University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Post-Game Quotesheet
2/8/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 8, 2014
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POST-GAME QUOTESHEET
Virginia Tech at No. 25 Pitt, Petersen Events Center, February 8, 2013
No. 25 Pitt 62, Virginia Tech 57 (2OT)
Quoting Pitt Head Coach Jamie Dixon:
Opening Statement:
“It’s great to see our guys make free throws down the stretch and make the plays. It’s good to see that. We’ve done that two games in a row. We haven’t done that in a couple losses so it’s good to see. I’m proud of Josh (Newkirk), he’s a freshman coming in and playing that well and making free throws down the stretch. I’m seeing improvement in him and seeing him practice. I’m really happy for our guys as they battled through it. We have a lot of confidence in Lamar (Patterson) and I’m excited about getting him ready for our next win and getting him ready as I know. He made some big plays down the stretch, offensively and defensively, and helped us get other guys shots, which is why we want him in there. We went small in the end and I thought that was great. But (Virginia) Tech played very hard and so did we and he just hit a lot of big shots for us down the stretch to make the plays.”
On James Robinson’s four-point play:
It seemed almost more like we knew we had to take a shot and getting into a rhythm and just being ready to shoot. We started out good offensively against the zone and when we missed some shots it affected us, but James has done that before so he’s probably the right guy to be doing it.”
On Lamar Patterson’s thumb injury:
“We’re not going to sit here and make excuses; everybody is hurt and banged up at this time. Lamar isn’t going to make excuses, it is what it is. He didn’t practice yesterday. We didn’t practice Thursday. We didn’t have a shoot around today. We really didn’t have a lot of opportunity to look at it and see where it was going to be. It is what it is. We’re going to get healthy and we’re going to get ready.
On Lamar Patterson’s play today:
“We kept him in. He had five assists and he did a good job defensively. I think it actually helped us defensively. Offensively, although he didn’t score he gave us five assists and did some good things when we went small in getting us driving opportunities with his screening and his movement in the high post area. I thought that was helpful. I thought he did a job with some good things defensively. He came up with a couple of steals. His help with defense was good down the stretch. We tried to get him rest and we tried to get him going, but you’re not going to have your best game every night.”
On relying on other guys to make plays:
“We have a lot of confidence in him (Lamar Patterson). He’s out a lot of the game too, there are ten minute stretches when he’s not in there. He played a lot. I just think Josh (Newkirk) was a big factor for us today. I think he’s the guy that continues to improve as a freshman. While we’d like to be a little bit bigger on the perimeter, I think he gives us some other things to make up for it. I feel really confident in those guys and I think they feel confident when Lamar (Patterson) isn’t out there as well. You have to play through some things. There are going to be some times when you’re not going to have every guy shoot it well and have their best game. You have to play through it.”
On Virginia Tech’s defense:
“I think their zone is big. I think we didn’t finish great inside and I think they had something to do with that. I think that they were going to pack it in and make us make shots. It looked good for us early when we made the threes, but obviously we didn’t make it as the game continued. That was their strategy, and I think a solid one. We’ve always been known as being good offensively against the zone. It looked good early for us with what we were doing. I thought we had really good ball movement, inside-out action and penetration at the same time. But it didn’t continue. We also have to get more offensive rebounds. That’s something that you have to do against the zone. That clearly is why we have always been successful against the zone and we didn’t get them.”
On Cameron Wright’s play:
“It’s something that we’ve continued to talk to him about: getting loose balls and using his quickness and athleticism and getting on the floor. He is by far our best guy getting on the floor and getting loose balls. I don’t think that’s always been the case. I think it’s something that he’s developed. He got on the floor earlier in the game to get a loose ball too, that he probably shouldn’t have gotten but he was the only guy who went on the floor.”
On feeling of coming out with a win:
“I feel good, because of the way we finished and the way we made shots and free throws. We had a guy that was shooting ten percent from the free throw line and make his free throws down the stretch. He’s got a little new form, a little more confidence and he worked on it. That’s what I feel good about. I feel good that we executed. I feel good that we made it down the stretch. I feel good that we had guys in different spots. I feel good that we made plays. I feel good that Cameron (Wright) got those loose balls, which I didn’t think he got when he got here as a freshman. I feel good about the win. I don’t know what the point spread is, I’m sure you guys all do. You don’t play great every game, but we played well at the end. I thought we showed a lot of character and that’s most important.
Quoting Pitt guard Cameron Wright:
On the pressure to score:
“I wouldn’t call it pressure. I don’t believe in pressure. I know Lamar [Patterson] has confidence in all of us, as well as I do. I had a lot of confidence that Josh [Newkirk] was going to knock those free throws down at the end of the game. I had a lot of confidence that James [Robinson] was going to knock that 3 pointer down at the end of the game. We all have faith in each other.”
