Post-Game Quotesheet
12/13/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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POST-GAME QUOTESHEET
St. Bonaventure at Pitt • Petersen Events Center • Pittsburgh, Pa. • December 13, 2014
Pitt 58, St. Bonaventure 54
Quoting Pitt Head Coach Jamie Dixon
Opening Statement:
“That’s a good win, that’s a good team. I wish we would have played better, but the good thing is that we won with our defense and made plays at the end. I thought that was a great sign for our team going forward. This is finals week and I thought we had a good week of practice. We came out and looked like we were executing offensively, didn’t continue it and obviously made some mistakes. We did it with defense and we did it making plays at the end, which is a great sign. I am very happy about this win and how it came. This is a really good team that is 6-1 coming in and won a big game on the road earlier. We knew how good they were. I wish we would have played better, but I’m sure coach Schmidt wishes they would have played better. They are well coached and experienced and have a lot of good size and athletes. (I am) excited about how our guys did, Mike Young on the rebounding and how we battled through some things. James goes down and we struggle without him for a stretch, and Cameron (Wright) is not obviously where we want him. We just have to get some other guys out there. I (have) to get Sheldon in the mix and Cameron Johnson is out now with the shoulder. It has been bothering him for about six weeks and in the last week or so he hasn’t been able to lift it. We have some challenges. Joe (Uchebo) gave us some good minutes, Derrick is ready and we have some work to do.
On James Robinson injury:
“He got cut. It was a pretty substantial cut. He got a shoulder to the back of the ear. So, it was a cut and he was bleeding pretty (well). That’s what it was. That obviously hurt us.
On improving as a team:
“We have some challenges with our perimeter. Cameron (Wright) is going to get better, James will be out there and we are going to get Sheldon in the mix. I don’t know where Cam Johnson is going to be. As I told Mike Lecak, he has to be ready to go. Jamel plays better at the four, I’ve known that and it is not a secret to me. We have been in some challenges and (Artis) did a good job. We need to get more out of him going forward as well.
On starting Artis at power forward and Young at center:
“Getting our best defenders on the floor. They are our best defenders. I’ve made it very clear to our guys if they want to play; we are going to play our best defenders. We had to start a different lineup based on who we had. We have a unique situation where your two most experience perimeter guys are not playing. That puts you in some situations that call for doing some things that aren’t going to help your team get better defensively. I think we are going to find our way here and get better.
On encouraging signs from Cameron Wright:
“I think he is practicing (well). Yesterday he made some shots, which is really the first time he did that. It is just a process, I wish he could just come out and be terrific, but I mean it is ten weeks. Every injury is different. When you are talking about a foot, it’s ten weeks of doing nothing. Shooting with a boot on does not help. I would rather you not even shoot. It is going to take some time and I feel good about where he is at. He is playing aggressively and he will be fine in a bit.
On the play of the offense against the zone:
“Poor execution early, then we did a good job down the stretch. We made some adjustments; I was disappointed how we handled the first couple possessions. James was out, but simply put we didn’t do what we normally do against that type of defense. As the game went on, we adjusted and got open looks and layups. We got the ball to change sides, which is the important thing. We are finding ourselves. There are a lot of changes going on here with guys coming and going, but we are going to get better.
Quoting Pitt forward Jamel Artis
On the toughness of the game:
“They came out ready to play. We played the first ten minutes of the game lightly. We came out and played aggressively the second half and pushed the tempo.
On finishing better down low:
“We work every day before practice and during practice. We try to finish through contact. We just have to make shots to create an offense.”
On breaking down the zone late in the game:
“The key was getting the ball to the middle. When you give the ball to the middle, you break the zone. I found my shooters. I know if I kick it out they will be ready to shoot and we will get the rebounds.”
Quoting Pitt forward Michael Young
On the toughness of the game:
“We just couldn’t make shots. We were playing good defense but we were missing more than them so they had a bit of a rebounding edge. We just couldn’t make shots. I couldn’t make a shot to save my life. We need to make shots.
On the battle with St. Bonaventure’s forwards:
“It was physical. They were pretty tall, probably the tallest I’ve played against around seven foot. It was good. Our practices are physical. Coach lets some fouls go and when we get to the game it is pretty easy.”
On Cameron Wright’s return:
“It was good to have him back. Seeing him out there is good for us. We missed him. I think he had a few steals, but he had limited minutes. It was good to see him out there.”
On depending on the defense to win physical games:
“It felt really good. This last week, we have been going really hard on defense and have been fixing some mistakes. Coach was letting us be really physical and letting some fouls go to keep that intensity. In games like these, we have to stay physical and play defense. Nobody had their head down at halftime. We just knew we had to make shots and come out in the second half with some energy.”
On Joseph Uchebo’s presence:
“He was a really big presence when I was in foul trouble. He wasn’t letting their big men get the ball. When their guards drove through the lane, he was fighting for rebounds. It was a big presence and I was proud of him down the stretch. He didn’t get a lot of playing time but he came in and got the job done.”
On playing this style of basketball:
“I think we play better when we play defense in general. When we play defense, we play better. It gives us more offensive opportunities. Our offense just flows better. We get transition buckets which puts the defense on their heels. Whether it is a half- court game or up and down game, playing defense is when we are at our best.”
Quoting Pitt guard Josh Newkirk
On the guards rebounding
“We definitely have to help the big guys rebound. It is not just them that should be rebounding. We have to get the long rebounds as guards. We have been talking about it. We have to get the loose balls and long rebounds so we definitely have to work on that.”
Quoting St. Bonaventure Head Coach Mark Schmidt
Opening Statement:
“I was really proud of our guys’ effort. When we go on the road, we always emphasize to them that you have to defend, rebound, make foul shots and take care of the ball. I think we did a good job defending and an even better job rebounding. I don’t think we did that well on the foul line and we didn’t take care of the ball. The first five or six minutes, I think we had more turnovers than shots attempted. We got down by nine and our guys showed that they can fight back. Pitt is a physical team and we knew it was going to be a battle. We fought hard, we just came up short.”
On switching to zone defense:
“When they don’t have all their shooters in, you have to pick when to do it. We were playing pretty good defense but once they get into their rhythm, you have to try and break that rhythm. You try to give your guys the best chance of winning. It worked for a while; it doesn’t work all the time.”
On shutting down Pitt’s offense:
“Our goal is to keep a team under 65. I think we did a good job defensively and a good job on the backboard. Those are the two areas that we thought were critical. We didn’t do a great job at taking care of the ball in the first half. At the same time, we were up by one at halftime even though we had nine turnovers. That talks a lot about how we defended.”
On almost getting a road win against Pitt:
“It gives our guys confidence that if we play well we have a chance. We know that Pitt is a good team and that they’re going to have success down the road. Hopefully we can take something away from this. It’s the team that executes the best that’s going to win.”
