ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 9, 2022

Earl Grant

DeMarr Langford, Jr.

Makai Ashton-Langford

Barclays Center

Boston College Eagles

Postgame Press Conference

Boston College - 82, Wake Forest - 77

EARL GRANT: Really proud of the guys, showing great resilience. I thought this season kind of really brought their endurance up with everything that we saw this year, whether it be wins or overtime losses. So just really happy for the guys, to be able to continue to climb up the hill and advance and get an opportunity to play on the third day of the tournament.

Q. Coach, it seemed like early on there was just an ability to defend the three-pointer on Wake Forest and it kind of continued throughout the game. How was that plan, how did that work and how did you sustain it over the course of the full game?

EARL GRANT: It was a good effort. We had a one-day prep. We talked about what we needed to do. We needed to have a couple really good shooters and some guys who could get into the paint. Our guys just did what we do. We kind of worked at that all year, and we're just happy to be in a game in the ACC Tournament where we had to be the best version of ourselves as it pertains to contesting threes and trying to get the stops. And so the players just did the job. They did a good job of following the game.

Like I said, it was a one-day prep. So really with a one-day prep you've got to go be who you are, and we just did that.

Q. How important was it for Quinten Post and James Karnik to dominate today? Because you said in the past usually it's one or the other, but today they combined for 25 points. How important was that for you to win this game?

EARL GRANT: I mean, it's always important to be able to -- we talk about it all the time, in football if you only can pass and you can't run the ball, that's a bad thing. Running the ball in basketball is getting into the paint, whether it be dribble penetration or post feeds. We talk about that all the time. Our guys were driving the ball, they were delivering it in the post. Some of it was on ball screen rolls. It wasn't always just straight-up post stops. It was our guards making decisions in the pick-and-roll and finding them at the rim and they just had to deliver.

So I think it was a combination of posting them and the guards just making good reads on the ball screen situations.

Q. On the last play of regulation, did you kind of figure that Alondes was going to try to make something happen, and talk about how you defended that, please.

DEMARR LANGFORD: Yeah, we knew the ball was going to be in his hands at the end of the game, and Coach preaches being in the gaps, get your knife, buddy -- don't take that into for real -- but just be in the gaps, over help, and Makai did a great job taking a charge. I was right there to help him up and it was just a great play by him.

MAKAI ASHTON-LANGFORD: Yeah, I try to keep my feet in front of him. I know he's a really good player. He gets to the spots he wants to get to, and he kind of put his head down and I knew I was going to take the charge right as soon as he did that. That was just instincts by me, I guess.

DEMARR LANGFORD: It was the play of the game, too.

Q. You guys had the lead in the second half, Wake Forest comes back, goes up 10. What was the mood like at that point and how were you able to rally and get back in the game and get into overtime?

MAKAI ASHTON-LANGFORD: I feel like we was just trying to keep ourselves energized. It's kind of -- it's difficult to be a great team if you're not sticking together through those rough times. So we kind of rallied together and just stayed energized and confident no matter what happened on the court.

DEMARR LANGFORD: For me, we've been in that position many times. We get down, and we try to play catch-up. I think it shows like the heart -- we ain't got nothing else to lose. If we lose, we go home, if we win, we advance, and that's what Coach preaches in the locker room. We went out there and got it done tonight.

Q. I thought that at one point first half, one point in the second half and then in overtime, you beat them by five. Anything you said or did different before you went into that overtime?

EARL GRANT: I'll let them answer it, but it's our third overtime game. We've had some good overtime games this season. And usually we got in the first one, we said, we need this one right now. This is perfect to be in this type of time, this type of season for our growth. Then we got into again, we've been here before, guys, we've been here before.

Then today it was just so heated and competitive that we really didn't say anything except Hey, we've got to execute these things, we've go to get these stops. The players just went out there and did what they needed to do. I give them all the credit because they made the plays. We kept it really simple, and they just made the plays.

MAKAI ASHTON-LANGFORD: We definitely stayed focused out there. Sometimes as the game goes on, guys may be off on their own, but we did a really good job of keeping everybody together and not separating in those difficult times.

Q. Coach, what can you say about how this team is playing at this point in the season, just what you did in the first round and then obviously to stave off Wake Forest and your overall takeaways from how the team is performing at this point in the season?

EARL GRANT: We talked about this in August and September. We want to be playing our best basketball in March. We want to keep getting better, focus on the growth, play our best basketball in March. So we're in March, and we played pretty good today, so that's just growth. We always talk about tomorrow ain't promised, we don't really know exactly what the next day is going to hold, but we did what we needed to do today.

We'll regroup and continue to game plan and just be thankful that we get a chance to continue to play.

Q. Coach, I know we've talked about Jaeden Zachary and how he's kind of older than he even seems, but the discipline he had with coming in four fouls late in that game, what do you think that speaks to?

EARL GRANT: Well, I mean, he's just a tough kid. To be a freshman and just playing night in and night out, 35, 36 minutes, it's just unbelievable. He's tough. He can defend. He can shoot. He's got a good personality, so he's really tight with all the guys in a short period of time. So we're just fortunate that he's on our side and he's just a tough kid.

I really don't know -- I can't put into words kind of what he's meant to us this year in a short period of time because freshmen usually go through really tough up-and-down battles and try to figure out how to get to the floor, but from day one, he's just been a warrior.

Q. After finishing the regular season on a three-game losing streak, what's been different across these two tournament games?

EARL GRANT: Nothing. You know, I mean, this is a good league. Really ain't nothing different. Every night you play, it's a hard game. We try to play to our standards. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't. But we always get back on our horse. That's one thing about this team, we fall down, we get back up.

So it really don't mean anything different. Like I said, sometimes you lose a game in a one or two point game or a one or two possession game. Tonight we won in a one possession game. It's hard to win. It's hard to win. We try to learn how to win, we're trying to learn how to be a great team, and that's a pursuit for us, and so we made a good step today.

Q. For either DeMarr or Makai, just wondering. Obviously today was the second game in two days. Tomorrow will be three games in three days. Do you guys view that as any sort of advantage, maybe not thinking about it as much and just going out and play?

DEMARR LANGFORD: For me personally, I just go out there and play my hardest every night, no matter the time span in between games. Because there was one point during the season I think we had, what was it, like three games -- five games in eight days, nine days, something like that.

In this type of -- at this level, there's advantages and disadvantages. We can't really look at that. We're trying to go out here and win a championship, try and just keep advancing. We can't look at the advantages, disadvantages, nothing like that. We've just got to go out there and play.

Q. Just talk about tomorrow, the third game in three days. I know you were just talking about it, but you're playing a Miami squad that you lost by 10 the last time at home. What do you have to do to keep everything rolling?

EARL GRANT: Draw on the endurance that we've developed throughout the year and trust each other, get some rest tonight, game plan and be thankful that we get a chance to play.

Q. DeMarr and Makai, Wake beat you by 30 when you went to their place early in the season. Do you think they came in too comfortable or overlooked how good you guys are?

MAKAI ASHTON-LANGFORD: I think we came out with a little bit more fire under us. We came off a little COVID stretch, and then I think we played Wake and then North Carolina back to back. And it was kind of -- we kind of came out sluggish in that game, so I feel like we came out with a little bit more fire under us and we were able to withhold the lead for a minute and then capitalize at the end.

Q. Pardon my ignorance of Boston history, but can you explain the backgrounds of The Heights and why you guys chose that as an alternate jersey slogan?

EARL GRANT: It's a good question. It's a really good question. When we get back to this stage, we'll have an answer for you.