Dec. 31, 2007

Recap | Box Score | AP Action Photos

Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III

On the first eight minutes of the game...
"I thought Jessie Sapp that first half of the game, I thought he was very, very good. I guess we played okay. I thought early we played well. Then we had some ebb and flow, up and down and we have to eliminate that."

On changes in the starting lineup ...
"With the group that we have this year, the starters are just the first five guys out there and as the year progresses, that has become more and more apparent. I just wanted to mix up things a little bit for balance."

On ball movement that created 25 assists ...
"We did a fairly good job of moving the ball today. As the game wore on I think our decision-making decreased and our precision decreased, but our kids shared the ball. I've said over and over again there is no need for anyone on our team to take a bad shot or a contested shot because the next person you pass the ball to is very competent at putting the ball in the basket. "

On Jonathan Wallace ...
"I heard Roy say something about (Wallace becoming the program's all-time three-point leader) walking out of the locker room. I did not realize that, but God bless him I hope he scores a lot more the next couple of months."

After hearing that Wallace also scored his 1,000th career point...
"God bless him, I hope he scores a lot more the next couple of months."

On the offense getting open outside looks...
"It's part of our growing up and part of our progression as a basketball team. I think we did a much better job of getting the ball inside and getting it back out and just the flow of our offense and getting different type of looks other than just coming down and whipping it around the horn. When you get that variance then everything becomes open."

On rebounding...
"There were several key points where you see him (DaJuan Summers) rise up and come down with two hands. I thought he had a good day today with his decision-making, his ability. So many people talk about points, but he did very well today in other parts of the game."

On the defensive intensity of the first half...
"I feel like the defensive intensity was good early, then tapered off, then picked up again. (Bryant) Dunston is a terrific player and we're going to face a lot of players like him coming up soon. He's tough in the block, he can step out and make shots, reverse pivot and make mid-range shots and he's so aggressive, he puts pressure on you on the defensive end."

On Roy's three...
"It's not a surprise. Roy can consistently make that shot and if people want to back off on him, he can consistently take it."

On whether Roy could catch Wallace...
"There's no aspirations of taking it to that level, but Roy is a good shooter. That wasn't a fluke. That wasn't something he threw and it went in. He can make that shot. I'm comfortable with him making that shot and he's comfortable taking it. No, we're not all of a sudden going to run plays to get Roy three's, but he can consistently hit that."

On Vernon Macklin...
"He was really good today at getting other people baskets. This may sound like a small thing, but he set some really good screens. Guys want to lay off him, that means you have to be a good screener, so when the guy comes off, they're wide open. He got us so many more baskets than those three baskets. I thought he was very good today at being a helper, at getting other people shot. He was responsible for a lot more than the three assists and four points he scored."

On the mindset heading into BIG EAST play...
"Everything gets amped up. It's conference play. We got to the RAC and the RAC is a hard place to play. We open up with two road games and we've gone on the road this year, so that experience shouldn't be new, but you enter territory where there are no surprises. Nothing we are going to do is going to catch anyone off guard. Hopefully, nothing they do will catch us off guard. Every possession becomes that much more precious, every decision becomes that much more important. That's the nature of league play in every league in the country."

On where his team is after pre-conference play...
"It's probably where I thought we'd be, probably not as far as I want us to be, but probably where I thought we'd be. In the last two weeks, I think our offense is starting to get there. Now we have to continue to make slight adjustments tactically. Our offense and our understanding has improved tremendously of late."

On whether injuries around the league change his perspective...
"I knock on wood the whole time, I'm knocking for some reason. It's still the BIG EAST, the teams are still deep. We have a league that has arguably the best coaches who are used to making adjustments, it's a league where teams can lose key players and you're still scared. They still have talent, they still have toughness and they still have understanding. You don't want any player to get hurt, but when I look at the league, it's still scary."

On whether he pushes the team to go inside or shoot...
"I think we have the ability, I think we have some very good shooters and we have a post presence. As we continue to improve, we will be able to see what they are trying to take away. We can say, `The hell with it, we're going to do that anyway,' or we can say, `Let them take that away, we have other answers.' Hopefully, we can have the ability to do all of the above. It's not a matter of saying, we'll get three's, jam it down their throats and throw it in every time or let's put our heads down and drive it. As we've gained the understanding of when everything is there, our offense is slowly starting to get sharper."

On the lineup change...
"I talk to him (Patrick). Patrick wants to win. Patrick wants our team to be good. That's what he cares about."

Senior Guard Jonathan Wallace

On the three-point field goal record...
"It's a blessing to have that record at Georgetown. A lot of good shooters have come through here, with (Allen) Iverson, Kevin Braswell and Dwayne Bryant. He (Bryant) talked to me before and said 'You're never going to break that record,' but it finally happened and I'm thankful for it."

Sophomore Forward DaJuan Summers

On whether the team was determined to hit the boards...
"A little bit of both, but we knew we could take them on the glass, so that's what we attempted to do, more defensive glass for me."

On the team's rebounding...
"It's a point of emphasis every game for us to be better defensive rebounders than offensive rebounders. We're just trying to build from last game."

Junior Guard Jessie Sapp

On the first eight minutes of the game...
"It was a good eight minutes. We wanted to start fast and not sluggish. We wanted to get the big dog (Hibbert) and everyone involved. We wanted to make the tempo fast, get it down to DaJuan (Summers) and make sure he could get everything and Jon could get his shots. We wanted to have fun out there. Coach always tells us to speed it up.