Repaso del tercer y último día del Puerto Rico Tip-Off 2013

Seventh Annual Puerto Rico Tip-Off

November 21, 22, and 24, 2013

Coliseo Roberto Clemente, San Juan, Puerto Rico

www.PuertoRicoTipOff.com

Sunday, November 24 Results & Schedule (daily attendance, TBA)      Atlantic Time Tip-Off........ Network

·         Kansas State (3-3) 52, Long Beach State (1-6) 38

·         Georgetown (3-2) 84, VCU (4-2) 80

·         Florida State (5-1) 62, Northeastern (2-4) 60

·         Championship - Charlotte (5-1) 63, Michigan (4-2) 61

2013 Most Valuable Player

No.   Player, School                     Pos.       Ht.       Wt.     Yr.................................... Hometown (Previous Schools)

11      Nik Stauskas, Michigan                     G           6-6          205       SO........... Mississauga, Ontario, Canada (St. Mark's School [MA])

2013 All-Tournament Team

No.    Player, School                                    Pos.         Ht.          Wt.        Yr..................................................... Hometown (Previous Schools)

11      Nik Stauskas, Michigan                     G           6-6          205       SO........... Mississauga, Ontario, Canada (St. Mark's School [MA])

3        Shawn Lester, Charlotte                    G           6-3          175       SO........................................................ Mooresville, NC (Mooresville)

30      Ian Miller, Florida State                      G           6-3          198       SR........................ Charlotte, NC (United Faith Christian Academy)

43      Scott Eatherton, Northeastern          F            6-8          219       JR........................................ Hershey, PA (Hershey/St. Francis [PA])

4        D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, Georgetown   G           6-3          218       SO...................................... Indianapolis, IN (North Central/Oak Hill)

Final Score:
Kansas State 52, Long Beach State 36
Updated Records:
Kansas State: 3-3; Long Beach State: 1-6
Tournament Notes:
• KSU and LBSU met for the second time as part of the 2013 Puerto Rico Tip-Off. The two teams met as part of a non- bracketed game in Manhattan on Nov. 17. The Wildcats won that contest 71-58.
• Long Beach State’s point total was a tournament low in the seven-year history of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off (Previous low - 42 by Chattanooga (2008) and Maryland (2011)). The 49ers’ 13 first-half points were also a tournament low for a period.
• Through seven Puerto Rico Tip-Offs, the Big 12 Conference now holds a 9-6 all-time record. That includes a 3-3 record by Kansas State. The Wildcats went 2-1 in the 2009 tournament. Long Beach State (0-3) was the first team from the Big West Conference to participate in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.
Kansas State Notes:
• Kansas State finished 1-2 in the Puerto Rico Tip Off to finish seventh in the event. The Wildcats return home to host Cen- tral Arkansas on Dec. 1.
• K-State held Long Beach without a field goal for the final 12:43 of the first half, closing the period on a 15-3 run.
• Thomas Gipson finished in double figures for the second straight game, leading the Wildcats with 18 points. He finished the 2013 Puerto Rico Tip-Off averaging 12.7 points per game.
Long Beach State Team Notes:
• Long Beach State leaves Puerto Rico 0-3 in the 2013 tournament. The 49ers head back west to visit Washington on Nov. 30.
• Mike Caffey led the 49ers with 13 points on Sunday. He averaged 13.3 points per game in Long Beach State’s three games in Puerto Rico.
• The 49ers went 20:05 of game action between field goals, getting outscored 27-6 during that drought.

 PUERTO RICO TIP-OFF 

GAME 9: KANSAS STATE VS. LONG BEACH STATE 52-38

Kansas State Coach Bruce Weber: “I think this is just a great opportunity for our guys. I’ve been down here, this is my fourth time, with one of these tournaments. I’ve really enjoyed it. In the last 25 years, they’ve really developed the area and it’s beautiful. And obviously the weather is a lot nicer than back home. Watching those football games yesterday, people are bundled up while we’re out in swimming suits taking walks. It’s been a great opportunity; very friendly people. Whether it’s been our hotel, restaurants, everything; people have been very receptive and I appreciate that. I highly recommend the tournament.”
“Obviously we did a good job defensively. It’s one of those games, obviously when you get the early morning on the last day when it’s three games in four days and four games in seven days, it’s about desire and excuses. Who has more excuses and who has more desire? We challenged our guys and we made some progress. We had defended them well at our place; I didn’t know if we could do it as well here. Their legs were a little dead, you don’t make some shots and free throws, but overall I thought we were in a lot of right places, disrupted them.” 
“Will (Spradling) did a great job again on (Mike) Caffey, back-to-back games, he didn’t let him get in his rhythm and held him to his season low the first time; this time he had a few more points.”
“When we were patient we got the ball inside to Thomas Gipson and that’s got to happen more. Turnovers – young guys have just got to understand when to go and when not to. We charged five times, we messed up fast breaks; just jump stop, make the simple play. Hopefully this next month, we have for home games and then Gonzaga in Wichita. It’s a chance to get back home and now practice has got to be important and we’ve got to make some strides.”
“We did a good job on defense the first time too. We held them to 22 at home at halftime, this time it was 13; probably the difference was their legs, missing some shots. But same thing, we were tired too; we played the same number of games, they had a little more travel. But I think our guys were very locked in.”

“With young guys we need prep. We didn’t have prep for Georgetown. And Coach Thompson challenged them and they just went at us. It was such a physical game and we weren’t ready for that, we had no prep and gave them way too many layups. But it’s a learning tool, I hope our young guys learn what it’s about.”
Long Beach State Coach Dan Monson: “It’s different matchups. We got into a rhythm against VCU and it became contagious. Today it became contagious the other way; a couple guys missed jump shots and then all of the sudden everybody was missing jump shots. But I was proud, I thought defensively we hung in there and were able to disrupt them a little bit.”

“We loved it. Obviously we come from one beach, but to come to another it’s just totally different. I always just pride myself on the fact that these kids will get more than a degree and a basketball experience. They also get life experience and this is a great life experience to see the culture. We went to Old San Juan yesterday as a team, and left all our shots there I guess. But I think it’s great for guys, it might be the only time in their life they get to experience this. It’s a great run tournament and a great place to have it.”

PUERTO RICO TIP-OFF

GAME 10: GEORGETOWN VS. VCU 84-80

Georgetown Coach John Thompson III: “Obviously that’s a very, very good win against a terrific win. To speak about VCU, you know, they did what they do. We had 26 turnovers. That being said, I think we focused in and did what we had to do and made the plays when they were necessary. We get down – they go on a run hit a couple threes – I think seven or eight, I forget. Then we gathered ourselves and weathered that run. D’Vauntes (Smith-Rivera) and Markel (Starks) are going to sleep well tonight. The effort that they had dealing with that pressure at both ends of the court. Everyone always talks about VCU’s defense, but they always have five guys on the court that can attack and score. They always have five guys on the court that when we’re on defense can put pressure on you. I thought the key to the game wasn’t necessarily handling their pressure, I thought it was making it hard for them to score.”

