Danny Manning: "They Didn't Feel Us Enough"
Wake Forest head coach Danny Manning met with the media after his team's 91-82 loss to NC State.
NOTE: Click the video above to watch the press conference.
Opening Statement...
"First of all, I would like to open up the press conference by saying our thoughts and prayers are with Jericole (Hellems) and his family. Whenever you see someone stretchered off the court and take that amount of time to secure him properly it's always scary, so our thoughts and prayers are with him. Tonight for us, our early turnovers led to a lot of fast break points for them. We turned the ball over 19 times and it led to a lot of pick-six opportunities for them. We forced 17 turnovers, but our turnovers didn't equate to as many of those pick-six opportunities until later. And then the offensive glass, they hurt us on the offensive glass with their second chance points and we have to do a much better job of not allowing 12 offensive rebounds over the course of the ball game."
On contesting NC State's three point shots...
"They didn't feel us enough, especially in the first half. They shot a high number in the second half, but we did too. Both teams shot the ball well from the field, they just shot it better than us. For us, we needed to have better ball pressure, hand to the face, contest little more, to discourage that confidence level starting out that high shooting beyond the arc."
On turnovers and being beaten on the offensive glass...
"I think both of them are concerning because you're going to be playing games. You need to take care of the ball and rebound the basketball. We'll go back and look at the film. We've had opportunities to get the glass too. With 20 offensive rebounds combined for both teams with the way that both teams shot the ball, they're weren't that many opportunities to go and get the rebound."
Having 10 assists on 27 shots...
"You can't get an assist unless you make a bucket. We had some open opportunities and guys with good looks and we just didn't get them to fall. That's just part of the game to navigate and find ways. We did a good job at getting to the free-throw line, but we got to continue to put pressure on teams, especially when you miss a couple shots in a row and get the ball below the free-throw line. There were quite a few time tonight where we got the ball where we wanted to and we've played two games in a row against two great shot blockers who got over their average in blocked shots. We have to do a better job at making decisions below the free-throw line, [either by] pulling up before we get to the shot blocker and shooting it or dishing it out and we force help. Those are also breaks for us as well. When you look at it, those turnovers and those blocked shots turned into pretty much the same in my mind as a coach."
On status of Chaundee Brown...
"He's suited up, he's out there playing, and when you go out there there's no excuses, you gotta find a way. Now, does he need to find a way to get back in his rhythm? Absolutely. Will this week of practice help us? Absolutely. For us, the break in our schedule comes at a great time. Coming off this trip, we've got some days now back in the gym and practice to tighten up some things that we need to tighten up."
On playing early ACC games...
"Based upon my first five years here, yes. Based upon where the league is going, we gotta get used to it."
On Brandon Childress's performance...
"You look at Brandon's stat line and he shot the ball at an incredibly high clip.. I don't know about the balance part. As I said, we shot the ball at 52%. We had opportunities too and we cashed in over half of ours. They also shot 52% they just made more than us, so for us defensively we have to do more to discourage that from happening."