On his big defensive plays:
“I knew I was trying to save the ball and not try save my life during the play. Every day I just try to play my heart out for my teammates. It could be my last game any day, so I try to play my heart out for my team.”
On how he feels about making those big time plays:
“I love it. It’s fun. When you lay everything on the line for your teammates, it is a great feeling.”
On his pass to James Robinson for the 3 pointer:
“We were running our zone offense; they played zone the entire game. The ball was swung to me and as always, when I see a gap I try to attack it. I saw my point guard [James Robinson], who has been knocking down three’s the entire season. I have a tremendous amount of faith in him knocking the shot down, and that is what he did.”
On if they were looking ahead to Syracuse:
“When is that game? I am bad with the schedule. I knew we played Virginia Tech tonight. Give them credit, they came out here and played hard.”
Quoting Pitt guard Josh Newkirk:
On getting a lot of minutes at the end of the game:
“I was just happy to be out there and give my team a boost of energy. I credit my teammates for having faith in me and believing in me. ”
On the play from Cameron Wright when he got the dunk:
“It was great hustle by Cam [Wright]. I thank him for the pass. I had to finish it and finish it right since he made that spectacular effort to get the ball. It was a great play. ”
On the play with Cameron Wright being a turning point in the game:
“Yes, it definitely gave us a boost. It had us up and ready to play.”
Quoting Pitt forward Lamar Patterson:
On the effect from thumb injury:
“There is something going on with it. I hurt it in the last game but I am trying to get it straightened out now. I took the wrap off because it was uncomfortable and a little too tight. There is nothing to worry about. I knew I was going to play in this game.”
On going to the foul line late in the game:
“I just knew what to expect, I already knew how it was going to come off my hand. I fought through the little pain that was there and it fell through for me. I still have the same confidence I normally would in that situation.”
On the importance of this win for later in the season:
“You don’t want to lose to teams you’re supposed to beat, and you don’t want to lose any games actually. It was a tough game, we had to grind it out in double overtime. Just like last game, this team just figured out a way to grind it out and that shows big growth. That will be helpful down the line once it is tournament time.”
On Virginia Tech’s toughness:
“They were getting rebounds, and a lot of them didn’t bounce our ways. I know I had a couple opportunities that bounced over my head. We have to get better at tracking those down.”
On level of confidence for Syracuse regarding injury:
“I am real confident. We want another shot at them because we let one go there. It is going to be a fun game.”
Quoting Pitt guard James Robinson:
On stepping up offensively:
“I shot the ball when I felt I was open. [Cameron Wright] did a really good job of driving and attacking to find me in the corner and I was able to make a play for our team. That could have been any of us. It just so happened I was the one taking the shot and able to step up for my team.”
On thought process on late three-point shot and foul shot:
“I was really concentrating on making the shot more so than drawing the foul. He was a little too close and we got the call. After that, things went our way. [Cameron Wright] did a great job drawing the defense in and he found me in the corner. I was able to make it.”
On playing in the 40’s and 50’s point range:
“We can play in the 40’s and 50’s but we can also play in the 70’s and 80’s. Obviously every game we are not going to be able to keep the pace going and be in transition a lot. We have to find a way to win. Our coaches do a really good job of preparing us for those situations. In practice we go over certain situations and so if we play in the 40’s and 50’s that’s fine and if we play in the 70’s and 80’s that is fine too.”
On defense after regulation:
“We played well in terms of help defense down the stretch during the game. I know [Cameron Wright] got his hands in a pass that became our possession. We stuck to our help defense and defensive fundamentals that really helped us.”
Quoting Virginia Tech Head Coach James Johnson
Opening Statement:
“Well I thought that was a hard fought tough ACC battle right there. We were exhausted down the stretch, and guys fouled out and got tired, but we fought hard and competed. We just didn’t make enough plays to win the game. We played hard, we played with heart, and I thought we wanted it, but we didn’t play smart at all times. I thought Jamie’s [Jamie Dixon] guys did a great job in finding a way to win, and that’s part of the struggles we’re having, in that they are finding ways to win.”
On if coming close is a sign of progress or letting a game get away:
“I think it’s a bit of both there. We’re working hard, we’re practicing, and we’re coming out to win the game. There’s no solace in losing in double overtime, but we did learn a little bit about ourselves tonight. We haven’t quit, and we’re still working hard, still competing, but we have to find a way to finish these games. And that’s a very good team out there, nationally ranked, but we can’t just be happy about playing them close, or playing them to double overtime, we have to find a way to win that game. Part of it is that we just haven’t had one go our way in a while, but these guys aren’t quitting. They’re continuing to fight and we’re coming out wanting to win, not just wanting to play close.”
