. I thought we did some really good things particularly getting to the free throw line where we shot forty free throws. Field goal percentage in both halves was really good. We have to do a better job went we get a 19 point lead in the second half they started driving the ball and getting to the free throw line and breaking us down. For us to finish the game on a 13-1 run and then to not let them score a field goal for the last seven minutes was really big for us."
On Olivier Sarr's performance...
"9-9, eight rebounds, 21 points, I liked all of that. The way they were playing us, you give Olivier credit he gave us great juice, he gave us great energy. But our guys did a really good job finding him. Coming off those ball screens, they were really getting after Brandon (Childress) in terms of trapping him, and Brandon was able to have some poise, pivot, pivot, pivot and find an open guy and a lot of times it ended up being Olivier or a big at the rim. Olivier came in with huge minutes for us really really good. We have to continue to get that kind of action from everybody. For us to shoot 70 percent both halves that outstanding basketball in terms of offense. We have to do a better job of taking care of the basketball, our senior guards had 10 turnovers, we can't have that from them."
Getting in the bonus at the first TV timeout in the second half...
"Well we talked about it we want paint touches and free throw attempts. You get paint touches that leads to free throw attempts. I thought our guys did a really good job of having that poise of wanting to get to the free throw line so I'm very happy with that"
On 50 free throws combined for both teams...
"You never know what to expect when you're talking about officiating. You just gotta roll with it. UNC Asheville they're on the road so they figure their not going to get a good whistle you know that's always your mindset when your on the road. 50 is a lot."
On pressure of having an underdog make a comeback...
"Teams are going to go on runs, you just have to be able to withstand those runs. For us to finish the game on a 13-1 run and to limit them to no field goals in the last seven and a half minutes of the game, those are huge steps for us.'
Players Mentioned
C
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