ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 10, 2021

Isaiah Wong

Miami Hurricanes

Postgame Press Conference

Miami 67, Clemson 64

Q. I asked Coach L before he stepped on the podium about the time he realized that you were a player that could take the game over at the end of games, and he said going back to the top 100 camp when you were in high school. Personally for yourself, when did you realize that you could have that ability to close games out by getting baskets at the end of games?

ISAIAH WONG: I remember when I was young, I was in like -- we had a little AAU championship -- a travel team championship, and my mom has it on video. But it was like in the championship, I had like five seconds left to go and I was, like, making a whole lot of good decisions, a whole lot of tough plays. And I remember like the last shot I hit, the game winner, and it was like ever since then, I knew I could be the type of person that can get the ball in the last situation and make the best decision.

Q. What did you learn last time you played Georgia Tech? What needs to happen so that result doesn't happen again tomorrow?

ISAIAH WONG: They play hard on defense. They play that little 1-3-1 zone, so they're probably going to play that. That really helped them from the last time they played us. And we've just got to figure out what to do and just try to make the best decision for their zone. We've got to stop their most valuable player, Moses, I think, and we've got to stop their two guards. I feel like if we do that, we're going to be in a close game and we're going to -- it's going to go down to the wire who's going to make the best decision.

Q. I just want to ask about energy, how much energy is left. You've played a lot of minutes over the last few days, left everything out on the court. How much is left for tomorrow?

ISAIAH WONG: We still have a lot of energy coming into next game. Like today we still had energy from the last game we played in Pitt, so we still are keeping the same energy. And I feel like coming into the game, we're going to have more energy coming into Georgia Tech because we already knew what they did to us at home. So we have more energy, more things like we need to prove to Georgia Tech that we have improved since the last game we played them. So we're going to have a lot of energy coming into that game.

Q. Just what you can say about being on this team at this point in the season with everything you've been through with the short bench that you have, with the way that things have gone this year, just what it's like to get these victories and still be alive in this conference tournament amidst everything that you've gone through adversity-wise?

ISAIAH WONG: Going through the adversity of this whole season, we have like seven players coming in and out of the lineup trying to figure out the chemistry. So it's been very hard to try to figure out like what decision to do, like how to feel our players out and what they do best. So we was really trying to figure out the whole season how to get better and how to get our players the open shots they need and how to get comfortable.

Throughout this adversity, we've been just trying to figure out -- just playing hard every game throughout the season. I feel like coming into today's ACC Tournament, we have a little bit of chemistry and we all figure out a little bit. So coming into this next game, we're going to have to figure it out again and figure out who's going to make the best decisions.

Q. With the scoring numbers your team has been putting up the last two games and then today, 54 percent shooting, what are you noticing offensively with what's working for you guys as a team?

ISAIAH WONG: I'm noticing more players are scoring, Nysier is scoring and made some big-time plays today. He made like two corner threes. And I feel like Ant is really stepping up to the plate and he's really making some big plays throughout this ACC Tournament. Our teammates are just helping our team just make a better chance of winning the games, and I feel like throughout the season we really struggled on that.

We didn't have -- like, we didn't have our five players scoring over 10 points and getting over to like those 70 points a game range. When we start hitting those types of numbers, we're a little bit scary.

We're starting to figure that out. We're having more players score the ball, and it just feels more freely and more easier just coming into games.

Q. How much are you enjoying being on this stage? These are big games and you guys had a tough season, but how much are you personally enjoying this?

ISAIAH WONG: Personally I'm enjoying this. To be honest, I like it a lot, and after the game I'll be just testing the North Carolina food out. And I'm having a good time just testing these foods out, so I'm having a good time. And coming into these games, just being prepared, playing on this type of floor in the ACC Tournament is just a great feeling. To play with my guys and just play our hardest out there and give our hearts out. Just being on this team in Miami, it's an honor to be on this team, and I'm very grateful for that.

Q. I know you got hurt, if memory serves, in the Georgia Tech game. I imagine you must feel like you're a different team than what you showed on that day.

ISAIAH WONG: Yes, we're definitely a different team. I feel like the energy didn't really mean anything, but it was just coming back. We've been having a stronger team. We have more players scoring in the double digits, so they're going to have more players to focus on coming into next game. We're all going to make an effort to score the ball, and we're all going to make an effort to try to win the game.