George Washington University Athletics
Post-Game Quotes
1/17/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
On the inability to score for long stretches in many of the team's
losses.
"It's a combination of things. We go dry offensively for times, we turn
the ball over, and gave up some really easy scoring opportunities in
transition...it's a lot of different things. And of course the caliber
of teams [we've played]. All of those teams are pretty good basketball
teams. Sometimes you have to give the other team credit for what they
do, but we also had some pretty good runs on them when they didn't do
anything. It's part of basketball."
On the controversial last few seconds of the game
"There was a play at the end of the game where the official was standing
out of bounds, and the Xavier player dribbled into him, which was out of
bounds. And he didn't blow the whistle. I couldn't understand it. It
was a very crucial play at the end of the ballgame...But we didn't lose
the game because of officiating. That particular play is totally
inexplainable to me, but it is awfully difficult when the other team
goes to the foul line 50 times and you have a chance to win...When
you're in your own building and you go to the line 8 times, and the
other team goes 50, it's hard to swallow."
"Maybe we're not as good as Xavier at this point, which is OK. I didn't start off the season saying that we're the best team in the league. I think they're a very good ballclub. We played them tough, we played well enough to win. With a bounce here, a call there at the end of the ballgame, we might have been able to pull it out. But we didn't."
"The kids are playing so hard and they're giving it everything they have. They're a good bunch of kids and they hung together. I hope they continue to do that. I don't see any signs that they won't. There's no give up in this ballclub. There were some very bright spots out there tonight....a lot of gutting it out, a lot of chances to quit and we didn't quit."
"This is the best half-court defensive team that we've had. They've played it that way all year long. Teams like St. John's, Maryland, and [UNC-] Charlotte...teams that play tough half-court man-to-man defense. When you shoot 33 percent against Maryland and lose by 6 or 8, you're playing some defense. Our kids go out there, they hustle...we're just not as efficient and consistent on offense as I'd like us to be. But we still have a fairly young basketball team."
On the strategy for the last shot
"We work on time and situation in practice. If we have the last
possession and I have an offensive team on the floor, we're not going to
call time out. If we need a 3, we gotta hit a 3. If we're down 2, we
look for the drive...unfortunately, our best driving guard, Val Brown,
had just fouled out... We wanted to spread the floor, and create room
for a drive by [Chris] Monroe or [Bernard] Barrow. We had five guards
on the floor, including two good perimeter shooters [Greg Collucci] and
Valery [Khamenia]. I didn't want Valery to make the shot, but if he
makes it, he's a hero. I would have wanted a drive, but sometimes those
kinds of shots go in."
Xavier Coach Skip Prosser
"I'm thrilled with the win. I thought the run at the end of the first
half was of paramount importance. We haven't had great success in this
building the last few years....We had been real confident at the
beginning of the game, but there had been a real erosion toward
halftime. So I thought that was a key juncture of the game."
"I thought we played well for the second half up until the last four minutes. I think we mismanaged that about as poorly as you could. But we knew that GW is very well coached, good talent, great athletes...we knew they weren't going to quit. We're just very fortunate to get out of here by the skin of our teeth, and happy to be on the plane going home."
On the disparity in free-throw attempts
"That's pretty disproportionate. Part of that is because they fouled us
a lot at the end of the game, and we responded by making 1 out of 2 a
hundred times. But another part of it was because we wanted to
establish inside. They put so much pressure on the perimeter that we
drove the ball. Sometimes, they get those bumps called. Even though we
didn't make all our free throws, our goal tonight as always is to make
more than the other team takes. And tonight was pretty
disproportionate."
On the fact that GW almost repeated its 1998 win over Xavier with a
last-second 3-point shot
"It's not like my life passed before my eyes, but I was still a bit
concerned. Al McGuire always says, 'Never accept in victory what you
wouldn't accept in defeat.' GW really scrapped and came back in the
game. We made so many missed plays that would have been a really
heartbreaking way to lose. We had so many, many self-inflicted in the
last 2 or 3 mintues, so that's what passed through my head; if this
sucker drops, it's poetic justice. But we had one go in for us this
year like Shawnta [Rogers] did two years ago, so maybe it evens out."