“I think we just settled down. The way they play, they make runs, they’re going to make a run. I think to have success against them you have to limit those runs, and for the most part I think that was there run of the second half. We settled down a little bit and were able to score.”

“With the way that the games are being officiated now, games are going to be longer. In theory, the thought process is, if we call the touch fouls and clean up the game, they have more flow and higher scoring games. You probably are having higher scoring games, but the games are uglier. We shot 37 foul shots, they shot 47 foul shots. That’s slowing the game down.”

“Aaron Bowen was very, very good today. I thought Aaron gave us some very good minutes, hustle plays, energy plays. Reggie (Cameron) was in there Reggie was good, Moses (Ayegba) was good. The guys we put in there we either have confidence in or are rapidly gaining confidence in.”

Georgetown Guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera: “The biggest thing was taking care of the ball. We had 27 turnovers. Come tournament time, or even the next game, that has to come to a limit. A team like that, that’s what they feed off of. At certain times, when the team needed me to be there to score, I just felt the need to step up and make plays along with Markel (Starks) who did the same today. Like I said, just being a leader on the team and taking care of business today.”

“For this team, Markel (Starks) and I have to be aggressive a lot of the time. We do have other guys on our team who need to be more aggressive, make more plays and continue to drive. Today was a time where we both needed to make plays for our team. Down the stretch, that’s what we did. We knocked down free throws and made plays at crucial times.”

Georgetown Guard Markel Starks: “As we were going to the line in crucial moments, D’Vauntes (Smith-Rivera) and I would look at each other and say, ‘6 a.m.’ because that’s the time of the morning he and I often get up. Those consistent mornings of getting up extra shots showed up today. The free throws, it’s the mental part of the game. Especially with the free throws. You can consistently work on them, which he and I both do – as coach mentioned the two of us were 15 for 16 from the line. I’m not saying I’m going to go through the rest of the season and not miss a free throw in a crucial moment, but the consistency and mental drive to put those in is important. How the game is being officiated, you’re going to shoot a lot of free throws.”

VCU Coach Shaka Smart: “The number one thing we learned down here in Puerto Rico is that we have to get better. I think we already knew that, but now we’ve been smacked across the face with it. If there’s any silver lining, it’s that there should be a very clear realization that right now after these three games that there’s a lot of improving to do individually and collectively. We’re excited to get back to Richmond and work on that.”

“I want to be careful what I say as it relates to the way the game is officiated, but I will say it is very difficult to continue to play aggressively when all of the sudden the game is called much closer than it had been earlier in the game. So I would that’s probably a factor. You’ve got to give Georgetown credit. They’ve got two really good guards in (Markel) Starks and (D’Vauntes) Smith-Rivera. They did a nice job down the stretch handling the ball. But I think the foul trouble, getting in the double bonus so early, that’s the fastest I’ve ever seen a team get into the double bonus, ever. It was a combination of things.”

“I don’t think a game like that is entertaining. I think between Georgetown and VCU, there’s some very good players on the court this afternoon. As much as possible, when you let those players play, that’s what creates basketball that’s fun to watch. That second half was the opposite of that. You had 62 free throws from both teams in the second half. They did a better job of making free throws, I thought that was a factor down the stretch. It’s a choppy game when there’s so many fouls called, and I didn’t think it was particularly physical game relative to other ones we’ve played.”

“We’ve got a lot of good shooters. We have not shot the ball well down here in Puerto Rico. You always have to give some credit to your opponents, but at the same time I think we had some really good looks that didn’t go down. Our best three scorers are Juvonte Reddic, Treveon Graham and Rob Brandenberg; those guys combined were six for 28. They were good shots they were getting for the most part. Juvonte forced a couple but they were pretty good shots, we just didn’t make enough of them.”

VCU Guard Briante Weber: “The shooting percentage was in the front of everybody’s mind. They were passing up open shots that they would normally take and sometimes that forced turnovers when they’re not taking the open shots that they were given. The ball not going in in this tournament really affected how we played.”

VCU Guard Rob Brandenberg: “We just have to get better. It was definitely a reality check coming down here. We didn’t accomplish our goals. There’s a lot of season left. Our guys, we won’t hang our heads, we’ve just got to get back in the lab and get better. Watch some film, and have the urgency to get better.”

Georgetown prevails over VCU in “choppy” game slowed by 84 free throws

By Cary Estes, www.puertoricotipoff.com 

San Juan, Puerto Rico, November 24 – They kept whistling while Georgetown and VCU were trying to work on Sunday. The two teams were called for a combined total of 61 fouls and paraded to the free-throw line 84 times in their final-round matchup in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.

Georgetown made more of the foul shots when it counted most, going 30-of-34 from the line in the second half (compared to 20-of-28 for VCU), enabling the Hoyas to emerge with an 84-80 victory in a game that took 2 hours and 41 minutes to play.

“It was a choppy game,” VCU coach Shaka Smart said.

Despite all the fouls, the Rams (4-2) still were able to use their pressure defense to force Georgetown into 26 turnovers. But after VCU used a quick 8-0 run to take a 48-41 lead with less than 14 minutes to play, the Hoyas (3-2) did a better job of handling the ball down the stretch.

“VCU is going to make runs,” Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. “To have success against them, you have to limit those runs. That was their run, and we were able to settle down a little bit after that.”

Georgetown guards D’Vaunt Smith-Rivera and Markel Starks were primarily responsible for the Hoyas’ improved play in the second half. The duo scored 36 of their combined 49 points in the second half, with Starks making all 10 of this free-throw attempts.

“These guys are going to sleep very, very well tonight, from dealing with that pressure at both ends of the court,” Thompson said. “Everyone always talks about VCU’s defense, but they always have five guys on the court who can attack and score. So the key wasn’t necessarily handling their pressure. The key was making it hard for them to score.”

It definitely was hard for VCU’s three best scorers to find their shooting touch, as Juvonte Reddic, Trevon Graham and Rob Brandenberg went a combined 6-of-28 from the floor.

“Shooting percentages were in the front of everybody’s mind, and that affected how we played,” said Reddic, who finished with seven points, five below his average.

While the Hoyas bounced back from an opening-round upset loss to Northeastern to win their next two games in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, 10th-ranked VCU leaves the island with a surprising 1-2 tournament record.

“The main thing we learned in Puerto Rico is we have to get better,” Smart said. “We already knew that, but now we’ve been smacked across the face with it.”

