Post Game Quotes
2/29/2020 6:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Opening Statement…
"First off, got to give credit to the big guy tonight. We had no answers for the big fella tonight, he is so gifted. We tried a little bit of everything. We played a lot of zone and that got us back in it, but then they made three timely threes that broke our back. Something like that you got to give them credit. Really couldn't deal with the inside outside combination of Sarr and Childress and Brown. I love that we battled back. We always find a way to make it interesting, but couldn't quite get over the hump. We missed some free-throws tonight, which were key. Big free-throws, that hurt us. I think Wake has played with a great vibe all week. They've played with great belief all week and they've got two wins because of it."
On Olivier Sarr…
"I don't know if we did a good job of preparing to come down on him and double him early. We couldn't guard him one-on-one. Our best post defender was Nate Laszewski tonight. Our senior big guys didn't guard anybody tonight. I love them to death but they didn't play any defense. That's why we started Nate in the second half and said just foul the heck out of him if you have to. He was physical on him and we played some zone. We don't have any answers for him and I guess we got to figure something out if we see him in Greensboro now that you say that."
Wake Forest head coach Danny Manning
Opening Statement…
"Senior nights are always tough. The last home game of the year certainly had a lot of emotion running through the building. Especially with my three seniors Torry and Andrien transferred in and their contributions to our program has been great and a huge value for us. Then Brandon, what he's done in his career here, his numbers speak for themselves. The lasting impression he's going to have as a leader. Someone who loves tough, difficult situations and thrived in them. We're definitely going to miss those guys. To be able to send them out the right way with a win is always the goal."
On Olivier Sarr…
"He's coming into his own. He's really starting to hit his comfort zone. Tonight was one of his better games of establishing post position. Especially when he got it rolling they would come down and kind of double, kick it back out, reestablish himself in the post and make a move. I thought his poise was really good in that regard."
On Brandon and Randolph Childress' relationship…
"We always talk about family. It's forget about me "I love you" that's always on display. It's tough when your coach and your son is a player. You always want to make sure you are challenging all the players and you want to make sure you aren't showing favoritism. So your son ends up catching the brunt of the criticism. Brandon has really grown and evolved and he understands that. Over the last four years he got the most aggressive counseling because he gets it from everywhere."
Junior Guard Chaundee Brown
On the win…
"Great win. We played as a team, we just wanted to send the seniors out right and everyone contributed. They had a little run, but we stuck together, we knew we needed to have good defensive principles the whole game and have a better second half than we did the first half. We sent the seniors out right."
On Olivier Sarr…
"Crazy. I don't know why they kept playing right behind him, but they just kept doing it and we just kept feeding him and giving him the ball. He's putting in the work and he's getting way better and that's not surprising to me. I feel like he can do that all the time."
On Notre Dame's the lack of adjustment on Olivier…
"They started double-teaming a little bit, so that opened up myself, Isaiah [Mucius], Brandon [Childress] and we got open shots. They tried to [adjust] but they couldn't stop him. I'm like, 'keep giving him the ball. He's helping us score, he's scoring every time, so none of them can guard him.' I was just happy."
Junior Center Olivier Sarr
On his improvement over his time at Wake Forest...
"I put in a lot of work with coaches and I watched a lot of tape too. I think that helped me out a lot too. It's great to have different moves so whether it's single-coverage or they double me or trap me or whatever, it's easier for me to get out of it and find a solution."
On his play tonight...
"It's not about me, it's about the team. We are trying to win games right now. The ACC is still wide open and it's really important for us to get wins and that winning streak for us is something that we need. We used that momentum from Duke and now go on the road and need to keep pushing and grinding."
On Mooney's play...
"Yeah, we want him to foul out of course. Stats show it, he is a great - one of the best- bigs in the league. Having him in foul trouble was something that we needed and were striving for. That was one of the goals, yeah."
Senior Guard Brandon Childress
On leaving the game for the final game...
"I think Andrien was shooting a free throw and I looked at Coach D and I was like 'i'm ready to come out.' and I think everyone on the floor had four fouls, so nobody wanted to foul. I didn't want to foul. I can't even remember what happened, either they scored or something happened. I was like 'yo - I don't want this to end like this, someone do something.' and I'm glad they scored. Then after that, it was a rolling timeout. I saw Coach D put (Sharone Wright) Jr. in and I was walking off the court and in that moment I knew those were my last few moments at Wake Forest and at the Joel. Leaving the floor, I dapped up Coach Manning, Coach Wood, Rex, Evan, JB and then I just saw my dad and let all the emotions out. That guy has made so many sacrifices for me, for my brother and for this family. People take for granted how great of a guy he is off the court. A lot of you guys see the happy and mad Chill when he is on the bench and mad at me or somebody else. Off the court, our relationship is unbreakable. I love that guy to death. Obviously my mom played a big part in my life too, I wouldn't be here without her. The things that my father has done for me is really just, I can't thank him enough man. Running through that tunnel the first game, playing right away, hitting my first shot and I just saw his face go from coach to dad. Then tonight, he was coach for those 40 minutes, but the moment I walked out of that game he was all dad. Even when we got to the locker room, he was getting a little emotional towards me because we both know how hard I worked for this. He's ready for the next chapter in my life and I'm ready for it as well. When you've been around this program for so long, I came to the games in high school as a local kid, went to East Forsyth and then transferred to Wesleyan and then now finishing my career here. I've been around for eight years, quite some time, possibly longer than some of you guys."
On lingering before leaving the floor for the final time…
"Nobody out there spent more time on that floor than me. I've been here longer than the coaches. Just sitting out there for one last moment, reminiscing from my first time shooting in that gym, my first time going to a game in that gym and now playing my last game in there. I was kinda just refreshing every memory that I have in there."
On not getting caught up in the emotions on the floor...
"When you have somebody on the team like Olivier Sarr, who starts out the game basically scoring the first twelve points, there's not even a debate about who is the best player on the floor tonight. Just keep feeding him the ball, obviously he had another career high and what was it, 17 rebounds. He deserves ACC player of the week, you know, there shouldn't even be an argument. He had 25 against the No. 7 team in the country and now 30 and 17. What he is doing right now is just playing his best basketball at the right time. It's something that we need from everyone. Olivier had a great game but it was a great collective game from everyone else."
