|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 14, 2019Leonard HamiltonTerance MannDevin VassellNew York, New York Florida State - 65, Virginia Tech - 63 LEONARD HAMILTON: They're one of the top three-point shooting teams in the country, and so even though I don't think we played exceptionally well, a lot of that is because I thought they did a tremendous job with what they do. We didn't get any lobs, we had very few post touches, and then when we did throw the ball in the post, they trapped us and they forced us into several turnovers in the first half. But our guys have been resilient. They keep finding ways to win. We hit big shots when we have to make them, we get stops that have been necessary, and that just says a lot about the character of this team. They have a way of finding ways to win games when we're not playing very well, and this was a game that could have gone either way, but I have to give the kids a lot of credit because the shots that we had to make, we made, the stops we had to get, we got and we made the big plays down the stretch. The game could have gone either way. My hat goes off to Virginia Tech. They're a really good basketball team. We were very fortunate to win the game. Any questions? Q. Leonard, on your final play at the end of regulation they called time-out; did you stick with your play or did you change plays? LEONARD HAMILTON: You talking about the shot that Terance made? Q. Talking about the three-pointer that tied the game to force overtime. Did you stay with the original play or did you change plays? LEONARD HAMILTON: You're talking about the out-of-bounds play. We had four options and Trent did a very good job of locating. We had options on the left and options on the right, and I think with the lack of experience with Vassell, I'm sure that they thought he was the -- would be the last option, but he was open and he's a very confident freshman and he knocked the shot down. And when it left his hand, Coach Gates said, it's going in, Coach, and he was right. Q. For both the players, if you could each each walk us through the big shots you each hit, Devin obviously to force overtime and then Terance in overtime. DEVIN VASSELL: Coach just drew up a great play. Trent, he just found me open, T-Man set a great screen and I caught it, and my teammates told me to let it go if I got it, and so I just let it go and it went in. TERANCE MANN: For me when I caught it they were kind of jogging back on defense, and I kind of caught it in a stride so I thought I was going to get all the way to the basket and he kind of cut me off and I took the hit and shot it, confident shot. Just let it go. Q. Did you think you were going to call timeout after that rebound before Terance's shot because it looked like there was some debate? LEONARD HAMILTON: No, we didn't want to call timeout because it was in transition and we couldn't have gotten a better shot than an open floor with him with the ball in transition. I was going to live and die with whatever happened as a result of that. He's very good in transition, he takes bumps, he makes those plays after contact all the time. I thought like you said, I thought he was going to get all the way to the basket and if I would have called timeout I would have had to go against five guys, so but fortunately for us the basket went in. Q. Terance, it was not easy shot you made there. What was your confidence level as you were putting it up and what does it mean to you to be the one to hit the show the that puts you into the semifinals? TERANCE MANN: It means a lot to me just to be able to be a senior, coming into this tournament and winning another game, just survive and advance, doing it with this team. Q. What was your mindset, your confidence? TERANCE MANN: Yeah, I was confident, I knew, it's not a shot I haven't took before and Devin knows that, but yeah I was confident when I let it go. Yeah. Definitely. Q. I know there's different schools of thought but before Devin's three-pointer to force overtime did you expect Tech to play it straight or did you think they might foul because it was a three-point margin? LEONARD HAMILTON: Well I'm sure that had the ball came, had the ball been inbounded and we put the ball on the floor, I'm sure they would have fouled us but that was a quick catch-and-shoot play and I'm sure that had we put it on the floor, been driving to the basket there's no doubt that they would have fouled us and we knew we had to get the shot off quick. Q. Terance, talk about the challenge of playing Virginia Tech for the second time in 10 days, second straight overtime game. TERANCE MANN: I mean they're a tough team, they're a good team, they were well prepared for us, they kind of keep us out of the paint, kind of keep us away from doing what we do getting in the paint and stuff like that, but we knew it was going to be a dogfight and we knew we had to bring our all and I think everybody was kind of ready for that, mentally ready and we came out and did a good job. Q. Can you talk about your bench today, you outscored them 33-7 and had 10 different players score today. LEONARD HAMILTON: Well, that's who we are, we're a team that has to win by committee. We're not necessarily going into a game feeling that one particular guy has to carry us. When someone's not playing as well as they're capable of playing -- and they did a very good job tonight, forced us into 17 turnovers, a lot of those because they trapped us and in double teams in the post and they do such a good job of flooding the lane and we turned the ball over several times because of their defensive system. We took more threes than we normally take, but I feel very fortunate we made 12 when we normally have not shot that well from the perimeter and if you are playing against a team who is containing as much as they contained to hit 12 threes was good for us. Q. You led most of the game, I know y'all called a timeout after they took their first lead. What was kind of the message at that point because obviously the momentum seemed to be clearly on their side and yet you managed to get into the over time and win the game. LEONARD HAMILTON: This team maintains their poise, they have a sense about them that between ever seem to panic. They listen and they went out and executed the instructions. This team has shown a tremendous amount of maturity over the years. I think this is our, what, fourth over time game that we won? Seemed as though they get more locked in the more intense the game becomes. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|