PUERTO RICO TIP-OFF

GAME 11: FSU VS. NORTHEASTERN 62-60

Florida State Coach Leonard Hamilton: “For most of the game Northeastern out-played us. They had a tremendous game plan, they were patient, they executed very well. They were energized and played with tremendous focus. For the majority of the game they probably out-played us. We were very fortunate to win the game at the end. These are the kind of games you look back at the end of the season and say, ‘wow.’ This is a very, very good team. They’re going to give a lot of folks a lot of problems; you can ask Georgetown about that. So we were very fortunate to find a way to win there at the end. The game could have gone either way.”

“We didn’t seem to have an answer for their big guy (Scott Eatherton). He was very smart in how he played and he was very energized; he might have had six offensive rebounds the first half. We didn’t do a very good job. Our guys would rotate over to try to catch one of their penetrating guards and he would just crash the glass. None of our guards were picking him up on the outside. That’s a very smart headed player who is taking advantage of the opportunities that are available. For the most part, a team like this, we were very fortunate we were able to make the adjustments. When you run into a big guy who is as mobile and agile as Eatherton, sometimes it negates our size and we have to go with a smaller lineup. He was a little too quick for our two seven footers.”

“You’ve got to give these guys credit…they did a great job and had a great game plan. We were just fortunate to have the ball in our hands with the clock running down. Whoever had that ball with the clock running down probably was going to have a chance to win.”

“We haven’t been out-rebounding people all that much. I’ve said all along, I think we’re a work in progress. I think we’ve got potential that we could be a pretty good basketball team, but we have not been as consistent as we need to.”

“The game could’ve gone either way. Northeastern is a high-caliber team. I don’t know who they’ve lost to, but I know they played awful well down here. If they continue to play throughout the year as well as they’ve played in this tournament, somebody’s in for a handful. I can guarantee you that.”

“We could not have had a better situation in Puerto Rico, other than I would have loved to play in the Championship game. I don’t think we could have asked for better competition to get us ready for our conference race.”

Northeastern Coach Bill Coen: “We came down to this tournament to find out about ourselves and compete. In that sense, we’ll consider our trip to Puerto Rico a success. I know we didn’t get the victories we were looking for, but I couldn’t be more proud of my team with their effort, their intensity and their togetherness. We told our team in the locker room that is we can build on that, we could end up having a special year. If we can keep believing in each other, keep competing and trying to improve each and every day, we’ll get where we want to go. Right now we’re obviously a little disappointed; we thought we played a winning effort but really just didn’t earn the win. You’ve got to give credit to Florida State, they made some great plays down the stretch and we lost to a terrific basketball team.”

“They have an extremely athletic club, they’re athletes up and down their lineup. They have great size and rim protection, so they have everything they need to be a post-season team. I thought some of those turnovers and errors were self-inflicted. We had a few things where we mishandled the basketball. That’s the wear down effect of the pressure. They put a lot of pressure on our guards. For the most part, I thought we executed fairly well, but we had a couple possessions that we could improve upon for sure.”

“We’re an execution basketball team. We’re not going to out-athlete anybody, we’re going to compete. As the year goes on, we need our execution to get better and I thought during this tournament it did. We were able to run our sets a bit better, a little more crisply and get the ball to Scottie (Eatherton) where he can do something with it. He was able to deliver. I thought he had an outstanding tournament against some of the best teams in the country. He’s played as well as you possibly play in three games.”

Northeastern Forward Scott Eatherton: “I think that we realized how good we can actually be playing at this competition and actually being able to compete. Our effort, if we can have the effort for every game no matter who the team is, I think we can be a really good team. I’m excited to get back and practice and get ready for the next game, and I think the rest of our team is too.”

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Considering that Michigan was the runner-up in
last season'’s NCAA Tournament, it was expected that the Wolverines would
have a good chance to advance to this season'’s championship game of the
Puerto Rico Tip-Off.

Charlotte, on the other hand, was not expected to be there. Not with a
field that included VCU, Georgetown and Kansas State. But the 49ers proved
that they more than belonged in Sunday night'’s title game by upsetting the
14th-ranked Wolverines 63-61.

Charlotte nearly gave the game away, blowing a five-point lead in the
final minute when Michigan’'s Mitch McGary made a layup to tie the game at
61-61 with only eight seconds remaining.

But the 49ers quickly pushed the ball downcourt, where Terrence Williams
missed a layup but got his own rebound and put it back for the
game-winning basket with only 0.4 seconds left.

  PUERTO RICO TIP-OFF

GAME 12: CHARLOTTE VS. MICHIGAN 63-61  

Charlotte Coach Alan Major: “you almost don’t know what to say after that one; that was one of the most incredible basketball games I’ve ever been a part of. I just can’t say enough about these kids. Every game got sticky, all three games of this tournament got sticky. Teams have gone on runs and guys don’t come to the time outs with their heads hanging, they maintain their poise. The thing that’s been the most fun and encouraging for me to watch is just them coming together down here and being a team. It’s the hardest thing to do in sports these days is to legitimately root for the next guy on your team and not care what happens for you. They’re really trying to be a team so I’m just really thankful to God for them. They’re a tremendous bunch and they deserve this. A lot of conditioning in the fall, a lot of running and weight room stuff, everything that they’ve done – they deserve it. Hats off to this crew.”

“We just figured we’d let them play. Pierriά (Henry) did a good job of finding Terrence (Williams) on the back door, they do it all the time. Terrence just kind of had a nose for it, was almost probably shocked how open he was at first but he stayed with it and put the thing back in.”

Charlotte Guard Terrence Williams: “I saw Pierriά (Henry) driving down the lane, so I stepped down on the baseline and as he dumped it off to me I missed the layup. I just stayed with it.”

Michigan Coach John Beilein: “Well, another March game played in November. Charlotte was really good; I was really impressed with their personnel and defense. They played a terrific game. Pierriά Henry did a great job on Nik Stauskas. He’s a really, really good defender. I think he’s one of the best defenders in the Atlantic 10. We’re embracing this and saying, ‘What a great opportunity to grow?’ We had adversity tonight like we hadn’t had, and we just kept plugging away, it’s all good. I know that sounds crazy, but it’s all good to come into that environment, play as hard as we did and fight back to have a chance to win.”

“We had two starters out for most of the game. The first two fouls on Caris (LeVert) were a tough break for us, then Glenn (Robinson III) goes down, then we can’t make a shot. Here’s what I like: I like that Zak Irvin didn’t stop shooting even though he couldn’t make a shot, because he hit a huge one for us late and in the first half. So these are all things that I see positive from the loss.”

“Jordan Morgan went in there and played his tail off. He had five offensive rebounds, he worked so hard. He had a big bucket for us and made two huge foul shots. I’m really happy for him becauase finding playing time with Mitch in there is tough.”

“I don’t know if I’ve seen a better offensive rebounder in all these years. That kid (Willie Clayton) is unbelievable, number 21, Clayton.”

Michigan Guard Nik Stauskas: “The injury was tough, especially defensively, because they noticed it real quick and whoever I was guarding just started running around a bunch of screens. It was definitely difficult just to move around and put pressure on them, I was kind of limited.”

