Saturday 01/24/2015
Overall thoughts:
“It was certainly an exciting, great win for our team. I’m really happy for our guys. This was just one of those games when you’re climbing the mountain the entire day. We’re down 11-2 and my message to our guys was we need some adversity and we need a way to fight through and win a game at home where it hasn’t been easy. It seemed like we climbed back. We had a couple bad plays waiting to make a good play, and we’d be back down eight or nine. That’s how it was the whole day.
“I thought both teams played really hard, both teams really wanted to win. It was hard going for both of us on offense; we didn’t make a lot of shots. I thought our defense was really good today. We did some really good things that carried over from practice. Wake (Forest) is as fast tempo-wise as anyone in the league. Our transition defense was fantastic; I thought we guarded all ball screens really well. I think guys just kept fighting and we found a way to make good plays and steal a win.”
On the performance of his bench:
“You could see this (type of game) coming for Jordan (Roper). That’s why we started him today. His confidence is starting to come around. And Damarcus (Harrison) has been struggling a little bit, so we went with Rope and I thought he gave us good energy and really ran around a lot out there. Austin Ajukwa hit a big three late in the game; I thought that gave us a lift. But I’m really happy for Josh (Smith). He’s a guy that works hard and is well liked on our team. He’ll remember this moment for a long time. I thought our big guys, Landry (Nnoko) and Sidy (Djitte), did a serviceable job on Devin Thomas, who’s a terrific player for Wake. He had 17 and 12, but he really had to work for it.”
On the final offensive play:
“Certainly, we wanted Rod (Hall) to drive to the basket and either make the shot or get fouled. Of course if he felt pressured, he was going to try and find the open man. But that was the play all along, and fortunately it worked out for us.”
Opening Statement:
“This afternoon was a tough and hard-fought battle on both sides of the ball. In situations like that, when it comes down to a last-second shot you’re always worried about a miss, offensive rebound and second chance opportunity. They pursued the basketball and got the putback, which ended up being the game-winner. We have to do a better job of finishing and closing the game. I think we were up 12 at one point in the second half and we didn’t close the way we would like to close. But give Clemson credit, they continued to battle and fight. Brad (Brownell) kept them in the game and they came up with a play down the stretch.”
On drought in the last five minutes:
“I don’t know. It just happens. We had some opportunities to get some good looks and we just weren’t able to capitalize – it basically comes down to not being able finish, regardless if it was offense or defense, we didn’t finish the way we expected to or wanted to.”
Effect of close losses on team:
“It’s wearing on me. We’ve put ourselves in some situations where we need to do a better job finishing and a better job closing. I don’t think (the losses are affecting the team psyche) so. They’re not 30-point losses. We’re losing games that we’re in. We’re losing games where we have the lead down the stretch of the game, and we’re just not finishing or closing and we have to be better about that.”
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