UNCG Head Coach Mike Jones reflects on the 110-64 loss to NC State.
NOTE: Click the video above to watch the press conference.
Opening statement...
First of all, I'd like to just thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for just waking me up this morning. Allowing me to be the coach of this team and to be involved in college basketball and be in the lives of a lot of these young men.
As far as the game was concerned, it was fun for a while. And then it wasn't. I thought it was a ball game probably for about 25 minutes, maybe 27 minutes. I think they had increased the lead by one at the first media timeout in the second half, and then the rest of it was a blur.
We've seen this before with us defensively. We just were not attentive to details and they were able to exploit it. They got some really good players. Will is a really good coach, I know personally, and just watching what he's been able to do with this team in such a short amount of time, the talent that he's been able to put on the floor is impressive. And they were really impressive during that stretch, I would say, from the first media timeout to about the eight minute mark in the second half. And that was the ball game.
Coach, I just wanted to ask you your perspective on the scuffle there in the first half and what the explanation was from that.
Yeah, those guys were fired up to play at the beginning of the game. There was a little bit of jawing going on right from the beginning. I asked Copeland what that was about. He said something about, you said I couldn't shoot. It wasn't me, I wasn't talking to him.
But I just thought the competitive juices were flowing with them right from the beginning. And when they came to the bench, the coaches told me that number five, Holloman, I think his name is, had hit one of our players. And so I guess the tape revealed that. I didn't see the tape, but they ended up ejecting him and giving a technical to Copeland. But yeah, it was just, I think our guy just fouled somebody on a three.
So I was busy correcting him politely. And the next thing I know, I was getting pushed from behind. And so it's just competition, it's what it is. I mean, guys get into it a little bit. The juices flow a little bit. Sometimes you do things from an emotional standpoint. I think that's all it was. I don't think there were bad kids or anything like that. I think it was just an emotional reaction.
Coach, I just wanted to ask you, obviously your relationship with Will Wade goes back quite a while, kind of how this game came together. But what does that relationship mean to you? And how much have you seen Will Wade grow as a coach over the years?
Yeah, it's been incredible. I think Will was the youngest guy on our staff at VCU. And just to see where he is now and in charge of a program like this is really impressive. But he was always super smart. It was a competition, who was smarter, him or Shaka? And they each thought that they were. But they were really just highly intelligent people who work really hard, and that's why they're successful. And I was just lucky to be a part of that staff.
But Will's an amazing human being. He cares about people. He's a tough coach. He's become really a good coach. And I'm just really happy for him and his success.
And coaching here in North Carolina, I'm sure you watched Paul McNeil a couple times before today. Just your thoughts on his growth and what you saw from him tonight, too.
Yeah, I saw him a little bit in high school. But he's become an elite shooter, I think. And he's got great size for his position. So that makes him really dangerous. And I'm just happy to see him flourishing and playing well. It's always good. Hoop State is a thing around here. And when you get a player from North Carolina that has that kind of success, man, you just root for him.
NC State beat ya’ll in the paint, 42 to 8. Yep. How much was that size mismatches or just overall effort?
Yeah, I thought that they were tougher than us. I thought their tough players were tougher than our tough players. That made a big difference at halftime.I think that number was 20 in the paint. And a lot of it was offensive rebounding. But in the second half, it was everything, the damn bust.
And they were able to just get whatever they wanted in the paint. It was offensive rebounds. It was drives to the basket.It was throwing it in and backing a guy down. So just a little bit of everything at that point, and that's us. We're not a mature basketball team yet. We've got so many new guys and so many young guys that are trying to figure out what we do and how we do it and how to do it in college basketball.
And this is a team of veterans. Those guys, four of the five starters, I think, were seniors.And they played a lot of college basketball. And they just took it to us.
Got a couple of games against Power Conference this year to start. What do you think that's going to do for you guys down the stretch as you prepare?
Yeah, I mean, like I told the team, there's no doubt when we are locked in and focused and doing what we're supposed to do that we can compete with anybody. But right now, it's for 20 minutes or 25 minutes. It's not for 40. And the goal at the end of the season is to be able to compete against anybody for 40.
So hopefully, they see that. Like I said, I joked at the beginning, the game was fun for a while. But then it wasn't. And then because it wasn't in the second half, it feels like you didn't really accomplish anything. And they've got to understand from watching film and from just remembering this experience, things that they did right. And we're going to accentuate those things.
And then those ones that we didn't, we've got to fix them. But against Kansas State and against NC State for a while, I mean, we're able to be competitive. But our competitive spirit has to last for 40 minutes.