“We had to play solid defense, I think our big helped up a little bit and the guy (Terrence Williams) got an open layup. Luckily he missed it, but we couldn’t capitalize on a rebound and he put it back in on the buzzer.”

“We were right there at the end and gave ourselves an opportunity to win; it just didn’t work out for us.”

Michigan Forward Jordan Morgan: “We just take one possession at a time. We know it’s a game of runs and they’re going to go on their run, but there was a lot of time left. We just take it one play at a time, one stop at a time so we can have a chance at it.”

“I thought it was going in, I just wanted to be there in case the free throw did come off, and it did.

Photo Credit: ESPN/Phil Ellsworth

 

Resumen del segundo día del Puerto Rico Tip Off 2013

Seventh Annual Puerto Rico Tip-Off

November 21, 22, and 24, 2013

Coliseo Roberto Clemente, San Juan, Puerto Rico

www.PuertoRicoTipOff.com

For in-game statistics, please visit http://puertorico.statbroadcast.com.

Results & Schedules

Friday, November 22 Results & Schedule (daily attendance, 5,835)

·         Georgetown 90, Kansas State 63

·         Semi-finals, Charlotte 86, Northeastern 77

·         Semi-finals, Michigan 82, Florida State 80 (overtime)

·         VCU 73, Long Beach State 67

Sunday, November 24 Schedule                                                       Atlantic Time Tip-Off........ Network

·         Game No. 9 - Kansas State vs. Long Beach State                                 12:30 p.m........................ ESPN3

·         Game No. 10 - Georgetown vs. VCU                                                           3 p.m........................... ESPNU

·         Game No. 11 - Northeastern vs. Florida State                                         5:30 p.m......................... ESPN2

·         Championship, Game No. 12 - Charlotte vs. Michigan                          7:30 p.m......................... ESPN2

  

PUERTO RICO TIP-OFF

GAME 5: GEORGETOWN VS. KANSAS STATE 90-63

Georgetown Coach John Thompson III: “Yesterday was horrible, horrible. I don’t want to say that to take anything away from Northeastern, but yesterday was horrible. I thought we were pretty good today.”

“If you’re asking if we had a conversation last night, yes we did. I think, I hope, I pray, that today is more indicative of who we are. I thought that our overall attention to detail was much better today. Our overall willingness to help each other at both ends of the court was much better today. Our ability to do it for longer stretches in a possession, meaning defensively not breaking down after 10-15 seconds or offensively not looking to force something and just chuck up a long shot. Two much different games – obviously the outcome was much different, but I also think our mindset was much closer today to where it has to be.”

“When Josh Smith is in the game, we have an advantage in the paint. He’s someone that’s going to command attention. He’s an unselfish player, so when they double him, playing inside-out is something that we always want to do.”

“From their perspective, it’s good to see Thomas Gipson back on the court. He’s a presence down there, he’s poised, he takes his time. You watch the few tapes of them when he wasn’t playing and look at last year, they’re a much different team. Our post guys did a good job of putting pressure on him when he was on defense, our offensive end, but he is a very good player.”

Georgetown Guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera: “Taking that loss yesterday, it settled in with us not very well obviously. We went over the film and had to come in basically right after that and study Kansas State. Basically what we wanted to do was suck it up and come out with a win today. Unfortunately we had to suffer that loss yesterday, but that can’t be what motivates us to win games. We bounced back today and got the win.”

Georgetown Center Joshua Smith: “We knew we had to be more aggressive, but it was two different games. Yesterday Northeastern played a 3-2, Kansas State is more of a man team, which plays to our advantage with what we want to run. We knew going in we’d have to be aggressive and that it’d be a lot of one-on-one coverage. With me, you know, if you play me one-on-one, I’m going to be aggressive every time.”

Kansas State Coach Bruce Weber: “Obviously the start of the game really got us in a hole. You can’t do that against good teams and we caught them after a very tough loss. For them and their program, I’m sure they were a little extra motivated. They definitely played as well as they could. I thought they shot the ball better, picked on us with different people on the backdoors and the quick posts and things and spread us. We did compete and fight back to get it to 16-12, but boom right away they get it back up to where it’s double digits. You’re just fighting uphill the whole game. We have to play better, we don’t have much size and we’re going to have to do a better job of playing post defense. Because of their system, they’ve got you spread out so much, hopefully if we would have had a day or so prep we could’ve competed a little better, but we didn’t and got our butts spanked. Now you’ve got to deal with it and move forward.”

“The biggest issue with this team…I think determination, understanding what we are, all those things are important. We actually played better offensively and only got 63. We’re not shooting great – we shot less threes, I thought we were a little more patient, got to the free throw line a bit better, offensive rebounds – but at the same time we’ve got to play smarter. At the beginning it was very, very physical, and we didn’t deal with it very well. That’s where a lot of the turnovers came in and they got into transition. If you let them get into transition and they run their stuff, it puts you in a bind.”

“We’ll see what leadership is about and toughness and see if we can manage something out of the weekend.”

“They made some shots today. They made a couple runners, guys that never make those shots, and that’s their credit, some games are like that. They made the threes. You know, we talked about mixing it up, playing zone. We had one day prep against their stuff, some of our guys don’t even know what Princeton offense is. Our freshman, they’ve never seen this. They kind of got us anyway they wanted to and made shots. Northeastern got them tight and then they didn’t react to it very well. Today, we never got it over the hump to get them where they got out of rhythm.”

Kansas State Coach Thomas Gipson: “We’ve just got to stick together. Coach really harps on leadership. The older guys need to be better leaders for the younger guys, we’re kind of messing up on that. Right now we’re not a true team, we kind of play individually on the court. We still have time to bring it together before Big 12 play. We just have to use these losses as learning lessons for the future.”

PUERTO RICO TIP-OFF

GAME 6: CHARLOTTE VS. NORTHEASTERN 86-77

Charlotte Coach Alan Major: “Another hard fought game. These guys have really embraced the idea the farther away you get from home, the closer you’ve got to stay together. We told them Northeastern doesn’t go away. I mean, talk about a well-coached team. We knew that from last year playing them in Alaska. They just keep coming at you. It got sticky that in the second half and we didn’t come out with quite the pop that we did to start the game. The guys kind of re-energized themselves.”

“Very happy with this guy next to me here (Ben Cherry). It’s kind of like you can’t keep a good man down, and Ben’s hard on himself that he hadn’t shot it well up to this point. Very proud of him because he has just stayed after it. He’s been a wonderful addition to our team regardless if he makes a shot or not. So today, we just caught a good dose of gravy when he started knocking a few in. He’s been a team guy, a glue guy, wonderful human being, so I’m proud of Ben as well. But just a great team effort again everybody chipped in.”

