USF Men's Basketball
USF vs. WVU
Jan. 13, 2009
Postgame Quotes
USF Head Coach Stan Heath
Opening statement…
"Well, I thought we saw two different teams from first half to second half. The first half team I thought we guarded really well and played well as a team and steered the ball. They tried to make simpler plays out on the court. I think the second half team didn't really play team basketball. We were very individualistic, we were trying to go one on five, we forced a lot of offense, and like most teams when all of a sudden your offense starts struggling, all of a sudden you start having some break downs on your defensive end. That was really the tale of the second half. We give West Virginia a lot of credit. They stuck with what they were doing. They continue to make things hard in the lane. If we were to have any chance at all it we had to rebound. We could just not keep them off the glass. It seemed like every time there was a 50-50 play with the ball lose they came up with it. Those are two areas that we have to do a better job at, not just in this game but in all of our games."
On more players stepping up…
"Well, I think the assist thing is deceptive. I do think that we forced a lot of shots and went one on five a bit. I also thought there was quite a few times where we kicked it out and didn't make it either. I think those mid shots, if they go in then you are probably talking about four or five more assists. We do have to have a second and third option out there that can pick up a scoring slack. It's too good of a league to try to beat people at this caliber with one player. The best recipe is to have multiple players in double figures. Early in the season, when we got into the gate strong that's what was happening. We were getting four or five guys with multiple figures. Lately, in last couple games, that hasn't happened. I think in fairness to our team, and I'll take some of the blame for this, but the Syracuse game was a monster trip. To come back at 1:30 in the morning, then we tried to go hard two days in a row, I probably wasn't the smartest guy. I need to probably give our team a little time away just to get their legs. We were a flat dead team in the second half and you can't play that way."
On how the team played in the second half…
"Well, the thing I am really angry about is that in the second half the fact that we were really selfish and we gave up on some of the battles that we needed to fight, and those are just two things that aren't acceptable. So that's something that we are going to address in a big way tomorrow when we get together."
USF Guard Dominique Jones
On if his offensive struggle in the second half…
“I think I got some good shots that went in and out. I think they had Mazzulla face guard me then they had the other players jumping as soon as I went past him, so they made it tougher. I think they did a real good job at bringing the help.”
On what West Virginia did differently when they went on their run…
“I think it was us. I think everybody got a little bit excited and wanted to do their own thing. That just took us out of our flow. They got the momentum and just ran off with the game from there.”
WVU Head Coach Bob Huggins
On how WVU stopped USF's opening run ...
"We put Joe Mazzulla in. He [Dominique Jones] is a really good player, he's very hard for one guy to guard. We talked for two days about how we have to gang guard him. We have to help on him. When Mazzulla went in, he did a better job on the ball and we did a better job of helping."
On Devin Ebanks ...
Devin is a guy who understands how to play. He really plays well out of the flow of the game. When he tries to force things or make things happen out of the flow of the game, he's not very effective. I've just been talking about, just do what you do, just get things out of the flow of the game. He made two great reads and got layups. He has to get angles to get to the basket and when he does, he has such great length that he can put it on the rim. He's really started to rebound the ball. He's a guy who could legitimately average double-figure rebounds.
On how the Mountaineers prepare for a potential trap game ...
"The way we've played in the last four or five games, I don't know we could worry about this being a trap game. We haven't played very well. We got down by 20 at Notre Dame, and we didn't play well at Purdue. We're just trying to get it going again."
On the turning the game around in the second half ....
I was just so frustrated at half time. He [Jones] is a heck of a player, but 19 is a lot of points and 19 out of 30 is really a lot of points. We did in the second half what we were supposed to do the whole game.
