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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 11, 2013James JohnsonTHE MODERATOR: We're Joined by Coach James Johnson. Coach, a brief opening statement. COACH JOHNSON: We went down in the regular season with a tough loss at Wake Forest, in which Wake Forest, I thought, played extremely well, especially on the offensive end of the floor. And we did not play well on either end of the floor, especially the defensive end of the floor, giving up 90 points. And dug ourselves a hole that we weren't able to come out of. But the slate's clean. Everybody's going down to the tournament, and we face an NC State team, a talented, very good NC State team on Thursday. THE MODERATOR: Questions? Q. Were there any lingering effects for Marshall, he got kicked in the head there? COACH JOHNSON: No, yeah, he's fine. He's fine. He'll practice today and he'll be ready to go tournament time. Q. You guys obviously took NC State, played a tough game there. What stands out from that matchup for you? COACH JOHNSON: Well, I think, of course, Erick Green, he had points but he had eight assists and had some other guys step up and make some plays. Marshall Wood, 14, 16, Will Johnston made a couple of 3s. Eddie got going late, made some 3s late in the second half and in overtime. I thought we got a little bit of help. We made some shots, we made some shots in that game. Q. As you look back at that matchup, I guess, what would be the keys to kind of duplication of efforts in terms of state defending them this week? COACH JOHNSON: I think it's always talented up front, of course, with Hal and Leslie, but we've got to certainly find a way to do a better job on Sky Wood. I don't think he gets the attention that he deserves. He's a big part of their team. And if you look back at the game and we had the lead and they made their run and he was the guy that triggered the run, and we've gotta find a way to do a better job on Scott Wood, limit his touches and limit his looks from 3 and we've also gotta do a good job in the paint on Leslie and Howell, all talented post players. Q. Given that you said yesterday that the team didn't come ready to play against Wake Forest, what can you do as a coach to motivate these guys so they're ready to play on Thursday? COACH JOHNSON: Well, I think, it's tournament time. It's everybody got a clean slate. Going in, everybody has an opportunity to win a championship. But at the end of the day I think the guys, they just gotta be ready to play. You can only give so many new Rodney speeches, a guy has to come out be ready to play and come out with a good start. We've been out there all year coming out and starting, some games we'll start when we're ready to play, and some games we dig ourselves a hole and we fought back in a lot of those games. And it's nothing that I have changed as far as the start of the game with a pre‑game or anything. It's just sometimes it happens. Sometimes it don't. Especially‑‑ and again I still say that we got a young group, one senior. A lot of the guys are being put in different situations. Beyer's never been a starter, Brown part‑time starter, didn't play a lot of minutes, and Eddie was a part‑time starter. And Raines was a part‑time starter. So it took these guys all year to try to figure it out. And I think we're still trying to figure it out, as far as how to kind of prepare to play a game, how to prepare to play 40 minutes, how to play hard for 40 minutes, and we did it in spots but not consistent enough as we need to. Q. Defensively, it seems like the two constants for this team have been Erick and I guess defensive play that probably isn't what you hoped for, expected. Going forward, what do you think you need to improve on the defensive end of the floor this week and just moving forward with the program? COACH JOHNSON: You said it, the constant was Erick. And Erick's a senior. We need to get older, we need to get more minutes under our belt, more experience under our belt. When people talk about the youth and the league, no one mentions Virginia Tech. No one talks about‑‑ this is a young team. The only constant has been the one senior that we have. And that's Erick Green. There's other guys they've got juniors on their team. We have guys that haven't played a lot of basketball. And it shows up. It shows up a lot. And that's consistency. That's coming into road play, being ready to play on the road, learning how to play in situations where you're up a few points and that's learning how to play coming from behind. But I think you said it. The one consistent has been the one senior that we have. And to improve that moving forward we've gotta get back to the drawing board. Get back in the gym and work like Erick did. We'll be a year older. Get a little stronger. Watch a little bit more film and just get better. Q. Naturally you were expecting a big year from Erick because being the lone senior and a proven player. Would you have expected him to evolve into the leading scorer in the country? COACH JOHNSON: No, no. I expected‑‑ I think you're absolutely right on that. I expected him to have a good year because he's a senior.  He was a proven player in the ACC. And I knew he worked his tail off in the off season and during the season. But to put himself in position to lead the country in scoring, I didn't think that he would do that. I wasn't thinking along those terms. But he's had a special year, an amazing year. I mean, that's basically all I can say by it. It's been a special and amazing year for the young man. He deserves every bit of it because he worked so hard on his game and for him come from averaging two points a game as a freshman to leading a nation in scoring says a lot for him. And it says a lot about what hard work can do for you and that's what I'm continuing to preach with my young guys that I have that hard work, we need to continue to work hard, put in the time in the gym, work and get better. Will that put them in the position to lead the nation in scoring, I'm not sure. But we'll definitely get better. Q. Can you sense how much frustration there might have been in him this year with all the work and effort that he's put in that it didn't pay off maybe in a few more wins for you? COACH JOHNSON: No. If it was frustration with Erick, it would have shown up in his game. He wouldn't have been able to come out and play the way he's played. He was part of the reason why we were able to win a couple of these games late in the season. I mean, his positivity, his approach to the game, his approach to what we were trying to do and the other guys looked at him and looked up to him and fed off of him a little bit. This team could have very easily caved in, even though not proud of our effort yesterday down at Wake Forest, I think for the most part the team has not quit. We're still working hard. We've still got a little left in the tank here. And I think a lot of that is due to Erick green and the way he approaches everything and the guys look up to him and the fact that we were able to string a couple of wins together late in the year says a lot about Erick and the team. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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