Post Game Quotes
1/26/2020 3:09:00 PM | Men's Basketball
On the game plan at the end of regulation:
"We were going to switch some ball screens and we wanted to foul on them on the floor. I told the official, 'Let's put 'em on the line. We're not gonna foul unless it's on the floor.' That was the plan, and sometimes the best-laid plans…it didn't work. We did a good job actually guarding and I think in that situation, Casey [Morsell] thought, 'Well, there's only three or four seconds left, he's in a tough spot.' We tried to foul and we didn't do it very well, so that was tough. I thought we showed some great grit and resolve in overtime. There were certainly good moments on both teams and as I said there were some head-scratcher moments. I thought Danny had his guys ready without a key scorer [Brandon Childress], and they moved the ball and some of their kids stepped up. I told him that after because I know that stings, both of us had our chances to win it."
On Thomas Woldetensae's performance:
"It was huge. They played zone every possession and with our shooting percentages people are either going to—some people, not all—are really going to back off. So he hit those seven threes, we didn't make another three except Jay [Huff], and Jay's been playing really well for us. He didn't have one of his better games today but he's really been playing well up until this point. But to come in off the bench and bang that three, my hat goes off to him because that was huge and that was the only other three besides Thomas's. But Thomas, you need that. He stretched the defense and he can shoot it so that was really good to see even though—I don't know what our overall percentage was for the game, but we'll take anybody making them. So a good game for Thomas."
On the importance of the win after struggling of late:
"Every game we've lost, we've either been ahead or tied under four or five minutes. For this team, how do you figure out how to win? And that was deflating how it ended in regulation, but the ability to either come up with a stop, get an offensive rebound—again, we had moments where we missed free throws, missed breakaways, missed dunks—all those things happen. But to come away with one was important because in this league, as you're seeing, whoever is ready and whoever is playing the best has a chance. There are some excellent teams, but everybody is in play."
Wake Forest head coach Danny Manning
Opening Statement...
"Any time you lose it's not a pleasant feeling. Having said that, I thought we got off to a slow start offensively, but Virginia is known to do that to some teams. I thought we did well enough on defense to keep it close down the stretch. For about nine minutes we didn't score and we stayed in the game because of our defense. I thought we did some good things offensively, especially shooting the ball, going 6-9 from three. Second half we didn't shoot the ball as well from three, but I thought our guys put us in a situation to win the ball game. We had some guys make some plays. We had some guys play really well. Disappointed in the way it turned out, but happy with the fight our guys displayed this afternoon."
On the last possession of the game…
"Defensively we thought the more bodies we brought into the play the tougher it would be to get a shot, so we had Torry attack with a head of steam, and he was able to do that and come off. We just wanted to get into a two man game. We didn't know if they were going to switch because Momadi is a really good defender and he's been switching some, sometimes he hadn't, so Torry flipped it back and we weren't able to get a shot off in time."
On impact of not having Chaundee Brown and Brandon Childress…
"Disappointed. Disappointed whenever we lose, but our guys understand our situation too. They know that Brandon didn't play and Chaundee didn't play, and those are our two leading scorers and one of our best assist men and one of our best rebounders, and they know that Sharone is one of our most athletic guys. But those are some things that teams go through. I told our guys that I was proud of the effort they put in. Don't like the outcome because I want to win. I thought our guys came out and showed great spirit to battle the way they did."
Wake Forest guard Andrien White
On how the team's mood after a close game...
"The mood is definitely down, you definitely come to win a ball game. There's no moral victories in the game of basketball. We are just going to have to look forward to the next one."
On the end of regulation
"One big thing that helped me a lot was Olivier (Sarr). He kept being positive with me and telling me that the next one was coming and that I was going to get another opportunity to help this team. Luckily we came down and had another opportunity, which was a positive after a big missed shot like that."
On the time-outs between his free throws at the end of regulation
"No, I was locked in, locked in on just my basics, taking it back to shooting in middle school. It didn't bother me, if you make it at that time, you can make it five minutes later -- that's how I was looking at it. I saw the first two go in, the first one is the one that has the most pressure on you. After the second one, I went to the bench and everybody was being positive. Just like any other free throw, you step up there and I was glad I was able to hit it tonight."
On what was said in that final timeout
"They were talking about the last 1.7 seconds. Coach has a big thing in that you don't bother the free throw shooter. You talk to everybody but the free throw shooter unless you are being positive."
Isaiah Mucius
On losing a close game:
"It hurts; we were down so many guys [so there were] big shoes to fill tonight. A lot of [guys] did some really good things. Jahcobi [Neath] was the general of our team. We all gave 110% of our effort and we are close to turning the corner [as a team]."
On what propelled him to play well, especially at the end of the first half:
"The past couple games and week I had been thinking too much, so I wanted to reevaluate myself. I wanted to find a consistent routine off the court to help me with my on court [performance]".
On if he presents tough matchups for the other team:
"Most definitely...taking them to the post to create matchup problems. [Then we] look for the weak side man."
On his post-game emotions:
"Today we fought for a whole 40 minutes [in regulation]. We didn't want to come out of the game without throwing the last punches. We are going to take a positive attitude out of this".