On what’s going through his mind during James Robinson’s four point play:
“That’s probably one of the plays that I’m talking about where we need to play smarter, but everything fell in line for them. He got fouled, he hit the three, and then he hit the free-throw. That’s a lot of things to happen, but that kid’s a winner. He plays on a winning team and when he knocked the three down I figured he would probably knock the free throw down. But that’s a lot of stuff that has to happen and we have to play smarter, we just have to learn from that. And I thought that we put that behind us and came out in the overtime and still played, but there were so many plays you can look at. We had 20 turnovers; we just have to take care of the basketball a little better than that.”
On the turnovers down the stretch:
“I think Pitt did a good job defensively. They were reaching for the ball, they had guys around us. Also us being in that position we may have been trying to force it a little bit, trying to make something happen, there might have been jitters there.”
On whether Patterson’s injury impacted their strategy:
“We didn’t know that his thumb was hurting. I noticed when I walked through the line he reached out with his left hand and was holding his right hand, but during the game I didn’t know. He’s a guy that can be effective, and we wanted to know where 21 was at all times on the floor, and I thought we did a pretty good job of that all the time. We wanted to foul Zanna late in the game when we picked up our full court man, but Patterson’s a winner, and we wanted to try to put him in a position where we kept our eye on him all afternoon.”
On their defensive approach:
“Stay on them. We were going to play the zone and make them shoot outside shots, and they came out to start the game and knocked shots down. I just told the guys to stay with it, stay confident in the zone, and that they weren’t going to shoot like this the whole game. Then they kind of went cold, but they did a good job driving the basketball late in the game and in the overtimes, but the game plan was know where Patterson was at all times and make it difficult for him.”
On their chance at the end of first overtime:
“Yeah I thought we got the look we wanted, but it just didn’t go down for us.”
On the performances of Cam Wright and James Robinson:
“Wright is tough. He came out and got them going, and those guys are veteran guys. He [Wright] is a redshirt junior, has played a lot of basketball, and Robinson is as steady as they come in this league. It was definitely big for them to step up, but I thought we tried to use some size with Thompson and Van Zegeren and Raines, I thought it impacted Zanna and all their guys inside.”
On their scoring drought from the end of the second half onward:
“It was a combination of Pitt’s defense and a little bit of our fatigue. We lost our legs a little bit, with guys fouling out and a short bench in the backcourt, but you have to give Pitt’s defense a lot of credit, they’re a really good defensive team.”
On Devin Wilson’s performance and homecoming:
“That guy is as steady as they come. He never gets too up, he never gets down, and he is as steady as they come. So I didn’t really have to have a talk with him at all, and he played a good game. Had a few turnovers, but that’s more due to his legs and wearing down, having to play 46 minutes. That’s a lot of minutes, but that’s what he has to do for us, it’s how our team is built right now. At times he runs out of gas, but I’m very pleased with him and he just keeps getting better and better and better. When you have two freshman guards in the backcourt, playing here with the Zoo, and Devin’s playing at home, those guys did a great job tonight.
On if you’re able to build off of the young core of the team:
“Definitely. They’re getting great experience right now, and sometimes it’s tough learning experience, but they’re getting great experience. It’s definitely something that we can build on. You have Wilson and Emelogu [Ben Emelogu], I though Thompson played well today and Van Zegeren is just a sophomore, so there are things we can build on. And I think this team continues to get better this year, and we just have to go back to work and get healthy and try to get better.
On if he knew from an early point in the year that Devin Wilson would be a contributor:
“It was early on. One of the things that I liked about Devin from early on in the recruiting process is that he is a winner, and he has that toughness from football. In practice, in our drills, his team or his group won every competition. He brings those characteristics to our program, toughness and winning, and that’s what we’re trying to build this thing on. And early on he wouldn’t be denied, and he earned that starting job and hasn’t looked back since.”
Quoting Virginia Tech guard Devin Wilson
On Pitt’s plan defensively against him:
“They were really active on defense with their hands and their hedges on ball-screens. I thought their defense was really good today."
On how satisfied they can be as a team even though they came up short:
“We definitely look at it as we should have had this one. They made a good play at the end with a three plus the and-one. Plays like that we just can’t foul the shooter and have to really capitalize on finishing games."
On his flagrant 1 foul in the first overtime:
“When I turned it over, I just knew I couldn’t let them get a wide open layup and I was trying to go for the ball but I guess the refs saw it different and thought I tried to grab his foot.”
On not scoring a field goal since the 3-minute mark in regulation:
“I think in an overtime game you try not to take as many wild shots so I think what we were trying to do was get to the basket and take good shots instead of forcing them. I think letting ourselves not be in attack mode really hurt us late.”
