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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

January 31, 2011

Jeff Bzdelik

Q. Can you just address what it does for a team that's been struggling to get a win like you did Saturday and how it helps to be able to build on that?
JEFF BZDELIK: Well, we're all human beings. We need to be rewarded at some point in time, and our players, we have very, very little experience on this team. Our lone senior, Gary Clark, played 30 minutes the other day. Last year he only averaged nine minutes a game, and of course Ty Walker I believe played a minute in the ACC last year as a junior. Nikita is the other junior, and he's been a transfer, has sat out a year. So there is no experience.
For a group of young, inexperienced players to get rewarded, to make their free throws down the stretch, all 14 in the second half, to execute late in the game, to do those kinds of things that they've never done before really gives a big boost to a team like this, no question.

Q. You mentioned Ty Walker. He had not been giving you much of an offensive help, but he was in double figures Saturday. Is it possible for a guy midway through his junior year to have a breakthrough game, and could this have been it?
JEFF BZDELIK: Well, again, I go back to the fact that Ty has played very, very little throughout his career, and he really in essence is like a freshman. We work with him every day. He's been very inconsistent, especially with his offense. We knew that Virginia's big fellow was showing really hard on ball screens and he stunts really hard. So we made a conscious effort to look for our bigs, and Ty was able to catch the ball and put it in, and that was a great lift for us, no question.

Q. Wanted to get your thoughts on C.J. Harris' development and how he played for you on Saturday. Seemed like an all-around effort.
JEFF BZDELIK: Well, I'll tell you something about C.J. Harris. I had a conversation with him a couple of days prior to the Virginia game, and I said, C.J., I said, you're doing great. This is a brand-new experience for you, and tell me your thoughts. And he said, Coach, it is. Last year I was just -- I just kind of ran around, spotted up and set off of Ish and all the other veteran players that Wake Forest had at the time. I just was able to just, like I said, feed off those other players. Now I'm playing the point. Now I have to direct a team. I have so many responsibilities in terms of being a point guard, which is a position he's never played before including high school.
He's had to try and mentor the young players, five freshmen on our team, both on and off the court. Everything is brand new to him, and I really think he's done a wonderful, wonderful job. He's developing, he's playing all aspects of the game. He's gaining more confidence. He's making better decisions with the basketball. He comes in and he watches films all the time.
I think once we are able to get Tony Chennault back in optimum shape and understanding what we're doing, and as Tony gains experience, this is for the future going to help C.J. Harris when he goes back to his natural position off the ball to really be a complete player and really add a lot to his game.
It's a blessing in disguise in some ways.

Q. Speaking of Tony Chennault, do you go into a game looking to parcel out his minutes, like we want to play him 15 this game and maybe 20, or does it depend on how it's going? How do you approach that from game to game?
JEFF BZDELIK: Well, you know, I just kind of adjust to the game. We had an opportunity in that Virginia game to finish it off, and being able to execute, being able to understand totally what we want out of every play. Tony has not gotten -- in fairness to Tony, he has not gotten the reps to have a total understanding of what we want. The experience and wisdom that the other young players have gone through in a painful way down the stretch in the Virginia game, we just -- it was hard to get Tony in there because he is really like a -- yes, we're young, but some of those players now have gone through 20 games, whereas Tony has played, what, that was just his fourth game.
So as much as I want to get him in there and let him gain experience and wisdom and understand what this game is about, we had a chance to win, and it was very difficult to get him in there. But I would like to extend his minutes, but again, it goes by the flow of the game, as well. There has to be a balance there from my decision-making as a head coach.

Q. Can you tell I guess from practice sessions, is his stamina beginning to build up? I know he's a long way from -- he's a ways from being in really good game shape, but how does he rate from just a stamina standpoint?
JEFF BZDELIK: Well, it's getting better on a daily basis. Once you're at this point of the year where you can do extended practices, where you can do all the rehab and running on the treadmill and do all the drills you want, but it doesn't simulate the same kind of conditions like going out there like his last couple of games, Duke and Virginia, at that level of competition and that intensity, you can't simulate that. You only just go through it.
So from his standpoint, it's getting better, yes, so it's a combination of his stamina increasing and also getting the proper reps in for him to understand what we want done, and then of course being -- as a point guard being at a position to make plays and decisions, that takes a lot of experience, as well.
It's a combination of those things, and we're trying to work him in the best we can so he can help us out.

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