ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 10, 2021

Anthony Walker

Miami Hurricanes

Postgame Press Conference

Miami 67, Clemson 64

Q. Jim Larrañaga mentioned that you guys were getting a lot of support from some of your injured teammates, Harlond, Earl, Rodney Miller. Can you talk about how they've been motivating you guys the last two games?

ANTHONY WALKER: Yeah, they're a huge part of our success right now and a huge part of the team's spirit. Just having them travel with us and hearing them on the bench cheering us on through ups and downs, it really keeps our spirit in the right place and keeps our energy in the right place. So without them on the sideline cheering, we probably wouldn't be here.

Q. Can you talk about what you guys did in the second half to slow them down today?

ANTHONY WALKER: Yeah, in the first half both their big men were actually hurting us. They were shooting a great percentage from three. We just made the adjustment to switch 1 through 5 and try to take away those threes as much as possible and turn them into a two-point shooting team. That worked out well for us in the end and we came out with a W.

Q. There was a sequence there in the second half that you hit a couple threes, Deng Gak hit a couple dunks, you guys went on a run to set you guys out in front. What was kind of working during that time and your activity level, too, with the steals and things like that?

ANTHONY WALKER: Like just the ball movement. We were getting everybody involved on offense. Isaiah did a good job finding me, and I did a good job hitting the shot. And just the spirit, like Rob on the bench, Harlond on the bench, just those people on the bench keeping us in the game, it was good. Just keeping our spirit up and getting everybody involved on offense, and then we just did our thing and knocked down shots.

Q. How much energy do you guys have left? I was just asking Coach L before. It seemed like during the season you guys kind of petered out at the end of the games, and there was all this talk about only six players, only seven players, not enough players. This is the same group of guys, so where is the energy coming from, and how much energy is left for tomorrow?

ANTHONY WALKER: Again, we just believe we're going to win every game. We believe that this is a new season and that we're starting fresh. Yesterday we were 1-0, today we're 2-0. Tomorrow we hope to go 3-0. We've just got to get back and get ready for Georgia Tech and keep our spirit up.

As far as energy, we just going to bring as much as we can. We're going to go out and give 120 percent, like I said yesterday, every game from this point on. We've got to keep winning to advance.

Q. We heard Coach talk about the fact that he put it on himself and blamed himself for a couple mistakes down the stretch. Just what you can say having a coach like that that puts some of it on himself and says thank goodness that the players worked through that, just what it means to you to have a coach like that?

ANTHONY WALKER: He preaches accountability on this team, and to see him take accountability for something like that, even if it not necessarily was his fault or if it was, it doesn't matter. Just seeing that, it just brings our team spirit up even more, knowing that we can trust him and he trusts us to make the right calls and make the right plays.

Q. Tomorrow will be the third game in three days. I know you don't like to look ahead to it, but how do you maintain your body personally to get prepared for Georgia Tech tomorrow, and if you guys win, potentially playing on Friday and Saturday?

ANTHONY WALKER: That recovery starts as soon as the game ends. As I'm talking to you guys right now, we've got people in there stretching, doing treatment for certain things. And as soon as we hit the hotel, again, as a team, we're going to stretch, we're going to get hydrated, and just keep ourselves and our bodies as maintained as possible.

Just looking forward to tomorrow's game. We're going to bring out as much energy as we can.