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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEFebruary 11, 2013Mark TurgeonCOACH TURGEON: Disappointed with yesterday's game. Played well, Virginia was great. Got a bye week which hopefully is going to be great for us and get refreshed and practice well and get ready for Saturday. Q. Is this actually a good time of the schedule to have a week off and be able to fine‑tune things and get you guys refreshed a little bit? COACH TURGEON: Yeah, it is, we're tired. We've had a rough stretch and a tough go every game. We got behind the 8‑ball early. We had a losing record and every game was real important to win and we just put a lot into each game. We've had a lot of tough road trips coming home and had weather, and getting home at 3:30 in our road trips, three or four of our five road trips or whatever it's been; it's just been a tough go for us. I think this will be a good week, getting better, doing what we do and getting us ready for the stretch we are on. Q. Are there some guys who are playing with some consistency for you, even though it has been a tough stretch, fighting through that and being able to give you game‑in and game‑out the things you're looking for. COACH TURGEON: Not really. Just you really can't put a hat on guys that ‑‑ he's been consistent, but as a team we've been much more consistent. We didn't play well yesterday but I think Virginia had a lot to do with that. But we played better at North Carolina, Duke, Florida State, Virginia Tech. We had four games where we were pretty consistent and heading in the right direction. Looking around the country, there's teams that come up short and don't play well certain, but I would also like to think that Virginia, they beat a lot of teams yesterday and were really, really good. We're getting better. I think one thing is we are a young team and I don't want to make excuses, but we're young. You look at all the young teams in the league, most of them are struggling. We are 5‑6, 17‑7, probably a little bit of what I thought we would be in our second year, but we expect more. We want to finish strong and do well down the stretch. Q. Did you like what you saw from your press yesterday? COACH TURGEON: Press was good. First we went small lineup in the first half and it got us back in the game. I really like that. It was good for us. We guard a little bit better during that stretch. Yeah, and the press was good, the crowd got into it and we forced some turnovers and got some layups but whenever we got the halfcourt we just couldn't get a stop. Our press was good. It's more out of desperation. We have been somewhat of a good pressing team and we have sprinkled it in at different times but yesterday we really needed it and it was good for us. Q. You don't seem to press a whole lot and you seem to have the elements for it, depth, length, quickness, shot‑blocker in the back. Is that a philosophical thing with you? COACH TURGEON: Yeah, yeah, we are a really good halfcourt team; it has not been our defense. The press worked yesterday, we were in a small lineup. Virginia is not notoriously a good press offense team, and last year we were not built for press and we pressed them late and had the same results. So I think it was more just a combination of we are down, guys are playing hard, desperation was in it and who we were playing with our press yesterday. Q. I wondered if I can get your impression of Joe Harris. COACH TURGEON: He was fantastic. What a great player. He plays at a pace that he's comfortable with. He's probably one of the smartest players that I've ever coached against and definitely one of the smartest players we've ever coached against this year and played against, made big shots, 22 points on eight shots and stepped up and made free throws. He's good. He gives them‑‑ he's like a security blanket for them. They go to him, they run their three game when the game gets tough and he usually comes through. He's good. He's a heck of a player and he's one of the best we've played against this year. Q. In terms of this week's preparation, do you almost have to put blinder's on the kids, or do you want them to think about the fact that they are going to be playing Duke on Saturday? COACH TURGEON: Well, you know, it's kind of hard on this campus to not know who you're playing. Hopefully by knowing who we are playing, it's going to help us practice better. We have got a great opportunity this week to practice a lot and prepare for the last four weeks of the regular season and three weeks, however you want to look at it.  We'll approach it that way. But coming off a loss where we didn't defend, you know, we are going to show them film and hopefully they are going to respond. You know, we were flat, we were tired, we were dead, whatever you want to say, Virginia was great, but we have to play better than yesterday as we move forward. Q. As a follow‑up, as you said last year, you're new to this rivalry, this matchup. Do you get a sense from your players that it's a different type of game because it's Duke, and what do you think in this day and age, because all of these teams are on TV that they get fired up for all these games? COACH TURGEON: Well, I think this is another level. I think Duke's another level above North Carolina; it's above everybody else. It's another level for our fans and another level for our players and our coaches and I think it's like that for Duke everywhere we go. But definitely here for us, we are well aware of what this game means to everybody. Q. You played Duke the first game after losing Ryan Kelly, or second game, I'm sorry. They have been saying lately, the last week or so, that they have adjusted to that loss and have kind of rediscovered what they want to do without him. When you look at them on film, do you see any difference from the team you saw a couple weeks ago? COACH TURGEON: I haven't. You know, I'm worried about my team right now more than Duke. I thought they adjusted by the time we played them. I don't know if it was the second game or third game or what game it was, but they got great minutes out of that position with Hairston (ph), and my mind is going blank on the lefty from Philly‑‑ Jefferson. I thought they were well adjusted that game. The stretched at four‑man they had with Kelly, but they were executing and doing some different things for their guards. You know, I think they are adjusting, playing great and came out on top last night. Our league is so much better. Our league is so much better than it was last year; it's not even close. It's tough to win, especially on the road. Q. How much of an advantage does the schedule give you this week? COACH TURGEON: Well, coming off a loss, you don't ever want to have a long time between games, and I think we need it. You know, will it be an advantage? We'll see. Hopefully we'll be fresh legs and fresh mentally and get ready to play. They had a night game at Boston College, so they have a tough week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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