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Georgetown University Athletics

Big East Conference Hoya Saxa

Men's Basketball

Postgame Quotes

Nov. 22, 2014

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Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III

On fast start to second half ...

I'll take it. If we can get fast starts to the first half, fast middle and fast ends everything will be fine. But I'll take it. The guys come out of halftime focused. It no way implies that we start the game not focused, but we've come out of halftime focused.

On schedule teams based on style of play and how Georgetown attacked the zone defense today ...

They play zone and we knew that the previous two teams didn't play zone. Our next opponent plays zone sometimes. Its not a lie. How did we attack it? I think we have to get better, there's no doubt about that. I think we were too stagnant. For as many points as Josh (Smith) scored, I think there were other times that he was open. I think we have to get it down. I think he did a good job of knowing, when he caught the ball, knowing when to go and when to absorb the double team and kick it out. We had good perimeter passing that ended up with open shots. Shots that we missed today that I think we are going to make over the course of the long haul.

Is wearing teams down with defense that a staple for Georgetown right now ...

Hopefully. Our personnel is such that we can deeper than we have in recent memory. A lot of people talk about playing X amount of people, but it is not always quality. This year we have guys who have been very attentive on defense, can lock and trail, that are pretty good at supporting because we have similar sizes and some of our longer players can guard small player as well as taller players. We can switch a lot more than we have recently. I think this team has been built to be able to wear teams down at both ends of the court.

How important was the 12-5 run to start the second half ...

I think it was important, as I said earlier, because of the way we came out in the second half. It started with Josh (Smith) and [Mikael Hopkins], both of them again got double figure rebounds. On the offensive glass I think is where it started if I'm not mistaken. I've got to go back and look at it. But I think for a few possessions we threw it up and missed it and one of those two came down with the rebound and put it back.

On holding Robert Morris to a 30.5% shooting percentage ...

Our defense is still a work in progress. [Robert Morris] has multiple guys on the court that can score baskets, that can attack you, put pressure on you defensively. Their offense is perpetual motion so if you are a lazy defender, you aren't in help position because your man is always chasing and running. It's a hard offense to guard. Our guys are going to sleep well tonight.

What was the game plan to guard Marcquise Reed ...

He is coming back home. Big time scorer. He is one of these guys that is going to six points just by being on the court. And we just wanted to be attentive to him. He's had some pretty good games so far already in his young career. And it looks like he is going to keep doing what he did in high school, which was put the ball in the basket.

On the playing time for Josh Smith ...

Josh playing 26 minutes is not a surprise. I did put him back in just because we wanted to ride him a little bit, for lack of a better way to put it. He was going in there and putting pressure on them. There were certain things that I wanted our guys to see where he was open that we didn't execute in the first half. We wanted to put him back in so we could get a feel about how this was supposed to be run. Putting him back in at the end has as much to do with everyone getting a comfort level with the sets that we were running. But he can play. As long as he lets me know when he is tired, whether that is after one minute or after 10 minutes, we can get him a blow and get him back in.

On the play of D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera...

I think this has been two out of three games where D'Vauntes has had high assists as well as high rebounds for his position. We are, as you guys can tell, trying a lot of different lineups. Trying to get a lot of different people, a lot of the freshmen, a comfort level out on the court. He, as well as a lot of the other guys, has done a good job of understanding that's what is going on. Once the smoke clears, he is still going to score. He knows that, I know that, we know that. We are just trying to get settled in.

And two of those three games, if you want to be realistic about it, today and the first game, he got a lot of open looks that he normally makes that didn't go in. That are going to go in. We are not worried about it.

On the progress the team has made over the first three games heading into the Bahamas with the competition Georgetown will face ...

Time will tell. Starting with Florida, they are a terrific team. We are going to see. I think, as much as we could, guys have gotten minutes, guys have gotten situations, guys have gotten their feet wet. Now we are going to be thrown into the proverbial fire.

How comfortable does he think the freshmen are ...

I think that they are very comfortable when they are out there. They are freshmen, they are going to have their ups and downs. It's an emotional roller coaster in many ways. But I think as a group, they all look very comfortable out there and they understand what we are trying to accomplish.

On the travel plans going into the Bahamas ...

We leave Monday. We will probably go through some stuff tomorrow and then get of here Monday.

Senior Center Josh Smith

On settling in after the first two games of the season ...

Yes. I think it's just being more aggressive and keeping it going. These games you kind of expect that but we're coming up to the games at the Bahamas so we have to keep it going and be aggressive.

On how the first three games have prepared him for the Bahamas ...

Like with what Coach Thompson was saying before, Florida runs a lot of zones so with this game it helped us out a lot defensively and offensively they run a lot of sets that Texas A&M-Corpus Christi ran so it's just kind of getting a little familiarity with it."

Senior Guard D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera

On his comfort level running the offense ...

I just want to affect the game in every way possible, it's not really about me. I think so far it's been great, everybody has been getting good looks at the basket and getting guys involved is key, just making sure that everybody is comfortable. We have a big stretch coming up with the Bahamas so we want to make sure everybody is ready and as prepared as can be.

Head Coach Andrew Toole

On the game overall ...

I think that their size and strength wore on us over the course of the game. From a defensive standpoint, we didn't do a terrible job. I thought offensively we settled for some plays and jump shots that we didn't need so we dug ourselves a decent hole to close the half and then didn't start the second half the way we needed to come back. We did do a good job on fighting back at the end of the game. But regardless of the score, I am proud of the guys being able to fight back.

On their zone play ...

The last year or so we've liked to play a lot of zone; there are times when we do play a little bit less. With Georgetown's size and intensity it's tough for us, and we had to try and flood the paint and make them take jump shots.

On their rebounding weaknesses today ...

It's a function of who you're playing. For example, Jabril Trawick would play a 4 or a 5 in our league. Sometimes guys like us just don't have the physicality that a team like Georgetown has with 240 pound guys laying on them. We just have to be creative and find other ways to score.

On Georgetown's ability to blow out teams in the second half ...

Georgetown has an ability to wear on you because they're so physical, and it's not just Josh Smith. Getting open on the wing is extremely important against these guys because they're so long and physical. If you're not conditioned, it will eventually wear on you.

Junior Guard Rodney Pryor

On playing high level teams early in the year ...

It's a chance to see where we stand, playing against the major teams in college basketball. These are guys who are potential pros, so these games are great experiences. With the blowouts, we need to be able to take out what we did well as a team and what we did poorly as a team and learn from it.

On what his team did well today ...

Like coach said, in the last seven or eight minutes we stayed with high energy, we rebounded, we played hard. At some points, we got caught ball watching but it's important that we keep playing hard and that's what we were able to do in those last couple of minutes.

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Players Mentioned

Mikael Hopkins

#3 Mikael Hopkins

F
6' 9"
Senior
D

#4 D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera

G
6' 3"
Freshman
Jabril Trawick

#55 Jabril Trawick

G
6' 5"
Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Mikael Hopkins

#3 Mikael Hopkins

6' 9"
Senior
F
D

#4 D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera

6' 3"
Freshman
G
Jabril Trawick

#55 Jabril Trawick

6' 5"
Sophomore
G