“Hopefully we can continue the team effort trend, it makes us harder to prepare for. It’s not one or two guys that people have to put on a scouting report, put a circle around. The 17 assists to nine turnovers, I was happy with that as well. The scoring balance and that were the two biggest stats and then probably the free throws down the stretch, 22-28 was very good.”

Charlotte Guard Ben Cherry: “The guys that were already here are real experienced, so just being able to come into the mix with guys that have been in and won big games, that definitely is important. The cool part is there was a different lineup out there yesterday to finish the game. Then today, we went a little bit smaller and we were able to get five or six stops in a row and a bucket on the other side. So that’s a big confidence booster when you can finish games like that.”

“I’ve been watching my teammates shoot it well during the beginning of the season, so I’ve been trying to rub their hands trying to get some of that magic. Just a little bit. I just wanted one to fall. Definitely seeing them knock down shots, it’s like OK, it can happen, it should happen. It was definitely nice to have a few go in today.”

Northeastern Coach Bill Coen: “Charlotte played really, really well today. Unfortunately our zone wasn’t as effective today as it was yesterday. We allowed them to get off to a really hot start. They made great shots, kind of forced us out of the zone. In the second half, our man-to-man was much better. Coming out of the locker room we got back into the game. Unfortunately the story of the second half is we just left to many points on the free throw line. We got to the line and it was a competitive game, but we had a number of empty trips in a row and allowed them to get separation again. At that point, we were just a little too tired to make another run.”

“We’ve got to find a way to give him (David Walker) a blow, but he’s so important to what we do. It’s hard to find those minutes in competitive games. When you’re competing against the teams that are in this field, a short minute or two can really make a swing in the score board. So we’ve been pushing him a little bit, but hopefully he’ll get a good day’s rest and be ready to compete again on Sunday.”

“You’ve got to give a lot of credit to Charlotte, they played an excellent basketball game. Two of the things that kind of cover up some mistakes – our free throw shooting and three point shooting. I thought we did many of the other things in the game well, but we left some points on the free throw line. When you do that, you get exposed, you leave yourself open to games like this. In order to beat a quality opponent, you’ve got to make some threes and make your free throws down the stretch. To Charlotte’s credit they did that all afternoon.”

Northeastern Forward Scott Eatherton: “We try to get it down low a lot to me and Reggie (Spencer). When we get the ball we’re supposed to try to score, and then rebounding is just a given that’s what we’re down there for. I just try to get as many rebounds as I can.”

“I think we were in the game. Like what coach said, with the missed free throws. That really hurt us; that kind of brought us down. We’ve kind of been struggling a little bit the whole season. If we would have made those free throws, it would’ve given us a little extra energy and maybe the outcome would’ve been a little different.”

PUERTO RICO TIP-OFF

GAME 7: MICHIGAN VS. FLORIDA STATE 82-80 OT

Michigan Coach John Beilein: “For a November game, we’ve had a couple of these now this and the Iowa State game, it seemed like it was a playoff feel to it. Florida State – I’ve coached a lot of years, haven’t seen a team this efficient with that type of length with their guards, they’ve got a nice compliment between their guards and big guys. When you finish over Mitch McGary with ease when he’s bodying you up, that’s a talented, talented big guy. And several of them did it, so we were very fortunate to get that win and go on to the Championship game.”

“We made our own grave there. We came out all fired up and we didn’t get a couple breaks at the other end, a couple of loose balls and then we came down and really didn’t execute on offense. All the sudden you look and it’s 16 points. Jeff Meyer said in the huddle, ‘We’re not going to score 14 points in this one possession. It’s got to be two-by-two.’ We just worked at it and changed up some things we were doing and obviously we slowly crept into the game.”

“We were just trying to get Nik (Stauskas) the ball and make sure he had some space. Mitch (McGary) was going to give him a screen and play ball. There’s not enough time with 11 seconds to go, knowing how they were shutting down some things, we just tried to keep it real simple.”

“Today, there were several times that I was comfortable with both Nik (Stauskas), but then Glenn Robinson came up big for us, made some big shots…and Mitch (McGary) just gave us so much energy.”

“You know what was really fortunate is that Derrick Walton is the only one that hadn’t played in it that much before, but he was a warrior in it. I mean absolute warrior in it. That’s something you’ve got to have at the bottom of that. They scored a couple layups, but we didn’t want to give up any threes. It’s a difficult zone in that situation. With one day prep, I’m sure that Leonard (Hamilton), I mean what are you going to do with that? So that really helped us.”

Michigan Forward Mitch McGary: “I want to credit Florida State on their play. Tonight was a battle and I think we stuck together and showed our core values tonight.”

“We just didn’t want to go home with another loss on our chests. We came together as a team and before the game, the coaches made a great point for us to stay together. We fought through that adversity the whole time and possession after possession we got stops and it paid off in the end.”

“Going into halftime we were down 10, we still had a positive attitude towards the game. We knew we needed to get stops each possession, there’s not a 10-point basket where we can get right back in the game, we just had to grind it out each possession and that’s what we did.”

“I’m getting there, it’s a process, I can’t get back into shape overnight. I didn’t play as much last night, kind of saving me for tonight and it worked out. I felt good out there.”

“Going up against a team with such size and length –they’ve got 7’3 and 7’1 – I’ve never played against a team with two seven-footers, which is difficult. I think we did a good job, Glenn (Robinson III) and I, both on the glass with both (Jon) Horford and Jordan (Morgan). I kind of just boxed them out and had the guards clean-up for me, so it was a team effort.”

Michigan Guard Nik Stauskas: “Florida State played a great game. Especially in that first half, they were beating us pretty bad. I think it just says a lot about this team, how much we’re able to stick together, the fact that we were able to overcome that deficit and win in overtime.”

“Me and Mitch (McGary) were just going to run a screen-and-roll, I looked and the whole baseline was open so I kind of just rejected the screen. The middle was wide open, I got an open layup.”

“I think I got a couple good looks in the first half, they just didn’t go down. The second half I just got into a rhythm a little bit more, started being more aggressive and getting to the basket. Anytime you can get to the free throw line a lot it’s a good way to get easy points on the board and get your confidence up so that’s what my deal was in the second half.”

“Whatever the defense was going to give me, that’s what I was going to take. The lane was wide open, the baseline was wide open, so that was the best opportunity for me.”

Michigan Guard Derrick Walton Jr.: “We’ve been working on the one-three-one, we just thought it would work at that time. We went with it, trusted it, and it worked for us.”

“My teammates help me a lot; we stay together, they encourage me to be myself and be a leader of this team. I’m embracing the role and they’re helping a lot.”

Florida State Coach Leonard Hamilton: “There were about three things that happened in the game that really lead to our undoing. They beat us to about five loose balls that were 50-50 balls in critical parts of the second half, and they were just a little more aggressive. We stepped out of bounds three times, dribbled off our foot once, uncharacteristically. Not any fault of our players, just kind of the nature of the game. Sometime you run into a game and you have bad luck like that.”

