Post Game Quotes
1/15/2020 12:23:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Wake Forest head coach Danny Manning
Opening Statement:
"I thought we came out in the first half and there were a couple of stretches where we went scoreless for a couple possessions. I think at the seven minute mark in the first half we did a couple of things defensively to only be down two going into half time. Rebounding the ball was something key that helped us. In the second half, we gave their shooters too many good looks and once they made a couple of shots we weren't able to run them off the line. And then for us, we can't go into a game and Virginia Tech has eleven steals, which contributes a lot to our 18 turnovers, but those are live ball turnovers. A lot of times we got are shot blocked too. Those are empty possessions offensively. We needed to do a better job of making our passes, especially into the post. A lot of times we were feeding the post and there was a deflection or the help-side came over, so we have to do a better job of being the eyes for the receiver and seeing where the help is at."
On what needs to change with turnovers...
"Just have to value the ball more. The idea is right in terms of wanting to get the ball, getting it to Olivier, but we have a problem of having vision of surrounding players, not just the person guarding him. A lot of times we see the guy guarding him but not the help-side or the weak-side coming in. Going into this game tonight we talked about getting the ball into the corners and we didn't have the chances to hit the corners enough because they were really sucked in, especially when Olivier was inside the paint."
Status of Chaundee Brown...
"He wasn't close because he didn't practice. He's going through his rehab and making progress and we've heard his results are good. He still hasn't been good and we see him doing a little bit more work and we are looking forward to having him back, but I can't give you a timeline. He's one of our better players, rebounders, free-throw shooters. We are missing a piece and there's no question about that, but it's next man up. Everybody in this league and around the country are battling through injuries and we have to find a way to continue to absorb his production cause there's no one that come in and do what he does."
What was lacking in the second half...
"They got comfortable. Like Radford, he plays tremendously hard and he gets thirteen rebounds and gets to the free-throw line twelve. Some of those were late when we were fouling, but he put pressure on us with his dribble penetration and that's what we have been doing a better job at getting to the free-throw line. We have to get back to what we were doing in terms of getting pressure on teams by getting paint touches to get to the free-throw line because part of our formula is to get to the free-throw line. We've done a better job at getting there but we have to do a better job of putting pressure on teams, especially when we get into the bonus. Sometimes we get into the bonus and we settle for jump shots as opposed to getting paint touches to get to the charity stripe."
On struggling to get the ball in the paint...
"It's part of it. They are going to take some things away and part of their defensive scheme was to take away the basketball and they trapped from the low weak side. I thought we handled that well when we got the ball into the post. We made some good passes that led to some open shots and it slowed them down coming to trap the post at some times. Going back to the post, sometimes it wasn't Olivier's man deflecting, sometimes it was the weak side deflecting it and we have to do a better job of reading it and kicking it out to the weak side so they can throw it into the post. We talk about fake it to make it all the time."
Virginia Tech Head Coach Mike Young
On Tyrece Radford's 21 points and overall play...
"[Tyrece] is a special person [and player]. He was able to get to the rim and get to the foul line."
On changing expectations throughout the season...
"I have [changed my expectations]...back in October I was just trying to come up and gasp for air...but my big picture expectations haven't changed because you can't live like that. You have to take it one game at a time."
On moving the ball during the game...
"We were playing at the right pace but I thought we had a few too many late clocks...all and all I thought we got the ball in pretty good places."
On the improvements from Jalen Cone and Tyrece Radford...
"Both played very well against NC State, doing it night in and night out [while] building on their levels of confidence."
On creating Wake Forest turnovers...
"We did what we typically do. 18 turnovers is pretty good. Our principle is there and we are sticking in our gaps; [we are] getting our hands on the ball to make deflections."
Wake Forest players
Olivier Sarr
On what went wrong…
"Turning it over too many times and we didn't close out to their shooters."
On preventing turnovers…
"Keep watching film. We're working on situations at practice. We just need to lock in and get over that it's something that needs to stop. I also have to do a better job opening up to the ball and that's something we're working on. The more we do it, the more we will improve."
Brandon Childress
On what went wrong
"Turnovers. Turnovers. Turnovers. I had three, that's unacceptable. The turnover ratio has got to be better, especially for me as a senior."
On Olivier Sarr
"Olivier had it going early, in the second half we struggled to feed him and get him going like he was before. Like I said that's on me, I got to do a better job at leading these guys. I feel like I didn't do enough to get Olivier more touches than he did because he deserved it tonight."
On Chaundee Brown's absence
"Chaundee is a very key guy on the team so when someone goes out like that of course it's going to affect our play. He's the second leading scorer on the team, even rebounding Chaundee's a good rebounder, he's also a heck of a rebounder as well. That's more opportunity for more guys on the team to step up. We're still searching for that but like I said we'll get things turned around"
