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Georgetown 78, Texas A&M Corpus-Christi 62

November 18, 2014

Washington, D.C. - Verizon Center

Georgetown University Head Coach John Thompson III

On Georgetown's slow start and second half turnaround...

(Texas A&M Corpus-Christi) is a veteran team and that's a well-coached team. John Jordan can control the game as well as anyone. He's so poised, nothing fazes him, and he just skates along and gets to where he wants to go and places his people, so when you play against a really good point guard like that you have to work. In the first half we didn't do as well as we needed to, to contain him. You're not going to stop him because he's so good at setting up his teammates, but he was just too free. In the second half we did a much better job. Aaron obviously gave us a huge boost.

On Joshua Smith's performance...

(His performance) was better. His effort level was much, much better today. In the second half, the points and the rebounds were obvious, but I thought as Jordan was coming off all of the on-balls, he did a very good job keeping his body in front of him until our guards got back in front and not letting him skate past him. Not that he was guarding him, but I thought he contained him very well in the second half. If Josh plays with that intensity and effort and that energy, that should happen every time.

On the second half defensive adjustments for John Jordan...

We mixed that in. Tre Campbell is effective for 94 feet. He made him work. Once you get him in the half court it was futile to try to push out on him at half court, but sit back and try to contain him. We switched the matchups a little bit, little Tre guarded him, LJ guarded him for most of the second half and I thought he did a very good job.

On the rebounding improvement from game one...

I think everyone was much more just overall rebounding. We've had that discussion a lot the last couple of days. We have guys that can go get the ball; they just have to make themselves do it. Starting with Josh, he was pursuing the ball very well today, which he has to do, which he can do...More importantly, as importantly, we want to get out and we want to run, but to do that we have to get stops and we have to get rebounds. It's great to say, "hey let's run, let's push it," but you can't if you're giving up second shots and third shots.

On D'Vauntes Smith Rivera playing six minutes in the second half...

I thought the other groups we had in there were playing better. He was in a little bit of a fun, that's going to happen. We have one of these teams this year where who knows what the combination is going to be. We have eight, nine, 10, 11 players that we can put out there that I'm comfortable with and they're comfortable with each other. We took him out and we went on a little run, so I left those guys out there.

On Aaron Bowen...

I thought AB's quickness and speed would help. I look at this as very different, but I think that he can have the same type of effect as Patrick Ewing Jr. A couple of years ago Pat was starting and then I brought him off the bench and he affected the game with his energy, much like Aaron, Pat was always getting deflections, getting steals, getting rebounds. I think Aaron can have a similar effect on this year's team. Pat goes from a starter to the bench and was the BIG EAST Sixth Man of the Year. They are very different plays, I'm not saying that AB is like Pat, but they can have the same effect coming off the bench.

Joshua Smith

Sr. | C

On his performance last Saturday ...

I had two rebounds last game. It doesn't really need to take anyone to tell me that that is unacceptable. It's just one of those where it is just effort. I just need to go out, and when we get rebounds, we look to run in transition and get guys open. Today, I saw that more so we just have got to do that more.

On wearing them down in the second half ...

It's kind of what coach was saying. Rebounding on offense and defense, it demoralizes a team. Even though we won the first game, [St. Francis BKLYN] had too many offensive rebounds and it didn't really feel like we won. We didn't really feel too happy. Any time we can affect them on the boards, on both ends, especially offense, coaches don't like that, when teams get second, third, fourth opportunities when everybody is crashing the boards. It was good.

Aaron Bowen

Sr. | F

On the run to start the second half ...

I am just doing my job. Coach Thompson tells me that every time I touch the court just to play with energy and I feel that that's what I did.

On forcing 11 turnovers in the second half ...

That's how you win games, playing defense. That was the mindset on the court in the second half.

Texas A&M Corpus-Christi Head Coach Willis Wilson

Opening statement ...

Physical game. That's something we've gotta get used to. We've gotta learn how to play physical basketball. It's a physical game. Georgetown is incredibly physical, reputation for playing physical basketball over the years. I thought we did a pretty good job in the first half with our game plan, but second half we really let it get away. We let it get away with three turnovers early and the penetration in the middle, and that, combined with the job that Georgetown did on the glass it's hard to win games when you give up as many offensive rebounds as we did in that second half but we're a young team and we'll get better. I think we've got a chance if we can find our identity and really cling to that we've got a chance to be a really good basketball team before the year's over.

On Josh Smith's play ...

No, no not at all. He's averaged double figures his two first years at UCLA, he's a talented guy. What I see in him is a little maturity, he's grown up a little bit - he's playing within himself a little more.

What worked in first half ...

Specifically on the defensive side I thought we did a really good job point of attack not allowing middle penetration. We were able to really have good rotations on their drives, especially on the baselines cutting it off. But with their length, if they get to the middle it becomes a volleyball match. They're either gonna get to the middle and draw contact and get to the free throw line or the offensive glass, and were not gonna with that battle with a team with that kind of length. Offensively, I think we did a much better job executing our gameplan, our spacing was so much better, our activity level was so much better. I thought our guys got a little flustered with how physical the game was, one of those things we gotta learn how to do. We've come a long way as a basketball program, but the next step is to be able to deal with adversity in real time. Be able to make the next play, I thought we did a good job of that in the first half but not as much in the second.

On having a young team ...

Well the hardest part of that is, Hameed Ali, number one, this is the first action he's seen. He's practiced sparingly the last two days and missed the entire preseason. Number 25 missed the last 10 days. So those guys haven't been on the floor. Ali's our back-up point guard, we need him to be comfortable in the game with the ball so we can rest Jordan, being able to sit him down and rest him a little more. And with Thomas he's a presence but right now he's not moving like he normally could, and Jordan, they really know how to play the pick and roll game. Couldn't get those two guys in the pick and roll game tonight.

On controlling DSR ...

He's such a talent. He really shoots the ball well, and I think early in the game if he gets some shots to go down he's very, very good. We really just tried to crowd him a bit and not let him get his rhythm from outside. Penetration, we did a pretty good job zoning up. We let some other guys hurt us. Now, we did a good job on him, but penetration from some of the other wings really broke us down.