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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEJanuary 14, 2013Brian GregoryBRIAN GREGORY: Obviously a little disappointed in our second half performance on Saturday afternoon, but you've got to give‑‑ in this league you've got to‑‑ sometimes it's not always what you didn't do, it's what the opponent did. Give Virginia Tech credit; they played extremely well in the second half, have a dynamic scorer in Green that kind of held them together there when we were making a run and kept them within striking distance. I just listened to Mark, a lot of the same things could be said for our team. Our margin of error is small as we continue to try to rebuild a little bit, and in this league you have a home game that you have an opportunity to win, you've got to take advantage of it because we're in a very difficult phase of our schedule, as well. You know, great challenge on Thursday, play against not only one of the best teams in our conference but one of the best teams in the country, and they have some guys playing at a very high level. I thought we played well on Wednesday on the road in a tough environment at North Carolina State.  They weren't looking past Georgia Tech. I thought they played extremely well in that game. Mark had those guys ready to go, and I thought we competed extremely well in there. Not pleased with our performance, especially the second half on Saturday, but we've got to keep moving forward and have the opportunity to play two games now in the next 13 days and have a chance to get on the practice court and continue to improve. Q. Can you talk about the difficulty of playing Duke in Durham at this point coming off a loss, and also, does it make it any easier that Ryan Kelly is not playing? BRIAN GREGORY: Well, I think one thing, it doesn't matter if you've come off 20 wins or 10 losses, it's hard to play in Durham. Obviously exceptionally coached, disciplined team with great talent, as well, and that's a tough combination to overcome. But you've got to embrace it. You've got to embrace the challenge, you've got to be excited about the opportunity, and you can't worry about the mistakes. You've got to compete on every single play. Obviously where we're at as a program, that's what we preach, that's what we emphasize, and hopefully we'll be able to go out there and perform that way. You're going to have‑‑ they're going to have some runs, you've got to take care of the ball, you've got to play extremely good defense on the dribble, and with Plumlee inside, I think he's one of the most aggressive post players in the country. You just love guys that that motor is running every single possession. Now, you know, one thing is they are a different team without Ryan Kelly. There's no question about that. I'm sure you caught the comment that Mark Gottfried said during halftime; they replaced him with another all‑American. But it's different, and not only what he brings, but he brings great experience to the team, and in this league, as good as the freshmen are, you have to rely on your upper classmen. Sometimes initially it affects the team a little more, and as you get through it, then the next game or two guys start understanding kind of a new role or new objectives and what they have to get done, and they start tightening things up again. Q. Do you feel like‑‑ it's kind of funny, you guys opened against Duke last year in Atlanta, and you haven't played them since. Does it feel like almost a new experience for your guys? Your guys have never been to Cameron. BRIAN GREGORY: Yeah, well, obviously our freshmen haven't, and I think our upper class played there probably the year before. But yeah, everything this year with this year's team and the progress that we're making feels a lot different. You know what I mean? We still have some of the same Achilles heels in terms of problems that we have to overcome and so forth, some of it due to use, some of it due to just inability to make some plays that need to be made. But that's part of the process, that's part of the growing pains and so forth. In this league you'd better respect everybody you play because everybody has got great players. But we also want to get to a point where that respect is a healthy respect but we go out there and try to play Georgia Tech basketball, and that's defend better, that's rebound better, which is a key for us, and that's when the opportunity comes, and we'd like it to come more often, is to really push the ball and share the ball. Q. You talked last year a lot about the improvement of Mfon Udofia and how he had improved probably as much as a player you've seen in a long time. I wonder now seven, eight months later, him being a senior, what has he improved on and what are you seeing out of him this year that's really helping the team? BRIAN GREGORY: Well, I think he's still playing his best basketball of his career right now, and a lot is thrown on his plate.  He's our only senior with graduate student in Pierre Jordan. He got banged up in the Illinois game on our way back from our trip in California. I still don't think he's 100 percent. I think the ankle is still‑‑ there's no problems with it and he can play, but he just is lacking a little bit of maybe the explosiveness that he had early. But we're just not the same team without him playing well. You know, he's done a good job of taking care of the ball. He's shooting his best percentages from the field, taking quality shots. We need him to shoot better from the free‑throw line, and then we ask him, now he's got to guard Green at Virginia Tech, you know what I mean, and he's got to guard Larkin. He don't get to rest on the other end, either. He's having as good a senior year as we had hoped, and to be honest with you, we need him to do more, and that's not always fair, but that's the reality of it. Q. When you have a veteran like that, that basically with a new coach kind of leads the way, what he's doing, does that set an example for everybody else, and how has that translated? BRIAN GREGORY: Yeah, he definitely‑‑ he's a guy that values the work ethic that you have to put in every day. He comes hard and practices hard every single day. Games aren't‑‑ and practices are important to him. He's got an emotional tie to what we're doing. All those things are important. You know, I think at times it's frustrating for him to realize that some of the work that he's doing in terms of leadership, he may not be able to reap the benefits from. You know what I mean? You look at some guys, as much improved as we are, you know, he may not be able to enjoy all the fruits of his labor. But in great programs, what you do is you put in the work and you understand that other things down the road are going to be super positive. And sometimes that's hard for younger guys to grasp or to really buy into, but Mfon has done that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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