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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

February 21, 2011

Frank Haith

COACH HAITH: Obviously, we're coming off a tough loss last night. It was another tight ballgame for us, our ninth one of the year ACC play where it's gone down to the last possession. Free-throw shooting was not good down the stretch. That and our ball handling, our point guard play and ball handling mistakes down the stretch pretty much cost us the game.

Q. Can you talk about Adrian's perseverance in your program and how much the other guys may look up to him and what he's been through?
COACH HAITH: He's been just a special young man, obviously overcoming, two season-ending injuries. And I even talked to our team about this yesterday before the game about a young man that even though he's a part of that team and went to the NCAA Tournament, he was hurt that year. Him having a chance to play in postseason, I think it's important to him.
But everybody looks up to Adrian because he's just been a great citizen also. Obviously, he's made some strides in his game. He's become a different player than he was when we recruited him, and that's all about his perseverance and working hard.
He was our leading three-point shooter in the ACC last year. No one would have thought that that would be the case with Adrian Thomas. So I'm very proud of him and what he's accomplished here during his team here at the University of Miami.

Q. Wanted to ask you about Reggie Johnson and what he's continuing to give you. Can you talk about how he's matured during the season this year?
COACH HAITH: Sure, I think we tend to forget, even though Reggie's a sophomore, he only played extended minutes last year three games. Dwayne Collins was pretty much was that guy last year. I think he's had to grow during the season this year.
He's had moments where he's been dominant, and he's had moments where he's not quite the player he's capable of being. That's maturity.
I think as he's matured, you're going to see Reggie be a guy that has potential to be one of the better big guys in this league. It's just a matter of getting his conditioning where it needs to be and getting his weight down. But he has great hands, great feet and a nice touch around the basket.

Q. Given the nature of the games you've played in the conference this year, some incredibly close games, what has your team revealed of itself to you? Where are you exactly? Do you feel like you've gotten better since the start of the conference season?
COACH HAITH: I think we have. I think last night we probably took a step back because our guard play was really not good last night. We needed them to be on point to win a game, hard-fought, physical game like Clemson. Obviously, we had those four games in a row and then we won three out of four where we showed some signs of winning those late games.
To win late games, you have to make free throws and have to handle the ball. Last night we didn't do either. We didn't make free throws and our ball handling was not good.
That's where we've got to have some improvement to continue to grow in this league. There's no question, because we're in play every game, we're close. I think it's just a matter of maturing and continuing to get better.

Q. Between now and the start of the tournament, are those the ball handling and the free-throw shooting, are those the key things?
COACH HAITH: I think to win late games. I think we've got to be consistent with our effort throughout games. We need to continue particularly and continue to get that ball inside to Reggie. We got to play through Reggie Johnson. That's got to be important for this team's development.
We've got to get the ball inside. A lot of it is ball handling. But we've got to get the ball to Reggie, he's got to work harder. That has to be established. As we move toward the ACC Tournament, we're pretty good with that. But we've been a pretty good free-throw shooting team. It just let us down last night.

Q. Can you talk about your freshman Rion Brown?
COACH HAITH: He's played really well in terms of late. He's just starting to get obviously a lot of minutes when DeQuan Jones went down. But his play has been -- he basically he won the Virginia game for us.
I think Rion is a terrific player with terrific talents. It's a matter of him getting his feet wet and getting comfortable. You're starting to see him get more comfortable. I think he's an outstanding defender also, which is something we need on the perimeter. He's probably our best perimeter defender on our team.
But he's getting more and more comfortable in the offense in terms of learning and knowing where to get his offensive opportunities. I think he can score different ways. He's not just a jump shooter. He can score in the paint. He can elevate and shoot pull-up J's. He's a guy that has a chance to be an all around guard in this league. He's made great strides from the start of the year until now.

Q. Could you talk about DeQuan Jones? He's played three games since coming back from his hand injury.
COACH HAITH: He's still not -- well, he's getting better with his injury. We started him the last two games. I don't know. He's just a little rusty. It's just about him continuing to get his feet wet, to get out there and get more comfortable.
He was out for a while. He's a guy that's important to us, so hopefully we can get him some more minutes here. Hopefully by the time the ACC Tournament rolls around, he's playing like he did before he got hurt.

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