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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEJanuary 28, 2013Jim LarranagaJIM LARRANAGA: We had a very good week last week with two home games, a great crowd for both nights. Both games were sell‑outs, students camped out for the Duke game, so it was great to be able to win those two games. Now we've got to get ready to go on the road. We've got two road games and we've got to bring the same energy and enthusiasm that we had here at home in front of the hometown crowd. We've got to take our show on the road and play with a certain amount of conviction. Q. Erick Green and that match‑up, what makes Erick so hard to defend, and what do you think works against him? JIM LARRANAGA: Nothing yet. The guy is a scoring machine, and he scores in so many different ways. He's tremendous in the open court, he's terrific at getting fouled and cashing in at the foul line. He can shoot the three. They set a lot of ball screens, which he's very good at utilizing the screen to free himself. He's had over 20 points in every game but one this year, and he's a handful for anybody. Q. What stands out from your time together with Coach Johnson and what's your impression of the job he's done so far? JIM LARRANAGA: J.J. was just an instrumental part of our George Mason program for the two years. He was great at every aspect. He was a terrific recruiter, terrific coach on the floor, but most importantly he was a great friend and continues to be. I think he's done a very, very good job with his team. A lot of things when I watch them on tape remind me of us. They're a little bit younger than us, but they do a lot of the things that we like to do. Q. Shane Larkin has been playing great for you lately. I want to get your impression, what has impressed you about Shane not just recently but since you've gotten to Miami? JIM LARRANAGA: Well, we saw Shane play when he was at the end of his freshman year of high school. We immediately started recruiting him. I loved him then, I love him now. He's terrific at everything. He's a heck of a defender, he works so hard defensively, comes up with steals. He had ten rebounds and nine rebounds in our last two games, and he's not even six feet tall. He runs the team, he shoots the three, he handles the press, just having an all‑conference caliber year. Q. We talked after the Duke game about the let‑down factor and will there be a let‑down. Obviously there wasn't be because the team was on again yesterday with FSU, but FSU is a natural rival, state rival, you were home and big crowd and all that stuff. Can you talk about going on the road and how are you going to keep the team at the same level of intensity like you said you wanted them to play with conviction? How do you do that and not get them to start thinking that it's going to be this easy every night? JIM LARRANAGA: Well, you're absolutely right about that, and getting them ready for Florida State, our arch‑rival in‑state with a sellout crowd here, certainly the players can feel that energy from the crowd. Trying to get our players to understand that when you go on the road, all those elements are against you and that you've got to find the mental toughness to generate it as a team, 14 guys and a handful of coaches pulling together and playing like a veteran group, and hopefully we'll be able to do that. Q. Can you talk about the greatest strides you guys have made from the early season, the exhibition loss on the Florida Gulf Coast to where you guys are now? JIM LARRANAGA: Well, I would say our focus is a lot better at the defensive end of the floor and we've been rebounding the ball a lot better, and that helps us offensively because we've been able to get more open court opportunities, fast breaks, but that's a direct result of our defense. When you improve defensively, you get more stops. When you improve rebounding, you prevent second‑chance points, and that creates opportunities for your offense that you didn't have before. So I think we've just got to continue to work on those areas. Yesterday we had 19 assists. I like that. If we have 16 assists or more, I feel like we're sharing the ball very well. We just need to keep our focus and play with a lot of energy. Q. Regarding Shane, what are the things about him that reflect the fact that he's the son of a world‑class athlete? JIM LARRANAGA: You know, first of all, Barry and Lisa Larkin, Shane's parents, are at almost all of our games, all our home games, and he comes from such a unique family of great athletes. Barry's brothers were also football players, basketball players, and I think it's in their genes, it's in their blood, to just know how to compete at the highest level. They love competition. In fact, in Shane's case, if we just do a boring drill, he loses focus. The moment we put a score up on the board, he tunes in and does a fantastic job. I think it's just the competitive nature of the family and the natural physical gifts of speed, quickness, jumping ability, and the hard work they've put into their skill level. Q. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about McKinney Jones. I know you mentioned him before doing a lot of different things for you. I was wondering if you could talk about some of the things that he does do for you guys out there on the court. JIM LARRANAGA: Well, I think, first of all, we have a number of guys that get a lot of attention from the media, Shane Larkin, Durand Scott, Reggie Johnson, Kenny Kadji, but we have two guys, Trey McKinney Jones and Julian Gamble, who are such valuable contributors because they're kind of flying under the radar screen, yet do exactly what the team needs them to do. Trey is someone who keeps us in offense, makes the simple pass, plays very smart, plays a very conservative brand of basketball, yet can shoot the heck out of the ball, and every time you leave him open, he can hurt you from three‑point range. Julian Gamble is one of those guys that he plays defense, he rebounds, he hustles, he's strong, he's tough, so the combination of those two guys, guys that don't get maybe a lot of media attention that are instrumental in helping us. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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