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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 16, 2013Mark GottfriedC.J. LeslieScott WoodGREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA Miami: 81 COACH GOTTFRIED: Well, let me start off and say I thought Miami was terrific today. We had a day that‑‑ we haven't had a lot of these days but we had a day where offensively we seemed to struggle. It was an uphill climb in the first half, and we couldn't seem to take advantage of an opportunity, whether it was a fast break, somehow we would not execute or getting to the foul line we would miss the foul shots. We had open shots and bobbled the ball and it was one of those days where we could not get‑goin'. I thought in the first half Miami, you know, played pretty good and I thought we turned it around the second half, shooting percentage goes up to 57%, I think, we got the ball around the rim, we were better, we were just in too big of a hole and they were pretty good as far as holding us off. I thought Durand Scott was unbelievable today, he played well, he and Shane Larkin together and Miami today played like a No. 1 seed. Congratulations to them. Q. Coach, what do you take from this weekend as a positive? I know you didn't pull it out but in terms of the NCAA Tournament, sir? COACH GOTTFRIED: I think we have a lot of basketball left, I think we have great basketball in front of us. I think we're an awfully good basketball team. Today, even the first half, it just was not us. We'll go home, we will take a day and get some rest, and hopefully we will get selected to play in the NCAA Tournament, and if that's the case we're going to, I think, play with a lot of energy. We did some good things here, we just didn't do enough. Q. For Coach and Scott, what were the challenges with guarding Durand Scott today? COACH GOTTFRIED: I think he is such a strong, bigger guard, and he's great off the dribble. Today he had a jump shot going, so if you play off him and give him a one‑arm length gap he would step up there and drill a three on you, which hasn't been the case with him, got up on him and he beat us off the dribble. He was tough today, very good. SCOTT WOOD: I think at the start, I didn't do a good enough job of pressuring him, we let him get into his comfort zone and after a couple of shots go down they're tough to guard. I have to do a better job of pressuring him and getting him out of his comfort zone so he didn't get that comfort he needed. Q. Coach, you had the 6 fast break points and you were saying you couldn't quite convert. Seemed like Miami might have gotten back to slow you down. Did they do something, was it your energy that caught you guys a little bit on that? COACH GOTTFRIED: It was probably a little bit of both, but we're a pretty efficient team in the break and we had a couple where we ran the ball down the floor and mishandled it. We had a couple where we made wrong decisions. We had some where we took it to the rim and got fouled and missed the foul shots. One thing after another, we couldn't capitalize on the fast break opportunities like we normally do. We were outrunning and we wanted to run and it was a little bit like trying to put a square peg in a round hole, just wouldn't work today. Q. To the players, do you feel like fatigue had any factor in the lack of energy and either way, do you feel like maybe the way you played the first two games you left an opportunity out there on the table today? C.J. LESLIE: Um, it was one of those nights, like Coach said, that we couldn't get it going. It could have been a factor‑‑ a number of things, but we just couldn't get it going. We got it going late. It was just one of those things where we had one of those games that we normally don't have. SCOTT WOOD: I can only speak for myself but I'm going to say the fatigue wasn't a factor considering we get pretty catered to, afterwards, so once you get into the game no one is caring if you're tired or not, everybody is tired at the end of the season. Obviously we wanted to get the win and we felt like we could have played better in the first half but at the same time, they're the No. 1 seed, they played well all year and if you don't play well for part of the game they're going to take advantage of it. Q. C.J., what did you see as the impact of their 14 offensive rebounds and 18 second‑chance points? C.J. LESLIE: What are you asking me? Q. What did you see as the impact of their 14 offensive rebounds and 18 second‑chance points? C.J. LESLIE: I think you said it. 14 offensive rebounds, we didn't get those, they had second chances, we just didn't get 'em. I don't know what I'm supposed to say to that. Q. Coach, is Rich okay and what do you think of his effort today? COACH GOTTFRIED: I thought Rich gave us great effort. To your comment, first of all, I thought we had good energy. Sometimes we don't play well‑‑ we don't make shots, it's not about energy or playing hard, our guys played extremely hard. We just couldn't get the ball to go in the basket. Richard was like he always is, he fought through it, I thought he was hampered a little bit. Like I said before, you get to this time of the year and everybody is banged up a little bit and you fight through it. I thought Richard gave us great effort and these guys gave us great effort and our guys kept playing hard. Again, lost to a good team. Q. Talk about having to play the quality of guards that you guys had to match up with the last few nights and how stuff that is on a nightly basis. COACH GOTTFRIED: Let me say this, because I was part of the media and I worked for ESPN and I hear about how leagues are deep and I look at Boston College, I look at Virginia Tech and Erick Green, who pounded Iowa, Virginia who beat Wisconsin on the road and look at Maryland and what they're doing and I never hear anybody talk about our league and how deep the players are top to bottom. Sounds like there is 100 teams in the Big 10 and the Big East and we played against them, we played against Burke and Smart who are highly rated guards you put Shane Larkin and Durand Scott right in the group, that's why they're sitting here with 17, 18 ACC wins today. Those guys are awfully good and we played against them today and didn't do a good enough job containing them. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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