“I kind of figured that coach would use the one-three-one tonight, and we worked on it a little bit this morning in our walkthrough in the ballroom. We had not spent a lot of time against the one-three-one. I thought our players were extremely tentative when they went to it. What we wanted was available for us, but I think you have to have repetitions going over schemes consistently in order for things that you have to do to become habit. It made us tentative, we we’re not nearly as aggressive.”

“They deserved the victory today. They did the things they needed to do to win the basketball game and I thought we came up just a little bit short.”

“Mitch McGary is obviously just an outstanding player. He didn’t do anything that surprised us, he’s just talented. He played like great players play, he played great basketball. He has not been playing much, he’s been recovering from his injury, but Mitch is a special, unique, extremely skilled big man that has a great future in the game of basketball. His strength is his basketball IQ. He makes great decisions with the ball, kind of like a point center. He not only performs at a high level himself, but he makes his teammates better. You have to give him a lot of credit for being a guy who’s a tough, skilled, smart basketball player. I wish he had missed a couple more games before he came back. He’s a handful. You can expect him not only to be successful in this tournament, but I think there will be a lot of other coaches feel just like I feel right now.”

“We knew that part of their scheme is that they drive baseline. They executed their offense better than we did our defense. That’s part of what they do, they drilled the baseline and they locate players on the other side. They’ve been doing that all year long, so it was no surprise. It’s just that our player looked at the screen just long enough for Stauskus to drive baseline.”

Resumen de lo sucedido en el NCAAM Puerto Rico Tip-Off

Puerto Rico Tip-Off

November 21, 22, and 24, 2013

Coliseo Roberto Clemente, San Juan, Puerto Rico

www.PuertoRicoTipOff.com

2013 Results & Schedule

November 21, 22 & 24 Tournament Results & Schedule (all tip-off times Atlantic)

Thursday, November 21 Results

·         Charlotte 68, Kansas State 61

·         Northeastern 63, Georgetown 56

·         Michigan 85, Long Beach State 61

·         Florida State 85, VCU 67

Friday, November 22 Schedule                                                        Atlantic Time Tip-Off.......... Network

·         Game No. 5 - Kansas State vs. Georgetown                                  1 p.m.......................................... ESPNU

·         Semi-finals, Game No. 6 - Charlotte vs. Northeastern               3:30 p.m.................................. ESPNU

·         Semi-finals, Game No. 7 - Michigan vs. Florida State                6 p.m..................... ESPN2 or ESPNU

·         Game No. 8 - Long Beach State vs. VCU                                       8:30 p.m..................................... ESPNU

Sunday, November 24 Schedule                                                      Atlantic Time Tip-Off.......... Network

·         Game No. 9 - Game 5 & 8 losers                                                    12:30 p.m.................................... ESPN3

·         Game No. 10 - Game 5 & 8 winners                                               3:00 p.m..................................... ESPNU

·         Game No. 11 - Game 6 & 7 losers                                                  5:30 p.m...................................... ESPN2

·         Championship, Game No. 12 - Game 6 & 7 winners                 7:30 p.m................................... ESPN2

PUERTO RICO TIP-OFF

GAME 1: CHARLOTTE VS. KANSAS STATE 68-61

Charlotte Coach – Alan Major

“It was really a hard-fought win. When we talked about, before the game, how physical it was going to be. Our mantra we’ve been chanting over-and-over is toughness. You’ve got to be mentally tough to deal with the ebbs and flows of the game and physically tough to deal with the intensity and the banging. And you’ve got to be team tough, dealing with calls and all that stuff. I thought the guys showed great toughness from beginning to end. That was a game of runs, both teams going at each other. Everybody that played chipped in; it was a great team effort.”

“We want to get Willie (Clayton) and Mike (Thorne Jr.) involved every game the best we can. I’m proud of those two, they put two halves together between them. We try to be an inside-out team, that’s part of our character.”

“We kind of got forced into a small lineup. It actually may have helped our flow a little bit, trying to get out and cover some three-point shots. Terrence (Williams) was playing a small forward/power forward, we had three guards in there. I just thought the guys did a nice job finishing. To go 14 of 18 from the foul line in the second half, that’s just a great sign of keeping your composure.”

“Kansas State is a great defensive team. I’ve known Bruce for a long time and knew that was part of their DNA to really get after it on defense.”

Charlotte Guard – Denzel Ingram

“We were going through a drought at one point, and I know that we needed a spark. Those loose balls, I was just trying to do whatever I could to get them. I knocked down that three and it really gave us a boost. We really got after them after that.”

“It gives us confidence. Kansas State is a really good team. It’s going to look good later on down the road and we are glad we beat this team.”

Kansas State Coach – Bruce Weber

“Charlotte played a good, well-rounded game; mixed their defenses, pounded the boards, got to the free throw line. For us, we didn’t start very well at the start of the second game or the start of the second half. Both times we came back, fought back; got a tie, took the lead in the first half, but never could get over the hump. They made the plays when it counted and we didn’t. They didn’t make many threes, but when they made them, they were big ones – kind of daggers. Obviously the boards were the big difference-makers. And the points in the paint, you’ve got both big guys with double-doubles, we knew that would be a factor. We can’t get little ticky-tack fouls because we need our big guys on the court. We had a lot of foul trouble and somehow we’ve got to see if we can change that.”

“I thought Nigel (Johnson) did a great job of giving us a boost both halves. He played with a lot of confidence, which was positive and allows us to put (Will) Spradling at the two and allows him to get some things done also.”

“We’ve got to fight on the boards, we’ve got to have five guys in there. We know we are a little under-sized, so it’s got to be team rebounding, it’s got to be important for us. The threes – I blame myself, the same as that Northern Colorado game. Start the second half, the first five possessions are threes. For the most part I thought four of them were good open shots, but we’ve got to get some inside touches.”

“There’s some calls I thought maybe we could’ve got, some things that didn’t go our way. We’ve got to play stronger, go to the basket stronger and box out stronger. Hopefully we’ll get the calls the next time.”

“Somehow, mentally and emotionally, they have to be ready to start the game. It can’t be fake emotion, it’s got to be real. We can’t let offense dictate it, we’ve got to have a defensive mindset from the get-go. That will keep us hanging around in games.”

Kansas State Guard – Nigel Johnson

“Their switches on defense, we prepared for it the last couple of days so we we’re ready for it. In a game is of course a little more difficult than in practice, but we were ready.”

“It’s good preparation for the rest of the year. We will be playing good teams like that all throughout the rest of the year, especially when we get to Big 12 play. You’ve got to come out ready, you can’t wait and try to warm up. You’ve got to come out ready to play or you can get down early like we did.”

