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Georgetown Postgame Quotes

Head coach John Thompson III

On breaking the two-game losing streak
Absolutely. We have a lot we have to continue to improve on, but if you get a big lead early, then they fight back. I think we made plays at the end that we haven't been making. We got a couple big rebounds, come up with the loose ball, we hit some big shots which we haven't been doing. All the ills of our world with nothing solved. But to make plays when we needed it and to come up at the end, to come out of here with a win, feels more good than bad.

On what got Charlotte back into the game late first half
Threes. The kid (Braxton Ogbueze) can shoot. He can shoot and we gave him four threes in the first half. Then, they get confident and the big kid (Joseph Uchebo) gets confident. It's no secret that that's been our Achilles' heel. You come out, and on the first play of the game, the kid (Ogbueze) bangs a three. But, to answer your question, he's a good player. They run a lot of stuff for him and he makes tough shots. Him hitting those three threes, mid-to-late first half, is what got them going and got them energized. We had some foul issues where I couldn't get the combination on the court I wanted. But, other guys stepped up.

On what changed to limit the 49ers to one 3-pointer after around the 16:00 mark of the second half
I can honestly sit here and say we did not make a tactical adjustment other than screaming and yelling at them, 'Don't leave your man.' They did a good job with that.

On L.J. Peak's effect on the game offensively
He was, I don't want to say in a little bit of a funk in the first half, but he got in there and was trying to draw fouls and didn't get the fouls called. So he was getting a bit down on himself. L.J. gets to the rim and a lot of fouls that weren't called in the first half were called in the second half. You have a guy who was not shooting well in the first half but he hits a huge three. A huge, huge three. He's a player; he's a gamer. We knew we were going to have to get it to him and let him get to the basket to see if he could make a play.

Senior guard D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera

On the last play with the and-one
I knew the shot clock was running down and I just wanted to attack the basket when I came off the screen instead of settling for a jump shot. I knew their bigs were not too mobile for guarding a guard, so I just wanted to get downhill on them.

On using close games like this for the future confidence
It definitely is. It shows we can do it. Defensively, coming into the game, that was the biggest thing we wanted to focus on.