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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 9, 2016Jamie DixonCameron JohnsonJames RobinsonWashington, DC Pitt - 72 Syracuse - 71 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Pitt. Coach, just a brief opening statement, then we'll go to questions. COACH DIXON: As I said, Pitt-Syracuse, the rivalry, never going to be a blowout. Having a 14-point lead, we found a way. I was happy how we played. Happy how this guy played. Needed him the other day, didn't have him. I was really happy for James Robinson making those two plays at the end. Wow, seniors and a really good freshman. A lot of excitement in Pittsburgh, and we'll get ready for our next one. THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. James, after watching them get a steal, easy dunk to tie the game up, what was going through your mind? JAMES ROBINSON: Nothing much really. We knew we were going to have more opportunities on the offensive end. It was no time to panic when Roberson got the steal. We had plenty of possessions left in the game. I just saw an opportunity to shoot the gap on defense and I took it. The ball was right there waiting for me. Just made a play. Q. Without having the normal shot clock there, did that affect your game at all? JAMES ROBINSON: I mean, that was at the very beginning of the game. We were just trying to stay loose. We didn't really try to look too much into it. That's the first time that's ever happened to me in college. It was definitely a little bit different. But as the game got going, you just had to play. You couldn't really worry about the clock situation or anything, just go out there and play. Q. Jamie, what did you see in Cameron's game today? COACH DIXON: Obviously we didn't have him last game. Sometimes you appreciate a guy even more when he's out. We went 0-11 from three. As everybody talked about, we haven't shot it well the last two games. We consider him our best shooter, the guy we have most confidence in. Obviously it was big for us. The zone was a big part of that. He's been playing more and more because of his defense and rebounding. That's what's been good for us. See he's given us great play. You hope freshmen get better. It's up to them. But his improvement has been dramatic. He's made us better. When we didn't have him, we weren't as good in our last game, so... But, yeah, a lot of big plays from him. James, as well. Q. Jamie, with Cameron and Ryan both playing well off the bench for you, was there anything about this matchup that you liked or do you cycle through guys and find a hot hand? COACH DIXON: The zone, like I said, Cameron has played more and more as the year has gone on obviously. Didn't have him last game. The zone, Cameron is going to help us more on that. Ryan, too. Ryan gave us some really good minutes. He's been good against the zone. Played very well up there at Syracuse, as well. Really a great win. To beat a really good team, you think about their record, you look at them, obviously with Coach Boeheim out, then how good a team this is, you look at the record, you take away the three losses against us, you see the teams they've beaten, where they would be, other than the three games against us. This is a team that's better than their RPI indicates only because they lost three times to us. A really good job by our guys. Obviously we would have liked to have kept the 14-point lead, but we wanted to test some things out. Q. James, you grew up in Mitchellville. What was it like coming back to the area? JAMES ROBINSON: It was really fun to be back. It was a really good feeling, winning the first game. We're looking forward to performing well tomorrow as well. It's always fun coming home. We still got work to do here. Q. Jamie, you talked about the rivalry earlier. Is there anything different now that you're playing in the ACC tournament? COACH DIXON: We really felt at home obviously playing Syracuse then playing here. We've played real well. James, I was thinking about James, how great he played when we played Georgetown here three years ago as a freshman. I think our last three wins, the last three games here we won by very large margins against very good teams. Yeah, this was a homecoming of sorts in a lot of ways. Q. Coach, can you talk about playing Carolina tomorrow, what you remember about that first matchup. COACH DIXON: We didn't play well. Didn't defend well. Got down early. So we're a better team than we were back then. We've improved. We lost two tough games the other day on the road against two teams that were playing really well. It's going to be a whole different game because we won't see zone, we'll see man. We'll have to attack that. Our defense is much better now than when we played then, our man-to-man defense. We missed some free throws. We had some turnovers, but they made some shots, too, Syracuse, down the stretch. Give them credit. We had good free throw shooters not make free throws. That doesn't happen often with us. As far as North Carolina, we're a better defensive team. Obviously they won the league, we know how good they are. We're going to give it our best shot. Q. Cameron, what were you able to do to get yourself warmed up coming in off the bench? CAMERON JOHNSON: Same thing as always. We came here to shoot last night. I got a feel for the rims, for the hoop, for the environment. I thought I felt pretty good. I was feeling it then. Warmups, same thing. Came out early, got some form shooting in, then went from there. Q. Cameron, you did this in the ACC tournament. You looked so relaxed out there, especially during clutch shots. CAMERON JOHNSON: It's just a basketball game. They're all the same, 40 minutes, two teams, 10 players. That's how you got to approach it. I mean, if you let the moment get to you, you won't play as well. COACH DIXON: Spoken like a coach (laughter). Q. Jamie, you mentioned back in Pittsburgh if you didn't win this game, you'd be looking maybe to the NIT. How much better do you feel about your NCAA tournament résumé? COACH DIXON: I don't know. I haven't seen what's gone on. We're in good shape. As I said, we've beaten a very good team three times. They've shown how good they are with Coach Boeheim and with their wins as well. We've lost to quality teams. Our strength of schedule is one of the best in the country overall, which is what you look at. It's 26. Obviously it's changed since them. We played one of the toughest schedules in the country overall. It's clearly shown that by the numbers, if you go by facts, and not opinions. So we've done it. We've lost to good teams. We're playing better at the end. I don't know that our record shows it as much as it should, but we're certainly a better team. We didn't have Cameron in our last game. That's something that hurt us, obviously going 0-11 for three. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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