PUERTO RICO TIP-OFF

GAME 2: NORTHEASTERN VS. GEORGETOWN 63-56

Northeastern Coach - Bill Coen: “I want to tell you how grateful we are to be invited to this tournament. We get the chance to compete against some of the very best competition in the country. I know our kids were extremely excited to play against a program such as Georgetown, which has such tremendous tradition and is an outstanding ball club.”

“In the first half we were a little bit awe struck. We had some turnovers that we don’t normally have and committed some fouls that put us in some rotation problems. Scott Eatherton and Reggie Spencer really battled back the second half, did a tremendous job on the boards and were able to carve out some space down low and get us some baskets when we really, really needed it.”

“They just have to have confidence in themselves and confidence in their teammates. Our (the coaches) work is done in practice, and when they get to the games they’ve got to communicate themselves and compete out there. We did a great job of playing together and making the adjustments on the fly.”

“Georgetown had 26 points at halftime on second-chance shots and turnovers. As soon as we started to eliminate the turnovers and get it into a half-court game it was good. We can’t match them athlete for athlete, we have to take care of the basketball and take those easy baskets off the table.”

Northeastern Forward Scott Eatherton: “We knew how big they were, we knew we had to use our quickness to get around them that was probably the biggest player I’ve ever played against. I got in foul trouble in the beginning of the game, so it was more of a team effort. Our guards helped us rebound and were right there pinching on their big guys in the bottom too.”

Northeastern Forward Reggie Spencer: “We never had doubt. In the beginning, we might have played a little timid, but after we got the nerves out we were good to go.”

Georgetown Coach John Thompson III: “This group quickly, quickly needs to figure out how to compete. We can sit and talk offensive systems, defensive systems, rotations, slides, everything – we have to compete. I thought we did a poor job of rolling up your sleeves and competing.”

“I know what Bruce Weber’s teams have traditionally done. We’ll start to hone in on Kansas State now.”

“The attempted zero threes in the second half. They decided to put their heads down and drive by us or throw it inside. When they drove by us, they got to the rim, and when they threw it inside, they scored.”

“Losing the rebounding battle is something I’m very disappointed about, it’s something that needs to change. That’s part of competing – rebounding. We have to get better at that.”

Georgetown Guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera: “I give them credit for the defense they played, but at the same time I feel like we in our offense we didn’t attack in our offense like we needed to. We were taking unnecessary shots early in the shot clock. It was all about execution and obviously the rebounds were not in our favor today.”

Georgetown Forward – Nate Lubick: “Give Northeastern all the credit in the world. We executed relatively well in the first half and then didn’t do what we need to do to win games in the second half. That really hurt us.”

PUERTO RICO TIP-OFF

GAME 3: MICHIGAN VS. LONG BEACH STATE 85-61

Michigan Coach John Beilein: “Long Beach State just wouldn’t go away. Dan (Monson) has been waiting for his guys to shoot the ball a little bit better and they shot it well in the first half. They hit six threes and were right there. Thank goodness we shot it even better than that.”

“You know at this time of the year, given the inexperience on both teams, there’s going to be runs. They made a great run, but then we picked up on the clock mistake and Nik (Stauskas) made a big, big shot. That’s probably one of our first big shots of the season, because it was going the other way quick. He made a huge one. That wasn’t part of a play; that was Nik doing what he does.”

“A couple of things we saw during their run – we thought our spacing was bad, it had crept back so we shrunk the court for them. We didn’t think we ran very well. And then our defense at times, it was just really bad. We just showed a lot of inexperience.”

“I wouldn’t say Nik (Stauskas) has taken over, but when we feel he’s got it going…in the last couple games he did a good job. We’ve got a set of plays we run through him, and what I like is he’s finding open people. I don’t think he forced a shot today.”

Michigan Guard Caris LeVert: “We did a great job the second half of really pulling away, they played well the whole game though. I think our defense really helped us get the win.”

“I think I rushed some shots against Iowa State. I watched a lot of film and got a lot better from that. We played a lot better today.”

“I think we’re getting better at closing out games, each game we get more experience.”

Michigan Guard Nik Stauskas: “You’ve got to give a lot of credit to Long Beach State. They gave us a really good game today, they were really competitive with us. Like Caris (LeVert) said, I think we did a really good job in the second half. That last 10 minute stretch we really just pulled away and took the game away.”

“Guys were just doing a really good job of getting into the lane and finding me when I was open. Caris (LeVert) and Glenn (Robinson III) had a couple of really good passes to me today. Anytime I can get open shots, I hope I can knock them down.”

“Trey (Burke) was National Player of the Year so, and Tim (Hardaway, Jr.) was a first round pick so it’s kind of tough to replace that. Me and Caris (LeVert) put in a lot of time this off-season working out. We’re just trying to do our best and we’re just happy we have this opportunity right now.”

Long Beach State Coach Dan Monson: “This is our third BCS game – Kansas State, Arizona and Michigan – we’ve just got to be able to take scouting reports and be able to disrupt somebody and not get people comfortable right out of the gate so easy. Part of it today was my fault, I tried to start in a triangle and two on Stauskas and LeVert and then Robinson III and Walton Jr. hit threes. Right out of the gate, they’ve got two guys who had been struggling a bit in a rhythm.

“We’ve been playing from behind so much in these games, you’ve got to hang in for your opportunities. We fought back and got it to seven I think in the first half and then once again in the second half, but then we made a lot of mistakes and beat ourselves. You can’t do that against a great team like this. They have so many weapons offensively and we just didn’t have an answer to slow them down on the offensive end of the floor.”

“These tournaments have always produced improvement for us, and that’s really important. You know, I’m not in Vegas, but I don’t think the odds of us winning this tournament were quite what they were a couple years ago when we were in there with some other teams. This is about us getting better for March.”

“We haven’t had a winning season in seven years, since I’ve been at Long Beach State, in the pre-season. We have had the No. 1 RPI January 1^st the last three or four seasons, just playing tough teams. Every year the last three we’ve been able to win our league by getting better at this time. So it truly is a preseason for us right now. We’ve got to get better tomorrow and if we play even better than that on Sunday, then we’ll have an opportunity.”

GAME 4: FLORIDA STATE VS. VCU 85-67

Florida State Coach – Leonard Hamilton: “I thought our effort tonight was a result of the healthy respect that we have for the VCU program. They’ve done a tremendous job over the last four or five years – how they have branded themselves and how well they have played in tough situations. Evaluating them and trying to come up with a game plan, we knew we had to be at our very best in a lot of areas. We’ve been averaging close to 20 turnovers a game, and that’s one of those fundamental basketball daemons we’re still trying to overcome. But I thought we made up for it with our effort, playing through each other with unselfish spirit and fighting on the boards.”

“We came in here averaging 86 points a game, so I think we were both kind of playing at the same pace. We’ve got a reputation of being a defensive team, but what we’ve done is try to play to the talent that we’ve had. No we have a little different team and we’re trying to utilize the strengths of our basketball team.”

