POSTGAME: Dorn, Johnson Discuss UMKC Win

NC State guards Markell Johnson and Torin Dorn met with the media after the 88-69 win over UMKC.

Guard Torin Dorn
On playing in Reynolds Coliseum...
“I loved it. I love playing at Reynolds. It’s one of the best atmospheres in college basketball. I love PNC (Arena) too, but Reynolds is very special, and it’s more intimate.”

On setting goals for himself going into a game...
“I just want to play as hard as possible. I pride myself on playing extremely hard and giving it all I have, so I go into every game trying to be the best rebounder and doing all the little things to help the team win. Just work has hard as possible.” 

On what was working at the end of the first half...
“We were just playing hard on defense and our defense is turning into offense. We were getting easy baskets and getting to the rack. Like Markell (Johnson) said, he’s been getting more aggressive, and we’ve been getting on to him to get more aggressive, and I’m really proud of Markell in that regard. He really sparked us in that first half today.” 

Guard Markell Johnson
On what Torin Dorn’s rebounding performance did for the team’s energy...
“It gives us a lot of energy with Torin playing the four position. His offensive and defensive rebounds gave us a good boost.” 

On his scoring ability today...
“(I’m) just playing with more confidence. My teammates are talking to me a lot before the game telling me if I go under screens to shoot the ball and to start playing with confidence, and that’s what I did today.”

On the team’s second half struggles...
“They just came out playing harder than us. That was it. We should’ve come out with a lot more energy, just like in the first half, but we didn’t.”