University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Post-Game Quotesheet
11/14/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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POST-GAME QUOTESHEET
Niagara at Pitt • Petersen Events Center • November 14, 2014
Pitt 78, Niagara 45
Quoting Pitt Head Coach Jamie Dixon
Opening Statement:
"Thanks for coming out tonight, I thought our student section was great. We got off to a great start and that was good. Our defense is coming along, we have a long way to go but we're getting better. They're young, but I thought our defense early was key and obviously our numbers indicate that. We really emphasized guarding the ball screen which is something we wanted to do because we weren't very good at it early on in the exhibitions, so we improved in that area as well as taking charges and getting on the floor, we saw a lot of that early on in the game. We have a little different rotation that we thought; Cam Wright is still out and Durand Johnson will not play with us this year, although he will practice with us and be a big part of our team going forward. Other guys are going to be playing and Cameron Johnson is probably the guy you want to talk about the most. My intentions in April were that he would be a good redshirt guy, we get him in the summer and think he may not be redshirting and now in the Fall, it turns out he's probably too good to be redshirting. He's good and he knows how to play, he just has to grow into his body. His skills are good and it's good to see a young kid with a no-star rating be a really good player; I think he's going to be a good player for us down the road and I guess that road is right now."
On the development of Mike Young:
"He's played really well in the exhibition games and tonight he got some fouls early and never really got going. Usually when you see a guy get better it's because of his skills, but physically he's growing and he's a better athlete, so you can start with that. He's really worked at it, has an incredible work ethic and is a great kid. He made some great passes out of the post tonight when he was double-teamed and what he's really improved on is scoring around the basket which you didn't see much of tonight, but you saw it in the first two exhibition games, and he's really put an effort into that. He's always been pretty skilled, but with his improved athleticism, his improvement in his postgame and around the basket, he's put himself in a good position to have a great year."
On the 20 assists tonight and the overall unselfishness offensively:
"We're a skilled team that is unselfish offensively and with that, there's some deficiencies defensively right now that we have to get figured out. We showed some improvement here and they have to understand what we're trying to do and the importance of what we're trying to do and the physicality that is often involved."
On other wing players stepping up:
"We'll add Cam Wright here shortly so that will change some minutes around, but we really have five guys on the perimeter right now, Mike Lecak is the sixth guy and I feel pretty comfortable with him in there too now, he does a good job. Most would look at it as insurmountable losses with your two most experienced wings coming back, but we're alright. We were very fortunate to get Cameron Johnson and we knew he was going to be a good player, but it happened earlier than we thought. Jamel is playing more of the '3' position, that's probably credited to Cam Wright being out, but that's been a little bit of a surprise in some regard in how well Jamel's made the adjustment; he's not there completely, but he's made huge strides and that gives us another guy on the perimeter that we weren't sure in the offseason."
Quoting Pitt forward Jamel Artis
On their early defensive intensity:
"[Coach Dixon] preaches that a lot in practice. We grind every day. He talks about defense every day, especially on the wings. We've got to press up on the ball. If we do the right things on defense, the offense comes easily. Tonight, I think we played a good defensive game."
On how they improved defensively since the Philadelphia game:
"We have quicker guards and big men. I can also play the four. Showing and switching on ball screens helped a lot. That messed up their offense, and I think that distracted them."
On adapting to changes in minutes and roles:
"Every guy can step up and play. That's why we have these guys; they're very good. We push each other in practice. We work hard. Coach Dixon preaches that a lot. We've got to get stronger and we've still got to play a lot more defense to be where we want to be."
On playing more minutes at small forward:
"I feel comfortable. I play the three and the four. I'll play wherever my team needs me. I just want to win. With my size, I can play any position I want. As a team, we're going to do well with that."
Quoting Pitt guard Cam Johnson
On playing his first collegiate game:
"It feels pretty good. We played well as a team. That definitely makes me feel comfortable coming in. It makes anybody coming off the bench feel comfortable. When the starters go in and play hard, you just want to pick up the energy that they left off with."
On playing for his hometown team:
"It was awesome. I came to games all the time when I was little. It's just a great feeling to finally get out there and play. It's definitely gone pretty quickly. It's fun. It's sinking in, and I'm just trying to enjoy the ride, play as hard as I can, and do whatever I can for the team."
Quoting Pitt guard Chris Jones
On making the most of his playing time:
"I think I did OK tonight. I think we did really good as a team with passing the ball. There's definitely room for improvement on the defensive end even though we did a pretty good job. Especially with me, I know I need to improve on the defensive end and be in the right spots."
On what clicked during the 32-4 first half run:
"I think we were just in the right spots defensively. We really worked on that after the Philadelphia game in practice - all of us being in the right spots and communicating. I think we were all communicating, so we did a good job on defense."
Quoting Niagara Head Coach Chris Casey
Opening Statement:
"[Pitt] is good. They are good. We were ready for that in some ways and in a lot ways not ready for it. I do think our [team] competed. I thought we played hard and had some streaks of good play. Our inexperience was very evident—especially at the beginning of the game.
Some positives that we can take away: we got to the foul line 29 times and only 11 turnovers. We're a young group. I'm glad we threw them into the fire for this game, and on our end, we'll just continue to work and get these young guys some experience."
On the team's play during the first 12 minutes of the game:
"Obviously, a lot of it had to do with [Pitt's] defense. They're very good defensively. We have eight guys on our roster who have never played in a Division 1 game yet: seven freshman and four sophomores. This group hasn't played together yet. Essentially, it's an entire team that we recruited within 13 months. So they haven't all played together yet. I thought we had some open [opportunities] in the beginning of the game that we didn't take, that could have kept us close a little bit more, but, then it just steam-rolled from there. [Pitt] got their confidence going really quick and made shots, especially in transition. Out transition defense was not good in this game. That is something that has to improve."
