|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEFebruary 27, 2012Leonard HamiltonLEONARD HAMILTON: We've lost two games in a row for the first time in a while in our league, and they both had similarities, ran against two teams that shot the ball extremely well from the three‑point line against us, and we didn't‑‑ they made shots, moved the ball and were very patient. They got the shots they wanted. We didn't do a very good job contesting them, but they made those shots. From our standpoint, I thought there were times we played really good defense, but somehow or another we just couldn't get to the three‑point shooters as a result of the other team executing better on the offensive end. On the offensive end, I feel that we still are not finishing plays around the basket. The easy opportunities we've had, we didn't capitalize on them. I think we've gone into the last two games now in a position where I thought if we're going to be successful we're going to have to make sure we finish plays and do a better job on the offensive end. Q. You were mentioning that the two teams that beat you last week shot well from the three and you didn't get to the three‑point line. That's something that we seem to expect you guys to do real well. Was there a breakdown on your part, or were they doing something to get you off those shots that other teams haven't done earlier this year? LEONARD HAMILTON: Well, in the Duke game, there were several times, and one time they tipped the ball out from a rebound. Other times we gave up penetration, and we helped out, they got the ball to them. But they still made those baskets. Most of the times teams will shoot their normal three‑point percentage during the course of a game. In both of those games, those teams shot exceptionally well. I'm not really sure there was that much different in what it has been all year. Sometimes teams just have that exceptional focus, and this time of year we might have been a little bit more vulnerable to penetration, and I think a lot of it is because both of the teams we played the last time had exceptionally good, quick attacking odds that have the potential to beat you off the dribble, and you've got to give them credit for doing some things right as opposed to maybe us doing something wrong. Austin really is a handful for everybody. He gets in the lane, you have to try to help him, and there were several times Curry got it in, and we helped out and he kicked it out, and the same thing briefly happened to us at Miami. They were extremely patient, and they had some pretty quick guards, they got into the lane after two or three ball reverses, and they knocked down some jumpers. Thank goodness we have a couple more games to regroup. We normally bounce back after we fall. Q. It seems since the last time you faced Virginia, Peterson has been playing a little bit more at point. You seem to be going‑‑ trying a couple different things there. Talk about your point guard situation. LEONARD HAMILTON: We've been fairly solid all year from the point guard. Jeff has done a real good job for us, and so has Luke. You've seen his assist‑to‑turnover ratio, and Jeff coming in the game, it's just solid play. They have been consistent basically, and I think they've given to the best of their abilities. Q. Just following up on Jeff, did you have him all last year in practice‑‑ LEONARD HAMILTON: No, he just came in in the summer. Q. How much of an adjustment period‑‑ LEONARD HAMILTON: He's been in an adjustment period all year basically with some veterans coming back and his third school and learning a new system and getting over some little typical, you know, stretches, stresses, strains. Nothing serious, but a little pull here, a little tweak there. It hasn't been an easy transition for him, but for the most part, I've been very pleased with his attitude, his work ethic. He'll be a great teammate. Q. You split your last six games. Do you feel like you need to win these last couple to gain some momentum going into the tournament, or is there such a thing as momentum going into the tournament that means much? LEONARD HAMILTON: Well, I think everybody wants to win each and every basketball game. This is not about that. You normally feel better when you're winning than you do when you're not. Sometimes when you lose you're more motivated. What we have to do is just not try to look too far into the future and worry about the tournament. What we've got to do is just focus on the game and try to win them one at a time. I'm not really concerned that much about the tournament, the ACC tournament or the NCAA tournament in particular, because I do believe that those things pretty much take care of themselves if you stay focused and consistent with the opportunity you have available. Q. One of the things that was a problem early on, I don't know if it's resurfaced lately, is the turnovers on your part. You went through a nice stretch where you really cut down on it. Do you see those creeping back in? LEONARD HAMILTON: Well, we had some adjustments, and it was interesting because they were kind of like unforced turnovers where we weren't really defended but we made quick movements with our feet, lay‑up inside, walked, didn't put it on the floor, two where we have driving for lay‑ups and shuffled our feet. I think that has a lot to do with concentrating. Sometimes we haven't always done that. But the turnovers normally have not bothered us as much because they've always been turnovers that didn't necessarily lead to baskets. I think we might have turned it over once that led to a basket. Our defense has normally been so good that we've been able to overcome it. We've never been a great passing team, and we've been abominable for turnovers, but we seem to have always kept finding ways to win regardless of our shortcoming. I think every team has weaknesses and strengths. And turnovers has been a problem of ours, but we've been able to continue to keep finding ways to win and over coming. We had a stretch there where we hadn't been turning the ball over very much at all. I think we might have turned the ball over eight times against Duke, and I don't think we turned it over very much against North Carolina State. Yesterday I think we had 18 turnovers. Most of them were unforced. It wasn't that Miami really did a lot to force us. I think we made‑‑ had two guys running for run‑outs and we threw the ball out of bounds. We were ahead of them. We made a couple of ill‑advised lob passes and walked a couple times, and it's those types of turnovers that we made that we need to increase our level of focus not to turn those things over. Q. It seems like across college basketball you see a lot of these scores that have gotten down in the 60s and 50s more often. Is this just a product of tougher defense, what happens when you get in conference play, or maybe are more teams playing slower paced offense? What do you see? LEONARD HAMILTON: I think a lot of it is over the last 10, 12 years, all our games on TV and people have a tendency to scout you better. They do statistical analysis on your strengths and weaknesses. People are a lot more prepared than maybe they were in years past. But I think most teams love to get up and down the court, most kids like to run and play, and I think that's been kind of a style that most people like. But I think you have people with more skills and handling the ball better, making better decisions with the ball, and I think defense has improved, and people try to make‑‑ take good shots. People are not just giving you those easy opportunities because they're defending and working hard and not allowing you to get your first, second and third options, and you have to go to mostly a ball screen and dribble drive game, and people have teams defensively that have improved over the years. I don't think it's a lack of offense. I think the defenses have improved all over the country. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|