I posted the game story from Wake media relations, and these are the quotes they've supplied. I'll put together a few notes a little later this afternoon, as I settled in at home to watch a little basketball while I write tonight.
If you haven't yet, please be sure to check out the football stories from yesterday, dealing with the Deacs recruiting strategy and this weekend's visitors. Much more uplifting topics
Wake Forest Head Coach Danny Manning
Opening Statement...
"Today was a difficult game. It was a difficult afternoon. I thought the way the game started, we did some good things in the first half. I thought we moved the basketball well. We did a good job of attacking. They call a timeout towards the end of the first half and go on a run. We come in at halftime and come back out and they go on another run and then, from there, we're playing catch up the whole time. I think we have to continue to play with the same intensity and mentality that we played with when we were winning early on in the game. When teams deliver blows, we've got to deliver blows back. We didn't do that nearly enough this afternoon."
On the continuing second half struggles...
"We have to play with more effort. You have to play with more intensity, but I think the attention to detail (is important). I think when you go back and look, for 11 minutes in the first half, we're doing something right that worked for us. We have to continue with that same mindset for the duration of the ballgame. You're going to take blows, but you have to be able to give blows back. Right now for us, we've got to play defense where we finish the possession. I think a lot of times we've played pretty good defense but we give up an offensive rebound. We gave up 12 tonight. We have to do a much better job of that. Also, we knew that this was a very talented transition team and we lost some guys in transition.
On responding to adversity during games...
"You've just got to continue to grind and fight and battle. It's not where you go out and try to make a hero play. It's consistent, solid basketball. Defensively and offensively. Doing your job every possession. We had far too many breakdowns. It's something we'll continue to work and we will get better at."
On the problems getting going in the second half...
"I couldn't tell you in terms of it's no different than the things we did in the first half when things were working for us. We've just got to be able to, when teams go on runs on us, go back and be solid enough to come down and defensively, bow your neck and get stops. Offensively, drive the basketball, get into the paint, force help and then go from there. We got to the free throw line 25 times so we are getting the ball to the paint. For us, we shot it pretty well from the free-throw line, but when you give up 12 offensive rebounds and you have 13 turnovers, that sums up pretty much a lot of the game."
On Devin Thomas' lack of touches in the first half...
"We wanted to get the ball inside. He struggled in the first half going 0-for-3 from the field. When Devin catches a ball with his back to the basket and he's able to make a quick move, he's successful. If he catches it out off the block a little bit, I think we want him to drive the basketball more and force more help.They had some long guys back there who stayed in front of him and walled up and were able to contest his shot. So that length did bother him tonight."
If you haven't yet, please be sure to check out the football stories from yesterday, dealing with the Deacs recruiting strategy and this weekend's visitors. Much more uplifting topics
Wake Forest Head Coach Danny Manning
Opening Statement...
"Today was a difficult game. It was a difficult afternoon. I thought the way the game started, we did some good things in the first half. I thought we moved the basketball well. We did a good job of attacking. They call a timeout towards the end of the first half and go on a run. We come in at halftime and come back out and they go on another run and then, from there, we're playing catch up the whole time. I think we have to continue to play with the same intensity and mentality that we played with when we were winning early on in the game. When teams deliver blows, we've got to deliver blows back. We didn't do that nearly enough this afternoon."
On the continuing second half struggles...
"We have to play with more effort. You have to play with more intensity, but I think the attention to detail (is important). I think when you go back and look, for 11 minutes in the first half, we're doing something right that worked for us. We have to continue with that same mindset for the duration of the ballgame. You're going to take blows, but you have to be able to give blows back. Right now for us, we've got to play defense where we finish the possession. I think a lot of times we've played pretty good defense but we give up an offensive rebound. We gave up 12 tonight. We have to do a much better job of that. Also, we knew that this was a very talented transition team and we lost some guys in transition.
On responding to adversity during games...
"You've just got to continue to grind and fight and battle. It's not where you go out and try to make a hero play. It's consistent, solid basketball. Defensively and offensively. Doing your job every possession. We had far too many breakdowns. It's something we'll continue to work and we will get better at."
On the problems getting going in the second half...
"I couldn't tell you in terms of it's no different than the things we did in the first half when things were working for us. We've just got to be able to, when teams go on runs on us, go back and be solid enough to come down and defensively, bow your neck and get stops. Offensively, drive the basketball, get into the paint, force help and then go from there. We got to the free throw line 25 times so we are getting the ball to the paint. For us, we shot it pretty well from the free-throw line, but when you give up 12 offensive rebounds and you have 13 turnovers, that sums up pretty much a lot of the game."
On Devin Thomas' lack of touches in the first half...
"We wanted to get the ball inside. He struggled in the first half going 0-for-3 from the field. When Devin catches a ball with his back to the basket and he's able to make a quick move, he's successful. If he catches it out off the block a little bit, I think we want him to drive the basketball more and force more help.They had some long guys back there who stayed in front of him and walled up and were able to contest his shot. So that length did bother him tonight."
