George Washington University Athletics
11/20/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 20, 2008
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
November 19, 2008
Binghamton 57
@ GW 71
Post-game comments
GW Coach Karl Hobbs
Coach Broadus was highly complimentary of the program, saying that "GW is back." Do you agree with his assessment?
"I think that's a friend giving great support, and it's greatly appreciated. We're most certainly are rebuilding this program from the standpoint of getting back to playing with intensity, getting back to playing our style with 9 to 10 guys, and creating an atmosphere that's exciting for the students as well as the players. We're just taking steps, and I'm just focused on playing with effort, cutting down mistakes, playing with great intensity, and really compete."
Has reducing turnovers been a focus?
"We had 26 turnovers against Boston University, and I felt that if we could've cut them in half, that game wouldn't have gone to overtime. We wanted to focus on taking care of the ball, and getting shots at the basket because we feel like we can shoot a high percentage. We really took care of the ball tonight, and I'm pleased that we didn't have as many unforced errors as we had in our last game."
On the other hand, you were outrebounded by 15. That will make it tough to win a lot of other games.
"No question about it. That was a major concern coming in. We knew that this is a terrific offensive rebounding team, especially because of D.J. Rivera. He's probably one of the most aggressive offensive rebounders we'll play all year, and he was most certainly effective tonight."
You must be pleased with the play of Tony Taylor.
"We really wanted to improve our point guard play, and we addressed that by recruiting Tony. Hopefully as Travis [King] gets healthier and gets more minutes, that will make us that much more effective."
Talk about Damian Hollis' play. Are you concerned that he had 8 turnovers?
"Some of those turnovers were him being indecisive. He has that tendency to when he needs to be aggressive to take a shot, he'll be right in the middle of a move and decide at the last minute to pass. He needs to correct that. I can live with the turnovers; it's having only one offensive rebound that concerns me, especially when he plays as many minutes as he did tonight [32]."
Coach [Kevin] Broadus said it was difficult coaching against you, just as it was for you to coach against Jim Calhoun.
"It's always hard when you coach against close family friends. Even after you win, you really can't enjoy it. I'm lucky we were finally able to get this game and series over with. I wish we could've changed the rules and played only 20 minutes so the game would have ended quicker. I'm very happy we won, and very happy for Kevin. I truly think he'll get that program going in the right direction."
GW senior F Rob Diggs
Did you try to take advantage of your athleticism against guys who aren't as big or fast and slower?
"I'm just taking what the defense gives me. If they let me shoot, I'll shoot. If they let me drive them, I'll drive them."
How important is it to start the season with a win streak?
"It helps get guys focused back on the big picture and on this year's team, rather than last year's team."
GW junior F Damian Hollis
Did your slam dunk early in the game help you feel comfortable with the way things were going?
"Definitely. It released a lot of tension I had because I didn't have such a good game before. I was kind of frustrated, so I let it all out."
GW senior G Noel Wilmore
What was the key to your 16 points tonight?
"Great teammates who are looking to find me all the time. It makes my job real easy."
How important is it to start the season with a win streak?
"A lot of guys emphasized the fact that Binghamton beat us last year, and we should have won that game. We really wanted to come out and win for that reason--not to make a habit of losing to teams we should beat. And we always want to defend our home court. We never want to lose here. Any home game is big for us."
Your 3s helped get the students involved with the game. Did that help with your momentum?
"We really want to get the fans back into the game this season. People are coming out to see us and support us. If they like the long ball, that's great."
What's making the difference for the team this year as opposed to the 07-08 season?
"I think it's evident that we have a different chemistry this year. Most everyone can see that. Any way possible that we can erase all of what happened last year out of our minds and out of the minds of our fans is important."
Binghamton Coach Kevin Broadus
Opening statement
"I've got a lot of respect for [GW]. I've spent a lot of time with Coach Hobbs and here at GW--3 years. It was a great 3 years, and Karl has done a wonderful job here. He's got that program going in the right direction. I thought we did our best, but they had an answer for everything we threw at them tonight. The best team won, it's as simple as that...GW is back. I say that with confidence; they're back."
How do you compare tonight with your last game?
"I think we waited a little too long to get started. We started out sluggish and the guys were a little nervous; they had that deer in the headlights look early on. But they had the attitude I wanted to see--never quit, never give up. We had chances when we could've given up, but we didn't."
Personally, what was it like to walk back in the Smith Center?
"Just a lot of butterflies and a lot of familiar faces I saw here...I just got caught up in the moment. Before the game, I couldn't talk to these guys; I had to walk out of the locker room for a moment....It was special, and I wish it had ended differently. But it didn't; we just have to rebound and move forward."
Did you have the same experience coaching against Karl Hobbs as he did coaching against his old teacher, Jim Calhoun?
"I remember saying to Karl when we played UConn, `he won't pour it on.' And Karl looked at me and said, `yeah right; he's going to put it on us.' And he did. I looked at my assistants with about three minutes to go tonight and said pretty much the same thing. He was sending a message to me, from teacher to student, `don't mess with me.' But I love him to death."
How does Binghamton handle an opponent with the height advantage, like tonight?
"You tell me. [laughs] Those guys are big and athletic. I had a vision of how to play them, but we couldn't do it because we have too many guys out. I'm not making excuses, but hopefully we'll see a team similar to them down the road and we'll have all our weapons ready for them."
You seemed frustrated on the floor tonight; was it because of the emotions you were feeling or the officiating?
"I wasn't frustrated; I was more into the game, just trying to coach my team and get them to understand the magnitude of this level of basketball. I'm the product of my teacher--isn't he the same way? I just saw things--we were missing out assignments and stuff like that. Our guys know they have to do better that what we showed."
Binghamton G Dwayne Jackson
With the team's injuries, you guys were putting in heavy minutes tonight, yet GW always had a few more bodies to transition in and out. Was it tough to push through?
"I don't think it was tough to push through. Besides a few nick-nack injuries that we've had, we've been conditioning for a long time. Running up and down the court, we were fine. They just had some big bodies that wore on us a little bit."
Did you get the sense that GW forced you to play their way?
"Yes, they got us out of our offense when we started going one-on-one, and we started getting frustrated with the officials a little bit. We beat the press easily, but they kept us out of our offense and out of our flow."
