Post-Game Comments

Dec. 2, 2009

NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
December 2, 2009

George Mason 49
@ GW 66

Postgame comments

GW Coach Karl Hobbs

Did you go to your bench a lot to take advantage of Mason's short-handed team?

"Not at all, that's been our style of play all year. It affected them because those are obviously two terrific players, two of their leading scorers. But what you saw is typically what we do."

What was the key to the 22-3 run to start the 2nd half?

"I thought our defense was terrific. We created some steals, we kept the pressure on, and we continued to attack the basket. Joseph Katuka did a great job establishing inside presence early in the 2nd half. That allowed us to create some fouls. Once their big fellow [Mike] Morrison went out, that was a big change for them."

Talk about the atmosphere of the Smith Center tonight.

"I thought it was fantastic. The students were here early. I'm not crazy about the "beatgeorgemason.com" campaign. I know I'll feel differently next year when we have to go play over there, but it was terrific. We have great respect for George Mason's program. Coach Larranaga is a tremendous, tremendous basketball coach. He's probably one of the most underrated coaches in the country. If you look at what he's been able to do consisently with his record, that's what I'm striving to do at GW. And since my daughter plays at Mason, I feel like I'm part of that family as well. I think it's going to be a fun rivalry."

What was the difference in the first and second halves?

"I thought that in the beginning, it was two teams trying to outrun and outshoot each other. I thought Hollis seperated the difference in the first half. He set the tone for us in terms of making baskets. In the second half, our defense picked up a little bit. We got a couple of quick steals and quick layups. That run put us in the position where the lead was so big, it was going to be difficult for them to come back at that point."

How important is it to be playing other local schools.

"I'm not sure how important it is, but when you look around the area, you have some incredible coaches. I've already talked about Coach Larranaga. You also have Jeff Jones at American, Gary Williams at Maryland, John Thompson at Georgetown, and I hate to leave anyone else out. So I think the quality of the coaches locally, whether we play them or not, speaks volumes about the quality of basketball in the area. It's an exciting thing, and unique to have so many quality coaches in such a small area."

GW Sr. F Damian Hollis

Describe the atmosphere with the large crowd and the excitement of playing a local team.

""Maybe because we were playing a local team, we had an extreme amount of energy within the team and from the fans. There was just an amazing amount of energy....I know I fed off of it, and the team fed off of it. It was nice playing in front of a lot of people."

Would you like to see more efforts to get students out to the game?

"I feel like if we keep taking care of business, then people will come out. If we keep on doing what we do--defense, energy, and keep building excitement, we should keep having good turnouts."

Did you come in targeting Cam Long, since one of Mason's key players were suspended?

"We were aware of the scorers on their team, we had an eye out for them. We had to make sure they didn't take as many shots as they usually do. That was definitely in our defensive strategy."

What did GW President Knapp say to the team before the game, and what effect did it have?

"He talked about how well we conducted ourselves during and after the Oregon State game, and gave us an extra little boost. It helped provide some energy and gave us an extra boost."

George Mason Coach Jim Larranaga

Opening statement

"I thought George Washington played well. I don't think we played like I hoped we would. We certainly have a lot of things to learn about what competition is like at this level for some young guys. You can see statistically, they're 29 for 62, 46%, and we're 16 for 46, 34 %. Most of the shots we took, we took without making a pass or making one pass....I called a number of time outs to instruct the team as to what we wanted, a reminder of what we practiced. We went right back out and did the same thing--no passes, a lot of dribbling, very little teamwork."

"This is going to be a very challenging month for us. We have a number of guys who have yet to figure out how they can contribute offensively. They've got their minds so focused on that, they can't do that nor help us in other areas. We've got to get their minds thinking correctly before they can start performing correctly."

Were you happy to be down only 7 or 8 at halftime?

"No I was not. We have a set of 10 commitments, things we are commited to doing. And number 7 is share the basketball. We haven't learned to do it. Until we do, we're going to have more nights like this, unfortunately."

What was your strategy for the 2nd half?

"We wanted [Mike Morrison] to come out and ball screen much higher on the court so that Cam Long wouldn't have so much pressure on him as he brought the ball up the floor. He was working way too hard just to get the ball into the operational zone. We didn't do a good job of that."

What did you think about the atmosphere of the Smith Center tonight?

"I guess the "beatgeorgemason.com" website worked because they had a great turnout. I thought our fans did a great job; we had a large contingent sitting up in the endzone, and I was very pleasantly surprised to see that. Hopefully, when George Washington has to return the game next year, we'll have a website and our students and fans will turn out in large numbers too. I like the idea of playing local schools. I think it's wonderful that we had a great crowd tonight, a TV audience watching, and from the home standpoint, an exciting game for them. Obviously, not so much for us."