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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEJanuary 16, 2012Brad BrownellBRAD BROWNELL: Well, we're obviously coming off a very hard‑fought game against Duke, played reasonably well in a lot of the hustle categories, rebounding, 17 turnovers for Duke, and didn't make free throws and had a couple of droughts offensively that cost us the game. But we're playing a Miami team that's had two tough road games themselves, and we'll be excited about starting ACC play at home. Q. Milton Jennings to me looked like he played very well last night. He had 12 rebounds the game before. It seems like he's got himself on a pretty good roll. Can you discuss his play? BRAD BROWNELL: Yeah, he has played better. It seemed like it was about this time last year when Milt picked it up a little bit. I thought he had some good games late in his sophomore season. Certainly as you've pointed out, he's played well since we got back from Hawai'i, and I just think he's had very good energy and focus. You know, we need it. There's no doubt about it. We need he and Devin to play well to compete against the teams at this level. They've been a little inconsistent, especially in the non‑conference, but we're optimistic that both those guys are starting to get a little bit more comfortable and beginning to play better basketball. Q. Milt seems like such a spindly guy. Is strength something that he needs to add, or is it just the kind of player he is? BRAD BROWNELL: Well, it's a little bit of his body type. He's got one of those long, wiry, thin bodies. He's actually a reasonably strong kid. If you put him in the weight room he's probably a little stronger than you would give him credit for. But in terms of being able to maintain weight, that's difficult for him.  It's really hard. He tries to add weight, and it just doesn't seem to want to stay on his body. On good days he's 222, but then on bad days he's down to 216, and for a guy 6'9", 216 or 222, that's not a lot of weight. But what I think is Milt's strength is his agility to be honest with you. I think he moves, for a 6'9" guy, extremely well. He can get out on ball screens, offensively in our motion he moves around the floor very well, whether it's screening or cutting or popping. What he lacks for a little bit in girth and stuff, I think he makes up for with his agility and ability to move around the court. Q. What do you take out of last night's performance that you can use in a positive vein going forward? BRAD BROWNELL: Oh, just that in stretches when we are really locked in and play well and compete, much like the Florida State game, we can play with the best teams in the league. But obviously, as I've talked about before, our margin for error because of our offensive inadequacies is very small, so when we have breakdowns defensively and give up a couple lay‑ups or when we aren't able to get defensive rebounds‑‑ Duke did a good job last night on a couple possessions of tipping the ball back out or keeping a ball alive. There was a time when we fumbled the ball and the ball knocked off of Devin and he was out of bounds. Those extra possessions really hurt us. We just can't give teams of Duke's talent and the better teams in this league that kind of possessions. But when we are playing well, we're hard. When we're active and doing the things that we need to do, we have chances where we can play well, and we've done that in spurts. Q. Are you at all heartened by the remarkable number of both low‑scoring and close games that have been played league wide in the first two weeks? It's 61‑58 everywhere you turn it seems. BRAD BROWNELL: Well, I think a couple things. I think coaches are doing a good job defensively, and I think some of the recent hires in the league are probably coaches that are a little more defensive minded maybe. So that's going to follow suit a little bit. I think if you follow a lot of the teams where they've coached, maybe some of their scores have been a little bit lower and probably defensive‑minded coaching. But it's not easy to score in half‑court situations. Guys are big and strong and physical. It's just not as easy to finish plays. It doesn't surprise me a ton, but maybe as the league kind of gets going and guys get their legs under them, the scores may pick up a little bit. Q. In working with freshmen this time of year, once you enter conference play, take one of your freshman, for example, Sapp. In the last four games he's scored 13, 0, 11 and then 0. The ups and downs of a season for a freshman like that, how do you work with them mentally? BRAD BROWNELL: You just try to talk to them and keep their confidence high when you can. It's obviously very challenging. But you try to make them believe that they're good players. You show them film of both the good and the bad, but you've got to remind them that they can do some good things, but they've got to stay within one or two things that they do well I think is important. Play to your strengths, whatever those one or two things are, be confident in those, go back to those, and just try to stay away from a couple of the things you don't do as well. And certain games are going to dictate more opportunities than others for some freshmen, so you've got to coach them that way. There will be some freshmen, TJ starts for us a lot, but some of the other guys, where games are going to‑‑ personnel and teams we play and foul trouble are going to dictate. Sometimes you're going to play 18 minutes and then there's going to be times when you only play five or six and you've got to stay locked in and ready to go when your name is called. Q. Looking ahead to Miami, it seems like they've been transformed since the Christmas break when they got Reggie Johnson back. Can you talk about the difference he makes and trying to defend them? BRAD BROWNELL: Well, one‑on‑one inside he's a handful, and he's a great passer, you know, for a guy that size. He's got tremendous hands. He's got good basketball IQ. He knows how to feel double teamed. I'm sure he's been double teamed since he started playing the game, a guy with that size. In the half court I think is where it really helps him. It gives them somebody to throw the ball to, and then you have to make a decision are you going to double‑team, if you do, when you're going to double‑team, if you're not going to double‑team, how are you going to play. So I think guys like that can really help your half‑court offense because it really forces the hand of your opponent and then it allows other guys to be more successful because of double teaming and some of the things that happen there. Q. And the other thing about this game is it's at Miami and they've opened with two games on the road. You guys, correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like you've played significantly better at your home court, at least in the conference play. How big a difference is that? BRAD BROWNELL: Well, I think it helps. I think everybody enjoys being at home, especially when basketball season officially gets going. We don't quite have the crowds sometimes in December and November that we usually have in January and February, and so it makes a bigger difference for us. And I'm sure the same is true in some of the other places in the league. But I think being rested, and I think the thing that‑‑ what happens in the league at times, we had a week to get ready for Florida State and didn't play a midweek game and really had time to kind of prepare and get rested, I think we've played twice, BC and Duke, both games since Miami's last game maybe, North Carolina, so now they've had a little extra time. And I just think sometimes it's not always who you play but when you play them and sometimes when you have a little extra time to get ready, a little rest, your guys are ready to get back out there again after you've had three or four days of practice. They're tired of practicing. So I think just kind of‑‑ the factors of when you play teams sometimes is just as important. Q. You mentioned your thin margin there offensively. Were Andre's struggles last night an example of that? If he's not going well you're really going to struggle to score? BRAD BROWNELL: Yeah, can be. He certainly helps us because he's our most prolific three‑point shooter. It's hard because we ask him to do a lot. He brings the ball up a lot, and then we try to get him moving around off screens in our offense, and so there are times where he wears down a little bit. You know, last night we're fine if TJ Sapp makes a couple threes because we got good play out of Milton, Devin Booker. But when TJ Sapp doesn't score and then Andre goes 2 for 7 from the three and both the threes are late, that's tough. We need one or two of those guys‑‑ really we need two of the three starters at guard, TJ Sapp, Tanner Smith or Andre to have a good game, and then we need both of those guys inside to have pretty good games. It makes it much more difficult maybe if Andre is not doing it, but we've had a couple of games where we've still played well and he's maybe not shot it great. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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