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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEJanuary 23, 2012Steve DonahueSTEVE DONAHUE: We had a rough weekend the last two games, coming off obviously a good stretch the previous weekend. These are things that you're going to have to deal with with a young team. I thought NC State played terrific at their place and really took it to us physically, then Wake Forest I thought was very disciplined throughout the whole game. We made a run in the second half. I thought they maintained their poise and really did a good job on the defensive end. You know, we got to bounce back, and obviously we have a huge task in front of us at Virginia. Q. I guess I was just wondering what your general thoughts are on playing Virginia, and also kind of just when you see a team like that that's a little undermanned without Assane Sene and playing a little smaller, do you do anything to maybe try to take advantage of that situation? STEVE DONAHUE: You know, I don't know if we're at a point where we can figure out how to take advantage of different situations. We're still trying to get to know ourselves, and we've got to do what we do well. I think Sene is a really good basketball player for them. I think he does add so much defensively in particular. But they have such good experienced basketball players throughout the lineup. I think they'll be in great shape as the season goes along, as well. But we've got to really concentrate on what we do, and we've got to get better at what we do, and that's what we'll try to work on this week. Q. Have you seen the film of their game last night against Virginia Tech yet? STEVE DONAHUE: I did. I did, yeah. Q. Did you have any impressions on that? STEVE DONAHUE: Yeah, like everybody else in this league, I think Virginia Tech is a good basketball team. They've lost really good, hard‑nosed, close games to everyone; at Florida State, obviously our game was extremely close, the Wake Forest game. They could easily have four wins. What you saw was I thought the defense and their length did a really good job on Virginia an closing out on shooters, and I thought they did a really good job throughout the whole game of defending Virginia very well and then they were patient on the offensive end. Virginia is such a solid, defensive team that it's hard to score and you just can't get overanxious, and I thought Virginia Tech did a great job of that. Q. You watched their game with Virginia last night. Did you see anything from what Virginia Tech did to slow down Mike Scott that you might be basically looking at as kind of a blueprint going forward for your team this week? STEVE DONAHUE: Well, you know, I think everybody has tried similar things. I think you've got to give him a whole lot of attention. You can't let him get easy touches. You've got to think about bringing other guys over. But we're so different than Virginia Tech. It's hard to simulate what they do. But I think Virginia does what they do very well. They're going to guard you. You've really got to make sure you get a good shot so you're going to get your defense set and things like that. As I said, I think they're so much more experienced, Virginia Tech is, and this is the first time most of my guys ever played Virginia. I think that's a part of the difficulty playing a team like Virginia, because they are so‑‑ a little different than everybody else and they're so experienced that you've really got to go through it a couple times to understand it, and I think that helped Virginia Tech. I think their experience last year and getting beat by Virginia really helped them with their focus playing at Virginia this time. Q. One of the things we're looking at is the growth of some of the kids you're playing. I was looking at Jordan Daniels, the one guy that seemed really shaky against North Carolina, but since then he's been putting up some really good numbers, really good assist‑turnover ratio, his shooting has improved. Have you seen growth there for him? STEVE DONAHUE: I really have, and I agree with you. After looking at the North Carolina game, I probably jumped the gun a little early on Jordan. I just sensed that he was really nervous in that first game, which is understandable. I probably shouldn't have pulled the trigger so quickly on him after looking at the film. And I think the last four games he's done a terrific job. We have him out there for 30, 35 minutes a game, and I think he's doing a terrific job. The two wins we had last week, I thought he had‑‑ he could have been credited with four or five more assists that just weren't issued to him. He's got a good pace to his game. I think he's relaxing. He's a very good stand‑still shooter, and I think he's showing that, as well, and I think he's obviously showed that he's someone as he gets older and stronger and more experienced, I think he's going to be a good ACC basketball player. Q. And just a little off topic, but after playing Wake, can you talk about the impact, Ty Walker joined them at mid‑season and he seems to have a really big impact on the defensive end with blocked shots but just taking away stuff on the inside. Did you see that, too? STEVE DONAHUE: No doubt. No doubt. In my 25 years, you rarely come across a kid like him defensively, so it's hard to understand it. He's a hard guy to referee, too. That's the thing. Like we got two goal tends, and I'm sitting over there and I'm thinking, I never see these kind of blocked shots, and I assume the referees don't, either. It's a mental thing that gets into guys' heads around the rim. I thought Ty did a great job of really doing a solid job on that end of the floor, and then on the offensive end I thought he moved well, I thought he made the right passes, he made a shot when he had to. I think they've got a lot of pieces to that team. I think they have a heck of a scorer in McKie. Their guard play has really gotten more solid over the last‑‑ since last year and into this year with Harris and Chennault, and then you throw a kid like Walker who comes in there and really adds a piece on the defensive end, I think if they play the way they did here, I think they're going to be very successful. Q. Starting with Virginia at Georgia Tech on Thursday night, a bunch of ACC teams won on the road over the weekend, in some cases won big. What do you make of that? STEVE DONAHUE: That's a hard thing because you look over the years in this league it's been dominated by home teams. The only thing I would say to you is there's a lot of teams in transition right now in this league. So the consistency of play, including us, isn't there yet. So you're going to get teams that feel good on the road just because they're just feeling good and playing well at that point, and the team at home isn't as consistent as it would be. I think that's what you're seeing in this league. There's teams that‑‑ we all go through ups and downs, but now this is really a different year for the league in general because so many teams are trying to get better and grow their program. The inconsistency of play probably leads to what you're seeing. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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