Dec. 12, 2010

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Georgetown, Appalachian State
December 12, 2010
Verizon Center

Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III

On Appalachian State's offense...
Donald Sims is an outstanding offensive player. As we prepared for this game, we saw he could really shoot and they do a really good job of getting him shots. Some guys can go off screens and get shots, but he can create space with the ball in his hands, he can get shots in many different ways.

On Jason Clark's Defensive performance...
I thought overall, starting with Jason Clark, he was terrific. He worked, he was extremely attentive. Not only did the kid not make a (three-point shot), the fact that he only get five off is an accomplishment. I thought particularly in the second half, when he was more aggressive in terms of hunting for his shots, I thought our team did a very good job of being there.

On his thoughts prior to today's game...
Following the Temple game the last two days we literally maybe five minutes of offense, it's been all defense, so I'm sitting there thinking we were going to come out a little rusty on offense, but I think we took steps. We still have work to do, a lot of work to do, but we took steps.

On pushing the ball at the beginning of each half...
We always want to push the ball. You're able to do it when you get stops, turnovers or rebounds. If you create turnovers and create possessions for yourself you can push the ball and we always want to push the ball.

On Chris Wright, Austin Freeman and Jason Clark leading the way in the second half...
The start of the second half was key. All of you guys are going to talk and write about them scoring points. We need them to score points, but they also need to lead us in everything else. They need to lead us in boxing out and getting on the floor and I think at the start of the second half they did that and that's what gave us our boost.

On Georgetown's bench...
I guess we were OK. I say that to say, we have a group of guys who are ready to contribute. It's not a big deal they come and they do their job and they do what they're supposed to do. I said this during the first press conference of the year, I think we have a unit where which five guys out there doesn't really matter. It depends on each individual game and what is working. But our bench players are ready and have contributed and we expect that of them.

On Nate Lubick...
He was aggressive, which is good, we need Nate to be aggressive. He also threw a couple of passes that a lot of freshmen don't see. He has a good feel for the game. We need and expect a lot from Nate.

On Moses Ayegba and Nate Lubick contributing...
Our post play will be done by committee this year. So we have to make sure that when they're supposed to be in that committee that they show up that day. But we're going to be able to feel through each individual game. Nate did well today and Moses is now eligible and we'll see what he brings to the table, but it is going to be by committee.

Georgetown Players

Chris Wright

Regarding the start of the 2nd half...
We just pushed the emphasis at halftime and came out with three stops at the beginning of the 2nd half. When we get into transition it is tough to stop us, because we have so many options. If we get stops and rebounds, it opens up a lot of options for us and we don't give the defense a chance to set, by scoring quickly.

Talking about his assists...
I'm not really trying to play flashy, but just trying to make the right reads and those are the passes I make in the end.

Jason Clark

On Guarding Donald Sims of App. State...
Watching him [Sims] on tape, we knew that we had to be aggressive with him and couldn't let him get his shots off. We had to come to him and bring the defense to him...being aggressive with him really helped us. He didn't change his emotions much at all. He's a scorer and we knew he would come back out in the 2nd half and continue to be aggressive.

On Chris' transition passing...
They come out of nowhere...those passes that you think won't get to you; Chris has the ability to get them to you. If we all keep our eyes on him and the ball, he will find us.

Talking about season high in team assists & sharing the ball...
Anybody on our team can score and anybody can pass the ball. When we share the ball well, we play very well overall.

Appalachian State Head Coach Jason Capel

Opening Statement...
"I want to give a lot of credit and respect to Georgetown and Coach Thompson. They're good, they are very good, they are big, they are fast. They have veterans in key positions; we are talking about Wright, Clark and Freeman. Those guys are pretty good. They are physical, they play hard, they play as a team and they play well together. Physicality of the game was the biggest different. The speed of the game was the biggest difference. I thought we competed. I was happy with the first half, we competed, we fought. I was disappointed we didn't do that in the second half which turns a 9 point game into a 29 point game, quite simply. They're a good team and I feel like we are a good team as well and we are going to continue to work and get better and shake this one off."

On Georgetown's defensive effort on Donald Sims...
"I thought they did a good job of being physical with Donald. That's kind of been his Achilles heel when guys really get into him and get physical. We knew (Jason) Clark was going to guard him...and when you have the size and the length they have I thought they were really able to get to (Sims) on the ball and he didn't have a lot of driving lanes because of the length and size. But that is to be expected in a game like this. Donald's done a good job of combating that against teams at this level. He's had a rough day but offensively he is going to have rough days at times, defensively we all have to do better. A team shooting 72% is unacceptable."

On the Strategy going into the Second Half...
"We felt good about ourselves going into half time. Down 9 points in an adverse environment, in my opinion a final four caliber team ...we felt pretty good. We wanted to come out with a sense of urgency and play hard in the first four minutes until the media timeout. Unfortunately I didn't think we came out with that aggression and sense of urgency the way we needed to playing a team of this caliber."

On Chris Wright's Performance...
"It all starts with Chris Wright, he's the toughness, he's the head of the stake. He came out and really set his tone of the game without really scoring the basketball and that's what you want from your senior leader and your point guard and I thought he did a great job."