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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEFebruary 25, 2013Jeff BzdelikQ. You talked in the press conference Saturday a little bit about your team's preparation and the way they came out with so much energy at the start of the Miami game. Could you sense that building during the week during practice since you had‑‑ I don't know whether you call it a bye or not, but you didn't have to play midweek‑‑ could you sense that energy building and it really exploded at the start of the game? COACH BZDELIK: Yes, I could. I really could. I thought we had great attitudes. We took Sunday off after our game on Saturday with Georgia Tech, and we then had individual workouts on Monday, and practiced together as a team on Tuesday and really got after it.  There was great energy all week. We took Wednesday off, and it just seemed like Thursday the guys were anxious for recess or something. They were energetic. Jumping all over the place. I had to calm them down, so I sensed a great feeling. We had talked about the fact the that our guys did not have a pity party, having lost at Boston College in the last couple of seconds and against Georgia Tech in the last .5 of the game. That we are just a couple of possessions really away from having a three‑game winning streak. Instead of being one of lacking confidence or having great confidence. They responded well. Q. Now I guess the question is how can you take that confidence that you've gained from such a big win for your program and carry that over on to the road this week? COACH BZDELIK: Well, hopefully we can draw from experience. With seven freshmen, one sophomore, one junior, one senior, it's been a learning curve every day, a work in progress in terms of understanding that half of this is from the neck up. When we had a win against NorthCarolina State at home and we didn't respond very well the first 20 minutes on the road in Atlanta, and that's something that our players remember. Hopefully, we've got that behind us, and we'll do a better job of responding to a big win by handling it the right way. Q. Coach, in the process of trying to build a program, obviously bringing in talent that can be sustainable is key, but having a big win over Miami or N.C. State, does that in the big picture have much significance in trying to build a program? COACH BZDELIK: No question. How do you gain confidence? Well, you have to have success and experience it and see it and feel it and enjoy it and handle it. Yes, it's a big step in the right direction. I think that we have some really big wins that throughout the course of the season here with Xavier, for example, and N.C. State, Virginia, Boston College, Florida State, Miami. We've lost two games by one point, one game by two points, one game by three points, one game by four points, one game by five points and one game by six points. So we're knocking on the door. We just need to continue to get stronger, wiser, grittier, tougher, more together, and that's all going to come. There are so many times this year I've had three‑‑ well, I start three freshmen. It seems like 99% of the time I've always had at least three freshmen on the floor, a good percentage of the time four freshmen, and many times I've had five freshmen out on the court. It's a group that is of great character. A group that has great resilience. It's a group that wants to get better. They enjoy playing with one another, and to me, it's just continues to be a matter of time or we just take it one day at a time. So they're going to be a special group, but having success along the way against great teams is really, really fuelling them even more with the energy needed for them to continue to work hard knowing that we're right there knocking on the door. Q. Over your career with the NBA and college what is your approach when you played a team that you previously beat pretty soundly? Do you emphasize the confidence gained from that victory or are you worried about what you'd expect from motivation from another side? COACH BZDELIK: I think there has to be a balance. Number one, yes, you should have great confidence in knowing that when you play and follow the game plan and play with great passion and togetherness, look what happens. Then combine that with the fact that, okay, now, put yourself in their shoes and understand what they're thinking after they took a hit, and how you would respond and how you think they're going to respond. So we have to be even better and even tougher and even grittier knowing that we're going to get their best shots, and we've got to take it and then give it back to them. That's just competitiveness. That competitive spirit. That unexplainable, intangible that separates good from great or average from good. What really pleased me about the Miami game was that at halftime, we talked about that. We knew that Coach Larranaga was challenging his team. We talked about that. We said coming out of the gate here, guys, we're going to get Miami's best punch. They are going to rear back and hit you guys so hard coming out of the gate in this second half that you stand there and you understand it's coming, and then you punch back. Then Miami pulled within 45 to 40, within five points. What I was really proud of more so than anything in that game is we responded with a 12‑0 run. And that to me gives testimony to the fact that we're beginning to grow up here. Q. Coach, everybody has a home‑road disparity. But you guys this year, as you look at your home games, you guys are ACC contenders, and I know you've played a couple close games, but you haven't been successful on the road. For a young team, what's been the biggest problem to making the transition to playing on the road? COACH BZDELIK: I was joking with my staff today. I mean, we go out and eat at real nice places like everybody else does and all of that. But I said, look, why don't we rent a school bus, drive down to Tallahassee. Leave now and we'll get there at midnight, stop at Mickey D's along the way. I don't know. Let's just change this up totally. I'll be honest with you. But we've had a couple of tough road losses Virginia Tech, we've had two shots at the rim to win there. Boston College, we've had a perfect storm with the clock stops and all this other stuff. But again, we've put ourselves in position to close that out, but we didn't. But you're right. We've had some real clunkers on the road. But we've just had to fight through that. We really do. Again, I've thought about a lot of different things, literally, about changing up travel and everything else. We just need to grow up and know that our fans aren't going to be there to supply great energy for us. We need to do that internally, and we need to show some grit, some toughness, and a great focus and be very, very strong from the neck up. At times we have, and a lot of times we haven't. We've been hit and haven't gotten back up. So I'm looking forward to this tomorrow, because I know we're going to get Florida State's best shot, and I want to see how my team responds, because we're doing everything we can to make them understand the mental aspect of this game, especially on the road. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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