George Washington University Athletics
GW-Rhode Island Postgame Comments
1/25/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 25, 2009
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
January 25, 2009
Rhode Island 94
@ GW 89 2OT
Postgame comments
GW Coach Karl Hobbs
Opening statement
"It's a heartbreaking loss. The guys are playing hard. They're coming to practice ready to play. They're going into games knowing and believing that they're capable of winning them. Coming up a little short today is a tough pill to swallow. But I believe the true character of this team is that they're going to continue to work hard, and play the way they've been playing. Hopefully, the ball is going to bounce our way."
Is it encouraging to have gotten so many contributions from your bench?
"Aaron Ware is growing up before our eyes. He made some key buckets. Johnny Lee is a junior and played like one tonight. He did a magnificent job of making sure we got the shot we needed. They most certainly kept us in the game. And to go a long stretch without Robert [Diggs] in the game speaks volumes as to how far we've come."
What made the difference for Rhode Island?
"Down the stretch, they really got the ball inside. Their physicalness gave them the advantage. They were getting a ball to a senior and he played like one. That's what they do in those situations. I take my hat off to them. They came in here and won a terrific game....They were coming off a tough loss too, so you had two desperate teams playing today."
GW G Noel Wilmore
Why does it seem that Rhode Island brings out the best in you?
"There are a lot of opportunities when you play against this team. The style that they pay, the game goes up and down. There are just a lot of shots available."
Does playing against Jimmy Baron make a difference?
"I'm more concerned about where he is defensively instead of trying to compete with him."
Is it difficult to keep your heads up after this stretch of four difficult and close games?
"Stuff like that is never a question with this group of guys. We are very committed. We all believe in the guys we have...I know tomorrow's practice will be very hard, guys will be very competitive. And that's how it's got to be for us to get where we want to be and get over this hump. As a team, we really don't have problems like that."
GW G Johnny Lee
Talk about being involved in a near-career high game.
"It's really a rush to finally get to contribute in a game like that. It's still a letdown not to be able to finish, and that's the thing we're working on."
How did things unfold at the end of regulation?
"When it comes down to it, you want the ball in that situation. And as a basketball player, you want to help your team win a game. I want to do what I can. If the ball's in my hand, I want to try and make a play."
GW F Aaron Ware
Does the high number of turnovers mean you all are anxious to make a play?
"It's more that we're trying to be aggressive. That's something Coach always stresses, but we're not really thinking about turnovers. It's more about getting the ball to the basket and trying to make plays...We were all energized to come out there and play hard."
Rhode Island Coach Jim Baron
Opening statement
"It was a hard-fought battle. It's one of the more gratifying victories to me because we've gone through a lot of adversity with guys being injured. We had a long trip here yesterday. We didn't get out of the gym until about 9 o'clock last night when we practiced. So this was a great victory for our players. We had three close games, and to do this against a good GW team--they're going to win some games. They're very athletic, they can score inside and outside. But we prevailed. We outrebounded them. We did a good job of sharing the ball. We stepped up and made our free throws down the stretch. We did a heck of a job defending them."
GW had 12 fast break points in the first half, and none in the second.
"We had the foul trouble too. Our numbers were down, so we wanted to make a little adjustment. We did a good job in our half-court defense, but they made some tough shots....They turned it over 22 times, and I think a lot of that was our defense."
Did you intentionally call off the press toward the end?
"It was a combination of the foul trouble and our numbers. They both hurt us. I figured we wanted to be solid on the half-court man-to-man, and I thought our guys were solid on that."
How much did Rob Diggs' foul problems and fouling out affect things?
"We've been in foul trouble every game it seems. But a lot of that was we were being aggressive taking it to the bucket."
