George Washington University Athletics
Postgame Comments: GW vs. Holy Cross
12/31/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 31, 2010
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
December 31, 2010
Holy Cross 57
@ GW 58
Postgame Quotes
GW Coach Karl Hobbs
Did you want David Pellom to miss that last free throw at the end of the game?
"There was 2.3 seconds on the clock, so we wanted him to miss it hoping the ball would bounce around the rim a bit, and we could tip it up so that by the time it came down, they'd only have time to grab it and shoot it. I really wanted Joe [Katuka] to pop the ball straight up so that when it comes down, there's only about a second left."
This is the second game in a row when your offense has been inconsistent. Do you know why that's happened?.
"We've just had some guys with some cold shooting. Tonight's game was a grind, and we knew going in that it would be that way just because of Holy Cross and their style of play. You have to give them a lot of credit."
Is that a concern going forward? Your defense and rebounding seemed OK.
"It is because we go through droughts when we struggle to score. And obviously the free throw shooting is another concern."
What's the remedy to your offensive struggles?
"We just need to find our consistency. That, to me, is the measure of success. We haven't gotten to the point where we're shooting consistently. That's something that we have to keep working on and hopefully we'll get there."
What's led you to tinker with the line-up?
"Dwayne [Smith] has been scoring and rebounding well. I thought he deserved an opportunity to start. We started Dan Guest today because we felt we needed a little bit of pressure break the way things started at the Oregon State game. Having Guest on the floor let us get creative with the ball."
Why couldn't GW pull away early?
"We fumbled some balls that should've been dunks. After that, things just snowballed. But at the end of the day, we made enough shots to win the game."
Was pressuring Holy Cross a big part of the win?
"Yes, that's a big part of what we do. We wanted to force them into 20 or more turnovers and we did just that. But we didn't' do a great job of converting them into baskets."
GW Soph. F Dwayne Smith
What has helped get you going recently?
"I'm just trying to play my role. The coaches have really been helping me, and telling me to rebound and play aggressively. That, in turn, has given me confidence to play my game."
GW Soph. F David Pellom
Any explanation for why you've struggled at the free throw line?
"I just haven't been confident with it. I was a little nervous up there today. Next time, I'll feel more confident."
Holy Cross Coach Milan Brown
Opening statement
"It was definitely a tough loss. We did some things today to give ourselves a chance to win. But you have to give GW credit. They made just enough plays to come out on top. We lost to a pretty good team on their home court."
What encouraged you today?
"Just because we had every excuse in the book to come out and lay an egg. We had basically our entire front line was in street clothes, and one of our stars got into foul trouble early. It was great to see us continue to fight and win the game, not just stay close. We tried to win for 40 minutes, so I'm proud of that."
Talk about the turnovers and the sloppy offense.
"With [GW] being long and athletic, they did some things to try and trap us. They did a lot of switching, so anytime we were apprehensive in trying to beat the press, that's when those turnovers occurred. Against a team that has the speed and length that they did, if you make a mistake or are a little hesitant, they're long enough to get to a couple of basketballs. That hurt us tonight. It'd be interesting to see how having only 13 or 14 turnovers might have changed the complexity of the game."
