NC State head coach Will Wade met with the media to discuss the 77-76 loss to Miami (Fl.).
NOTE: Click the video player above to watch the full press conference!
On his takeaway in the last minute...
Just pour execution on our part, get a 7 point lead, get an and one, can't get the ball inbounds, throw it to the corner twice, guards don't come get open in the middle of the court. Just a 6 minute game, we played one yesterday, we just didn't execute, we didn't execute, we didn't execute, you deserve the results that you get.
After the first turn over there, is there any thought process to calling a timeout and trying to give them a second to breathe and try to figure out a play out of that one?
Probably, we probably should have, but we work on that every day. Every day we go over the press offense, where we want to throw the ball, how we want to get open, we work on that every day.
But, after we were rattled, we didn't want to throw it to Ven in the corner, so after we were rattled in the first one, hindsight, we probably should have, but we work on that we shouldn't need to call timeouts on that.
And just your thoughts on the Darrion Williams foul at the very end there?
I haven't seen it yet, so I don't know.
But with a game like this, how can you keep the group together? What is another tough game coming up on Tuesday?
We'll pick up tomorrow and get back to work. I'm disappointed in our effort today, come back and off of what happened on Monday, to play like that, just, I could see it coming. I could see it coming at this point.
You have a game like this that's closed the entire time, that kind of mimics what you see in the NCAA tournament, how can you use this as a learning experience?
Shoot, we're a long way from the NCAA tournament. This team, shoot, lost to Georgia Tech. I mean, damn, you're skipping way ahead worrying about the NCAA tournament. Let's hope we can get to Dayton.
You talked about the struggles there in the second half, but it did seem like after the technical foul for Darrion Williams, that the team did show a lot of fight up until the last 52 seconds. Just your thoughts on the way the team responded?
We gave up 20 offensive rebounds. I don't think we responded very well much, I mean, I don't see a whole lot of positives. We lost the game, when we we're up seven with a minute and six seconds left. Poor coaching, poor coaching, on my part that we couldn't bring that home.
We pride ourselves on it, we looked like Keystone Cops today out there at the end of the game. I mean, but, we missed the front end of the one-on-one, same situation we had at SMU, but we make a big defensive stop.
That stuff always comes back to bite you, stuff always comes back to bite you. And we don't have the discipline to understand that right now, and we're not. So that's why we're going to be on the bubble the rest of the year.
You mentioned discipline and disappointment. How do you get the players to maybe play with more physicality? They were mentioning the lack of physicality and toughness down the stretch. How do you get that to flip?
That's just who we are. We're soft, we're a jump shooting team, that's who we are as a group. I'm not saying we've got soft players, but that's who we are as a group. We're just a jump shooting team, and I've had to embrace that.
Miami, they have an identity. They're going to bludgeon you in the paint, they're going to be physical. They have an identity. We have no identity. That's an indictment on this guy right here. We have no identity outside of making jump shots.
And that's a bad, bad way to have to play. We gave up 26 offensive rebounds at Pittsburgh, we gave up 20 offensive rebounds today. Tuesday, they'll be able to pick how many offensive rebounds they get. Just pick a number, pick it. I mean, it's a tough way to play. We gave up.
We spent all week working on free throw blockouts, because they'd get one and a half a game. They got three on us today, at least three, three that I can remember. Man, I have more. I have to go back and look. But they got at least three. I mean, it's just who we are as a group, and unfortunately, we can't change it.
Can you find an identity at this point outside of the jump shots?
Man, it's pretty late in the season. Time is tickin’.
Will, you mentioned the points in the paint. You gave up 56, obviously.
Reneau, that's what it's supposed to look like now. That's what they're supposed to look like, what Reneau did. That's what it's supposed to look like. I’m sorry you can finish your question.
Oh, I was just going to ask if you had, like, obviously, you knew that they were elite inside. Was there a specific number that you were hoping to maybe stay under?
54, I guess. But I mean, no. But I mean, look, the closer you get into the basket, the more you can offensive rebound, the more other things can happen. Just want to keep it out of there, but we haven’t been very good at that all year.
I'm not trying to moral victory, but you had a great crowd tonight, and they were really highly energetic. And this is kind of the basketball they've been pining for. How neat was it to play a meaningful game in front of a great crowd?
The crowd was great. I'm so disappointed for our home fans, man. We lost three ACC games in a row. That's embarrassing. It's embarrassing. I can't remember the last time one of our teams lost three conference games in a row.
We can go look it up, but we may never have lost three conference games in a row, anywhere we've been. It'd be hard for us to find a year we've lost three conference games at home.
Maybe, maybe, maybe one other year in 12 years. Our fans are so much better, the effort and what we do. And our fans are, our fans are top 10 in the country.
We're not, we're not, we're not paying that back.It's disappointing. It's disappointing. Yeah, try to pay it back. But the crowd was awesome.
What's your thoughts on Matt Able's game today? Yeah, I thought about the fact that he's been close.
Yeah, I thought Matt was really good. Had a great first half. Made some big plays in the second half, in the second half as well. He's coming along. He's doing a good job. Really, really coming along. Really proud of him.
He does play with some toughness. He does play with an edge. He's got some good stuff to him. And so, very, very, very pleased with him.
How hard was it with that rotation side of Matt Able? Kind of, quick in the first half, then Paul McNeil obviously, getting hot in the second.
Yeah, I mean, it's a good problem to have. It's a good problem to have. We need both those guys to play well.
How do you get over this loss? Do you?
Well, we got another game Tuesday. Important one. So, hopefully, hopefully, they'll get past it a lot quicker than I will. This doesn't sit well with me for a lot of reasons. I don't want to get into it in here. This doesn't sit well with me.
And I could see some of this coming. If you've asked our guys and they were honest, some of the guys who made some major mistakes for us down the stretch, I called out in practice the last two days. I could see the slippage. I could see this coming. I could see multiple guys who didn't play well today. I could see them not playing well.
He was in practice yesterday. I was nose to nose with one of them who didn't play well. I could see it coming. It's like reading a coloring book. So easy to read. And we just got some guys like that. They're easy to read.
And, so, I mean, it's, it's disappointing, but just kind of who we are. And so I've tried to embrace it. I kind of rode the wave when we were winning. It really wasn't exactly what I wanted to do. I just kind of rode the wave because we were winning.
And I knew when you start playing tougher competition, that stuff doesn't work. When you play tough physical teams, that stuff doesn't work. And hopefully, I mean, I guess what you're asking for, maybe they'll realize that some of what we say, when you get in these games, all that stuff makes a difference. And we just, we have very poor attention to detail.