“Anytime you press as aggressive as they are, you live up some opportunities. I thought our guys took advantage of the opportunities that we had.”

“Most of the teams that are rated high this early in the season, they are rated for what they did last year. And so, quite naturally, we have been playing very good basketball for four years, we had to start over and regroup last year and weren’t quite as successful, so we get recognized for what we did last year. VCU went to the Sweet 16 and had a great season last year, so they’re getting their recognition. That’s one thing good about college basketball; you have the chance to earn your rightful place. That’s what our goals are right now. It’s too early to think about rankings, we try to keep it in perspective. We want to be in the power place at the end of the season. This is one victory, one game, and we’ve got a whole lot more to go.”

“Michigan is a very good basketball team, there’s no question about that. They have all the ingredients of being able to get back to the Final Four again. For us, it’s just part of the kind of teams we face night-in and night-out anyway, so it can’t do anything but help us prepare for the ACC race playing against competition like Michigan.”

Florida State Guard – Ian Miller: “Since I’ve been here, we’ve been averaging about 20 turnovers a game. It something we’ve got to keep working on, but we just keep finding ways to get it back on defense or come down the next possession and fix the problem.”

“I think we can average a lot more points if we don’t have those turnovers in games. We need to slow it down a bit, take our time and think things through sometimes. We get a bit sped up, but we’ll learn. We’re young and we’re still finding ourselves.”

VCU Coach – Shaka Smart: “Congratulations to Florida State, I thought they played a great game. There players were very aggressive and overall they were obviously a much better team, tonight. I thought for us this was definitely a wakeup call or realization that we can’t just take the floor and be who we want to be, we’ve got to make it happen. We’ve got to get back to being more aggressive, but also playing with better discipline. We turned them over 25 times, which is great, but we did a very poor job of defending on all the other possessions. That’s something that we’re going to work hard to address and get better at.”

“It’s a classic case of allowing our offense to affect our defense. We had some really good looks early in the game that just didn’t go in – wide open threes, some shots around the basket. There’s going to be nights like that, but the good teams keep playing, the good teams stick to the process that brings them success. Part of that process is all the things that go into getting them stops on the defensive end. We did not do that tonight.”

“Florida State was the more aggressive team, they were really highly motivated, they were talking more, they were more connected as a team – all the thing that we pride ourselves on they had the edge in tonight. That obviously showed on the scoreboard.”

VCU Guard – Rob Brandenberg: “We’ve just got to get ready for tomorrow for the next game. That was probably one of the toughest of my college career, but like coach said we’ve just got to move on and learn from it. The best teams respond. It isn’t going to be perfect, but we’ve just got to come back tomorrow and fight.”

“At the beginning of the game things weren’t going our way offensively and we weren’t playing with that cohesiveness. We weren’t connected out there, we weren’t playing as a unit. Some guys started focusing on themselves.

 PUERTO RICO TIP-OFF

GAME 8: VCU VS. LONG BEACH STATE 73-67

VCU Coach Shaka Smart: “I thought it was a hard fought win, these guys next to me did a great job providing senior leadership and making big plays down the stretch. We did not shoot the ball particularly well, so that really kept us from extending our lead as much as we wanted to, but we got some stops down the stretch. They threw some tough shots in that made it tougher, but these guys did a nice job.”

“Defense is 90 percent want to and 10 percent technique and scouting report and all that stuff. I think our want to got better down the stretch in that game and we did a nice job following the plan.”

“Juvonte (Reddic) is a really good player. I think the foul trouble in some of our earlier games frustrated him along with some of our other guys. This new foul dynamic is very, very challenging for a player and a coach because it’s so different from game-to-game. We had a foul to give at the end of that. There’s been a lot of halves earlier this year where the other team’s been into the bonus five minutes, eight minutes into the game or the second half. Juvonte stayed out of trouble for the most part, which really helped. It was a big point of emphasis for us to get him the ball. He led us in shot attempts which is a great thing. If you add up the shot attempts from Juvonte and Rob (Brandenburg) plus Melvin (Johnson) and Treveon (Graham), who are our four best scorers, those guys shot 51 out of 63 attempts which is really good. Those are the guys we want shooting the ball.”

“He (Briante Weber) did a nice job running the team, a good job getting these guys the ball, that’s his job as point guard. We don’t need him to score a lot of points, tonight he scored 15. He hit some nice pull-ups, he’s good at that. Three for four from the line, rebounded the ball well. I thought he really lead the way defensively for us. He’s just an energy guy that basically is a spark behind our defense. He was huge tonight and played big minutes.”

“It’s a challenge guarding those guys. Georgetown’s offense is very exact, very precise and they cut hard. This is going to be our third game in four days so we’re going to have to really be disciplined and on our stuff to defend them. But hopefully some of the things that we do will be challenging for them.”

VCU Forward Juvonte Reddic: “Coach Smart talked to me before the game. He’s been doing a good job telling me to look past the play that just happened, you know if I make a bad shot or have a foul called on me, I just need to move on, forget about it and worry about the next thing. He’s been telling me since the first game of the season. I’m starting to understand it and it’s really helping me out.”

VCU Guard Rob Brandenberg: “I was just trying to stay aggressive and help my team anyway I can. Briante (Weber) was finding me all game, so I just wanted to make sure I was shot-ready and attacking, putting pressure on their zone. I wasn’t really thinking this is what we need to do, but I realized we had to play with some urgency at that time. It worked out.”

Long Beach State Coach Dan Monson: “I thought we controlled tempo and were able to dictate the game for about 35 minutes, but we got up eight, then missed a three and they went on an 8-0 run. That’s all it took, two or three minutes against a team that dangerous, that explosive. Our margin for error was very small and we used it in three minutes and just couldn’t get the rebound or the next play to get back in it. We had to play with the lead at the end there. That little spurt, we had to play from behind and all the sudden we couldn’t get a rebound. It was unfortunate because I thought our guys battled, I thought they did everything we asked them to do game plan wise. I played guys more minutes, you know Mike Caffey never came out and I think became a factor also.”

“What an opportunity, we’re going to get pressed all year and we came here to get better. What an opportunity to play against the best press in America. It is. Our guys, we can’t simulate it in practice so we need to take advantage of these two hours, so when we get to league we’re better against a press.”

“The problem with the press, if you don’t attack it, it gets suffocating. I thought our guys made good decision on when to attack. We took a couple threes in the first half and I said we’ve got to have a paint touch if we’re going to attack the press, but I thought they did a good job of attacking but not getting sped up into mistakes. The biggest misnomer is you think break the press when you’re over half court and you think you’ve got it done. Then you make a ball handling mistake trying to convert it. I thought they did a really good job keeping it simple at the end of the press. We missed a couple bunnies in that 8-0 run that really hurt us. We came here to get better, we came here to trust each other and it was a good step today.”