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Georgetown 77, Bryant 47
November 28, 2015
Verizon Center

Georgetown University Head Coach John Thompson III

On Georgetown's defensive efficiency...
I thought that our man-to-man defense was not good at all, but our zone was effective. But (Bryant) was executing. They're college basketball players, they're going to score. We have to help each other a little more. It's not a question of effort, I wouldn't say that at all. I think they executed extremely well early and then we went to zone and it slowed everything down.

On Bryant's Shane McLaughlin...
He is the head of that snake and I say that in a complimentary manner. He runs their show, he gets everyone shots, and he places everyone else. What he did today is what he does. He loves to penetrate and pick you apart, he's a tough kid. He was effective, with that mind set, against our man and our zone.

On L.J. Peak's game against Bryant...
L.J. can do a lot of different things. So having 20 is great, but he has to defend, he has to rebound, he has to share the game and he has to score. He's extremely talented, so he has that responsibility to do a lot of different things. Today, he was able to penetrate; he was able to get to the rim, which is something he does very well.

On attacking Bryant's zone defense in the second half...
I expected (Bryant) to play a lot of zone. Looking at their games this year, they've done both. I think our guys moved the ball better. We stressed to make cuts; we have to get the ball into the overload, into the middle. We have to get the ball into the short corner and we have to get some penetration. You have to get in there and make decisions, so I think they did a good job. All year, with the exception of the first game, we have moved the ball and helped each other; we just have to keep improving on defense.

On Marcus Derrickson's play...
We need not just Marcus and not just our bigs, not just Marcus, B.J. and Jessie, but we need everyone to make a conscious effort to rebound. You could tell, (Marcus) he decided to go get the ball today. From the first couple minutes of the game you could tell he has been listening. We need everyone to take that mentality, but I thought he was very good in that regard. Still he was a little hesitant on offense, so we have to get him back to where he's just playing, but the way he pursued the ball today is something he can do and that we need him to do and something his teammates need to do also.

On Paul White's return...
I haven't asked him yet after the game. I thought he looked okay, but it's going to take some time. I thought he was moving pretty well, but he's going to be fine.

On Tre Campbell...
We're anticipating him being able to play Tuesday. He will play Tuesday, he's practiced the last couple of days.

Sophomore Guard L.J. Peak

On picking up Georgetown's offensive momentum...
"I just had to pick my teammates up since we started out slow. I figured I had to do something."

Sophomore Forward Isaac Copeland

On Georgetown's 11-2 run to end the first half...
"I think towards the end of the first half, we decided to lock down and really focus on defense and running transitions so that really worked in our favor."

Bryant Head Men's Basketball Coach Tim O'Shea

Opening Statement
Obviously the shooting numbers speak for themselves. To be competitive, if you're a lower-tier school playing a school like a Georgetown, you've got to make some three's and we just had a really rough day shooting the ball. Our leading score is out with the flu so he wasn't with us and he's a kid who can actually shoot it pretty well. So I had a lot of young guys out there and I thought they competed hard for a good portion of the game, but at the end of the day, you've got to make free throws and you've got to make three-point shots to be competitive in a game like this and we just weren't able to do that today.

On missed early layups...
They were good shots. One time, I looked up and we had a couple freshmen and a couple sophomores playing, this is a big stage and I think maybe nerves played into that a little bit. I don't know. The guys who were missing the shots are certainly capable of making them. I thought, again, we competed well. The freshman, Marcel Pettway, for a game at this level, I thought he acquitted himself pretty well -- 15 (points) and 12 (rebounds) -- but again, the shooting numbers are pretty telling. We were really getting great shots when they were going man-to-man and then they went zone. I graduated two really great shooters who are playing over in Europe now and that's a lot of talent to replace and we are just really finding ourselves now. I do think the young man who play today, Hunter Ware, didn't really could have made a difference for us because he's a terrific shooter. He's a scorer, he's the kid who had 24 at Duke, and we've got some other guys -- Nisre Zouzoua, you know he's capable but today didn't make any noise, he's a freshman. So we've got to find ourselves a little bit but I thought we competed. I thought we played hard, we competed, we were feisty. Offensively, we just couldn't put the ball in the basket.

On Georgetown's size...
Yeah, they're good. They get the ball moving. They obviously have a size advantage over us and that's always the case when you play these upper-level schools, they're usually pretty physical. I thought we competed reasonably well on the backboards. In the first half we had an opportunity to have a lead early because we had great shots, but we just couldn't put the ball in the basket. The kid (Bosko) Kostur is actually a decent three-point shooter, but I know he shot it poorly -- well, everybody shot it poorly... He's capable but it just wasn't going for him today.

On Shane McLaughlin's status following the game and overall role on the team...
He banged his head at the end there, I think he's getting stitches right now, he wasn't in the locker room. Hopefully it's not serious because he's our senior, he's our captain, good point guard, but he got a pretty good bang there. We'll have to see about him... He's one of the better point guards in our league. I call him the Bobby Hurley of the NEC. He's from Jersey and he plays that gritty style of basketball. He's good with the ball, he's strong, he's a good leader. For him to come out of a game like that, he had to have been banged pretty good. I know there's a decent amount of blood coming out, hopefully he can play Monday, I don't know.

On how his defense impacted D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera's performance...
Well, we knew he was a good shooter, we just tried to be there on the catch and some of it is sometimes a guy just has an off day, just like a team sometime has an off day shooting the ball. I would have to look at the tape to give you an exact answer.

On the choice to go with a zone defense...
We didn't have much choice because of the size differential to match up man-to-man, we had to play zone. You look at college basketball now and everyone is playing a lot more zone because of the shorter shot clock and the way they are officiating the game with no freedom of movement. So you go man-to-man, you're going to get a lot of fouls. If we go man-to-man, they have too many mismatches in the post for us to realistically be able to defend them. We really didn't have any choice but to play zone.