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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEJanuary 21, 2013Mark TurgeonMARK TURGEON: We continue to try to get better. We've been a little up and down obviously our last couple games. Looking forward to Boston College. Boston College really challenges you. Defensively they spread the floor and run a lot of good stuff. Well coached. So a lot of prep work goes into preparing for them, obviously, but we're looking forward to being back home and hopefully playing well on Tuesday night. Q. In terms of when you look at the tape from Saturday, do you come away looking‑‑ trying to get past the first half, or do you keep going back to the first half because of how poorly the team played? MARK TURGEON: No, I think we all know we played poorly. We all know not really anybody played well the first half. Weren't locked into our defensive assignments, turned the ball over, weren't very tough. You learn from it, you talk about it, but in the second half you can't take too much from that, either, because maybe North Carolina wasn't concentrating as much as they would have been if the score had been tied and things like that. But we did compete. We competed until the end. We guarded better in the second half. Our assignments were better in the second half defensively. So you just move on. My thought for the day yesterday was next play, so tip‑off Tuesday night, or next play and practice, whatever it is, just move on, let's try to better, don't make too much of it. It's one loss, just like North Carolina State was one win. We've got to get better. We're obviously not playing at the level we need to be playing at to be successful in this league, so hopefully we can get better here as we move forward. Q. And just to follow up, given the way you thought the team was playing I guess through the first half of the Florida State game, are you surprised or did you expect, because it's a young team, to have this kind of one step forward, two steps back? MARK TURGEON: Yes, and‑‑ you never know what lies ahead when you're coaching. I do think our schedule has been pretty difficult, which doesn't help for us. We've played some good teams in the league, games that we've struggled in. But no, it is what it is. You know, we made huge strides defensively, and I thought the Miami game and the North Carolina State game our team defense was so much better, and then I think we took a step back. We stood around and watched on Saturday, especially in the first half. So that was disappointing. You know, it's hard out there. It's hard to win. It's hard‑‑ college basketball is competitive, but hopefully you just‑‑ you've got to remember where we are, where we were last year, and you just keep trying to get better. You just keep trying to get better. That's all I can say. I come to practice every day and try to make us better. Hopefully the players come to practice and try to get better, and you go from there. We've got some guys experiencing things for the first time. We had six guys, this is the first time they played at North Carolina the other day who played significant minutes. That was all new to them, and they didn't‑‑ a lot of them didn't handle it very well. Q. From the best that you could tell, was there a different approach for North Carolina in the second half the other day, or as you alluded to earlier was that maybe a different level of concentration since they had a big lead? MARK TURGEON: Yeah, you know, I don't know how they played. We played harder, and we were‑‑ like I said, with our assignments we were‑‑ they had two players that can really score, and we didn't guard either one of them the first half the right way, and we did a better job on those two, and then Harrison never really got going in that game Saturday. They didn't really need him. Maybe we were a little bit better defensively, we still had a lot of shots, some open looks we didn't make. Execution was a little better. Second half obviously we handled the ball better. We still had six turnovers, but we were better. We were better. But it wasn't hard to be much better after as bad as we were in the first half. I don't have an answer. I mean, we were better. We practiced well last night. Hopefully we'll practice well today and play well Tuesday. Q. Alex has taken only 15 shots the last two games. Is that a product of him moving into a position that he's not quite comfortable playing or is it not getting the ball where he's comfortable? MARK TURGEON: Oh, I don't know. You know, I think he led us in shots one game. I can't remember. I haven't studied it enough. You know, give North Carolina credit. At the start of the game the other day they doubled him. They weren't going to let him shoot it. So a lot of it is the defense. And until guys start making some shots, we're going to continue to see that. It's a product of the whole team, not just necessarily Alex or us getting the ball. He's got two guys guarding him most of the time he catches it. Really to get 15 shots is pretty good, especially the way their teams are guarding us right now. Alex has got to play better. He didn't play with great toughness on Saturday. He's got to play better than he did. I think it's a product of our whole situation and what we're going through right now as a team. Q. And just to follow up, will you continue with the alignment you have with Shaq‑‑ MARK TURGEON: No, Shaq didn't play well, but I'm not going to not start him Tuesday because of Saturday's game, but it's more about who we're playing.  