LOCKER ROOM REPORT: Yurtseven, Freeman, Johnson on Wake Win
Omer Yurtseven, Al Freeman, and Markell Johnson met with the media after the Wolfpack's 90-84 win over Wake Forest.
Sophomore Center Omer Yurtseven
"As I said, this is a team that has mental toughness. That's the best way to take tonight."
"After you get a win, you go back and get ice cream. It's just nice. I feel like it's a small reward we get, but that's not the big award. The big award that we're looking for is going to the NCAA Tournament."
"I think he has a history of doing it."
"Beating the teams at their home is hard. They have the crowd on their side, but today I felt like there were more State fans. I would say 50-50, not to offend Wake Forest fans."
"Winning on the road is always important because it builds confidence."
"I don't think you can compare the teams. The coaching staff, the whole mentality, the whole atmosphere around the program has changed. I don't think you can compare the two."
Senior Guard Al Freeman
"We have to do a better job of finishing out the game, but I thought we did a great job of not letting missed free throws and offensive rebounds really deflate us. We were able to pick up the win. We're happy about it."
"You have to prepare to win. We lost some tough games, but the season isn't over. We went to practice the next day, watched film, and prepared for the next opponent."
"The scout team pushed us and the coaches gave us great scouting reports. We wanted to execute to the best of our abilities."
"I feel like we were playing the same way we have all year... every game we want to drive on closeouts and when we get in the paint we want to make plays for each other."
"That's everybody's mindset. Every team goes into the game preparing to play as hard as they need to do to win."
"6-0, that's our goal."
"A lot of rebounds came our way. Our bigs did a great job of boxing out the other bigs. Their guards didn't fly in so I was able to crash and get rebounds."
"We don't want to give teams offensive rebounds and second-chance points."
"If we can continue to get better that means we aren't done, we haven't reached our peak. We're trying to keep it rolling."
"We're just hooping. There isn't much to it. Just go out there, defend, shoot, the ball goes in, and we'll try to keep them from scoring. The game is pretty simple."
"A win is a win. We always try to learn lessons from wins."
Sophomore Guard Markell Johnson
"We came out with the mindset that we were going to come out and win, come out and defend."
"We knew it would be kind of tough coming in, so we just pulled it out."
"We know that every win is key for us. The goal is to win out."
"One of the assistants called out that we could get any shot that we want, throw it down low, and play inside-out."
"Coming back and winning two straight... we have to keep it rolling, take it one game at a time."
"We all have to practice free throws. I missed a couple. It's probably because of my shoulder though. My shoulder is kind of messed up."
"Coming in with a whole new staff, we're trusting each other."
"A big difference, as you guys can see. We're 8-6 in the ACC, I think we were last, last year."
"It's a win that we needed. Every game we want to win. Coming off the game from Syracuse, we had to win."
"I just go out there and play as hard as I can."
"In the first half [Crawford] got a lot of easy buckets, transition, split a couple of screens. We had to tighten up, dig in and lock up. That's that."