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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

January 10, 2011

Steve Donahue

THE MODERATOR: We have with us now Boston College head coach Steve Donahue. Coach, if you could, a few comments about your team and we'll open it up for questions.
COACH DONAHUE: Well, I'm very pleased obviously with our start in the ACC. For the most part I think our play has been pretty consistent for the last month and a half. Similar to what Brad just said, I think we're all trying to see if we can add a piece to our team, whether it's a personnel move, the way you play, to help you go into conference and add something.
I do think our non-league schedule has helped us prepare for this stretch of teams. I think we're fortunate to have that kind of experience under our belt. I think it's made us a better basketball team.
THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions.

Q. Seems like you're a fairly deep team now. Seems like most every game somebody steps up. Saturday, Trapani was limited to six points, but Corey Raji comes off and gets 22 and 9. Can you talk a little bit about the flexibility of your lineup.
COACH DONAHUE: Like most coaches, I probably wish we had some more. But I do have great confidence in a lot of guys. The other thing is I think I walked into a situation where there's a group of guys, like Corey and Joe and Reggie obviously, Biko, even Josh at times this year has shown the ability over their careers to have good games.
I think that's what you see, is some experienced depth, guys who played a lot of time. Teams aren't ready for them. I think at any time those guys can help you. I think that's the strength of our team. We have pretty consistent basketball players who have done pretty long in their career, in particular on the offensive end. I think at any point we can get a good showing that helps when someone like Joe Trapani maybe doesn't shoot the ball well and somebody really locks him up.

Q. Coach, I was wondering, having faced Jordan Williams at Maryland this season, what is it that in your mind separates him?
COACH DONAHUE: Well, I think there's very few kids in college basketball, we're probably going to face another one in Tracy Smith, but I think Williams is someone even more that is this.
His ability on the low block is very different than everybody else's in college basketball. I think there's very few kids that can consistently score with their back to the basket, and he does that, and it's a handful. So you're not used to doing that as much.
His ability to go over you, shoot over you consistently. Most of the time I think in college basketball, coaches will tell you, if you make a guy shoot over you, you have a good chance of making him miss it. That guy does a great job of get a good position and his ability to score consistently down there is a handful.

Q. Were there any points of emphasis after the Harvard game that you felt you corrected against Georgia Tech?
COACH DONAHUE: Well, I think it's an ongoing thing with our basketball team, just the defensive side of the ball. It just has to keep improving. I think we are in certain aspects.
The other thing, Harvard is much different than anyone we're going to play in the ACC. I think that's difficult for our guys to realize. They basically put four guards out there, 6'1", 6'2" at the most, then one center who is very good. But it's just a different type of matchup for us defensively than we'll see.
I didn't want to dwell on it too much about the particulars that hurt us in this game. I would rather focus on us going forward and saying, Here what is we have to do. We have to learn different aspects of defense. But most importantly you have to take pride in it. There's a personal thing that you need to take personal all the things that go on the defensive end that I didn't think we played with that against Harvard.
I thought we did a good job in the Georgia Tech game for the most part after the initial run. I thought Georgia Tech came out and played well initially. I thought we limited them to challenge shots in the second half. Much more pleased with that.

Q. A lot has been made that your team offensively is doing things totally differently than they've ever done them before. Defensively, are you asking them to make some changes on that end of the floor than what they were used to?
COACH DONAHUE: You know what, I'm not sure. I didn't really dwell on watching too much film in the past. That may be a part of it.
But I think whatever you do on offense, defense is fairly simple. I'm not putting a whole different plan out there. We play mostly man-to-man. We do some things differently.
Unfortunately, I think I'll go back to that mental side of it. I don't think we're taking enough emphasis on ourselves, meaning the players when they're out there, we've got to get stops. At times we do. I think when we do get stops we're a pretty good team in transition. We can move the ball on offense. But if we don't get stops, that's when we run into trouble.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, thanks for taking time being with us today.
COACH DONAHUE: Thanks, guys.

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