Boston College most likely will start four little guys, so we'll probably different a different line‑up on Tuesday. That's the way we're preparing. We'll see. But Shaq will hopefully play significant minutes. And then I don't know what we'll do the next game after that. We'll have to see. Q. Kind of a big‑picture question for you. I know you tend not to watch a ton of basketball and watch a bunch of games, but looking at the ACC this year I'm curious if you see a little more balance than there's been in years past top to bottom? Coach Williams was on here a couple minutes ago saying it's the most balanced year he's ever seen in his 10 years in the ACC and I was wondering if you had any thoughts. MARK TURGEON: Well, I do think‑‑ we don't have a North Carolina like last year. Maybe Duke is that team if they can get Kelly healthy. But they were pretty dominant in our league talent‑wise last year. I think the league had a lot of new coaches, wasn't as deep at the bottom. But I do see a lot better teams. I watch teams on tape, and I'm like, man, they're pretty good. So you go on down the line, I think we're a better team than we were last year. Are we playing really well right now? No, but I think we're a better basketball team and I think that's a pretty argument to win. So yeah, I do think it's balanced. I think North Carolina is pretty good. Were they good earlier in the year, no, but they were good on Saturday, and they have some pretty good players. Florida State is pretty darned good. They struggled early. They're athletic, they gave us some problems. I think Virginia is potentially going to be better than they were last year even though the big fella is gone. Yeah, you can go through all the teams and you can see a lot more consistency. Wake Forest is probably a little bit better, Georgia Tech we know is better. Even though they haven't won a game yet in the league, they're a much better basketball team. Yeah, I do think it's a much deeper league and a better league than it was last year. Q. Is there a common cause that you see for that? Is it a matter of teams adjusting to the coaching changes that came in over the past couple years, or is it just programs on the rise all at the same time? MARK TURGEON: Well, yeah, it's a number of things, new coaches, building programs, the consistent programs that have been there for years, and then timing. Guys got upper classmen, makes them a little bit better. If they've been down, they've kind of grown up type deal. You look across the board, I don't see an easy game out there, especially for us and where we are. Boston College is arguably much better than they were last year, and they're still a very young basketball team. They've played everybody tough and I think they've lost by three, three and six, something like that, in their games. So they're a good team, too. It's just timing. Just timing. And I think the ACC made a lot of changes in coaches in the last three or four years, and I think you're starting to see that all come together. Q. In terms of the way your team‑‑ the outside shooting, there's been a lot of talk about not being able to hit outside shots. In terms of finishing at the rim, did you feel the team did a little better job second half against Carolina, and is that also‑‑ you talk about toughness and being tough with the ball; is that part of that whole equation? MARK TURGEON: Yeah, I think Dez finished around the rim, obviously Charles I thought did a good job with it, he got one shot blocked in the second half. But yeah, I think we finished around the rim better than we had the last couple games, so that was big for us. You know, the thing that we're not doing and the thing that we've done in the past is we get to the foul line and we're struggling. And we're not getting there. Dez can get there, Nick has got to figure out a way to get there, Alex has got to figure out a way to get there. All our post‑‑ we've got to shoot more free throws. If we're not going to make jump shots, then we've got to shoot more free throws, got to get more second‑chance points, got to score on the break, which we haven't been able to do. We haven't been able to get the easy ones. We missed some lay‑ups against North Carolina State. Yeah, it's just a number of things. It's all gone bad at once. It's just real‑‑ it's all gone bad at once. It's that simple. Some of it was execution in the Miami game. Our execution wasn't very good. Our execution wasn't very good in the guts of the game against Florida State. I do think our execution is getting better, I think our plan is getting better as we're getting used to playing good teams. It just all went bad at once. Hopefully it all snaps out at once. But it's a long season. You go through these things, and a lot of it is our competition. We're playing really good basketball teams. They're a little bit more experienced than we are, a little bit better than we are right now, and it's showing in the scoreboard. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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