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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 10, 2015Brian GregoryCharles MitchellGREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA Boston College – 66 COACH GREGORY: Our guys battled hard and obviously a little undermanned with the injury to Marcus. We really wanted to emphasize getting the ball inside and really controlling the glass. I thought we did a good job of that. I mentioned before the game that Boston College over the last couple of weeks, outside of maybe the top two or three teams in the league, were playing as well as anybody. And they started out the game exactly that way, making shots and really moving the ball. And I thought our defense played better as the game went along and you get into a one‑possession game and they're a hard team to be successful in that because they've got a guy that can get a shot at any time and it's usually a pretty good one. I thought we defended the end of the game pretty well. And it's unfortunate that their last nine points, five of them came on free throws‑‑ one where we make a hustle play and get a turnover on it and then the last basket. But as I've said before, our guys competed throughout. We just made a couple bad decisions there at the end with the ball in our hands. And unfortunately in this league, against this type of competition, that's going to come back to get you and it did today. THE MODERATOR: Questions? Q. Coach, is this kind of like a microcosm of a lot of what you guys have dealt with throughout this regular season, just the close losses and stuff like that? COACH GREGORY: Yeah, you know, it is. I don't know what that is. Our tenth or 11th in‑league play, one‑possession game. I thought Tadric and Charles, we wanted to get those two guys on the same side at the end. Charles set a really good screen which freed up Tadric for that middle drive that put us up by 1. So many times we haven't been able to get that basket. So I'm thinking to myself, okay, we just got that one, maybe for the first time in two months, we're going to catch a break and obviously there's still time left on the clock and Hanlan made a good play on that. You can't point to one single thing. It was a missed free throw from an 85percent free throw shooter that ‑‑ it was‑‑ we've done a good job of containing Hanlan all night long. And obviously the layup, he's the one who hit the layup off the turnover, right? You can't really put that on the defense. He gets two free throws, which, when we're up 6 on that particular play. And then he makes the game‑winning shot. You have to make‑‑ it's just one play. You gotta make one of those plays there at the end. You either can't turn the ball over there, you gotta‑‑ when you get the offensive rebound, you've got to not turn it over there. So, unfortunately, when you look at it, so many of these cases you're one play away. Sometimes, as I said all year, that gets even more frustrating. It's even more frustrating, and it's even harder for the guys because each one of those guys knows if they didn't do one play, well, you know, you're competing and that's a tough situation to go through. Q. Coach, coming out of that last timeout, what was the plan for you guys and did things unfold in the way that you didn't expect or the way you expected? What was the plan sort of coming out? COACH GREGORY: Coming out with us on offense or on their offensive play? Q. On your last offensive possession. COACH GREGORY: We ran our action that we like to run in those situations and try to get a drive from Travis with some shooters in the corners. And we got our trail man‑‑ we're in a little difficult situation just due to the fact that without Marcus in the game at that time. But we had them spread out, which is what you want to do. When you get them spread out, then you want to attack the basket. And Corey had made two big offensive plays in the second half already. They did a good job defending it. Give them credit, because Travis is usually able to get into the lane on that particular play. He wasn't, made a good decision, played with some poise there, and Corey was able to get all the way to the basket. And you gotta take your chances on a play like that, if you can get to the rim. Q. I think with about six minutes left, you're up 54‑51 and I think there were four possessions in a row, you came up empty. Quinton had some 3s. I guess did you see that as kind of a turning point? And second, were you okay with the shots that Quinton was taking? COACH GREGORY: He had nine pretty wide‑open 3s. And I thought out of the 12 shots he took, probably 11 of them were really good shots, you know? On one of those particular plays I wanted to go inside to Chuck. And obviously with the game, the flow of the game, I couldn't tell if that play was open. Our second look is Quinton coming off a couple of screens for the 3. And he shot the 3 on that one. And that was after he missed the first two. You can question that, but I thought that was a big stretch right there where we had some opportunities to stretch it a little earlier and we weren't able to capitalize on it. But I think if you take a look at those shots, they were all pretty good looks. Q. Charles, you guys kind of had your way on them on the boards. I think you played a little more this time than the last time around with BC. What gave you guys that edge on the glass? CHARLES MITCHELL: I mean, knowing that was one of the keys to the game to attack the defensive and offensive glass. That was going to get us the advantage on the defense and give us second‑chance points on the offensive glass. And thinking that it's game by game you have to give it all for the 40 minutes that you play, so just going out there and giving pure effort on the glass and trying to get the best chance of our team to win. Q. Charles, obviously there have been a lot of close losses like this this season. Anything moving forward to take away from this that you can learn from the future? CHARLES MITCHELL: We were always taught to keep fighting and never give up there's always a chance, never give up, keep fighting through. There's going to be ups and downs and there's going to be obstacles you have to get over. But keep fighting day‑by‑day, you can't give up. THE MODERATOR: FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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