George Washington University Athletics
Postgame Quotes - GW 90, La Salle 50
2/21/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Senior Guard/Forward Patricio Garino
On the 22-2 run in the first half: I think everything starts with defense. We were focused on our scouting report, we got in hard in the glass, and our confidence is high right now. I think with the momentum behind us - we were making threes, getting assists, I think this was the most complete half we have had so far. This is the way we should play every day. I think we have the tools to create things offensively but if we take focus on defense, better things will happen.
Junior Forward Tyler Cavanaugh
On the high shooting percentage: We passed the ball very well today. Paul did a great job coming off the bench: seven assists, zero turnovers. When we're moving the ball like that and making shots we're very tough to defend.
On the lead and keeping the intensity: When you get a big lead that's the thing, you let down. We did a great job today of not letting down. Everyone played hard, and credit to the bench guys, they played very well in the second half, and everyone contributed today. That was very important for our team.
On being aggressive from the start: It's very important for us to have better starts. It's something we've struggled with this year. Whether it's the first half or coming out in the second half, but I think we did a good job jumping on them early and not giving them any confidence.
Head Coach Mike Lonergan
On the good start: We were making shots, being a little more focused defensively. It's nice to look at a stat sheet where the other team shot 32 percent instead of 50 or 60 percent. Definitely helps making 14 threes. I think the assists were great. I think we have five guys with multiple assists games. We shot well and rebounded, we really dominated the glass. Patricio did a really good job on Jordan Price. He was 6-17 but I think he only had one or two baskets at most against Patricio. I think his size bothered him and he had a lot of turnovers, so I think that was key. Paul had been struggling a lot for us, he came in and I thought he did a good job, his defense was good the first half. He had seven assists, no turnovers in the game. He didn't really score, but I told him that he helped us so much today. That's the thing, trying to get guys to understand that you can help in so many different ways. But that seven assists were really valuable and I think this was his best game in about a month and a half.
On the impact of this win on the difficult week ahead: Hopefully our shooting, just like a lot of things, we've been inconsistent. We've had games where we couldn't get an open three, and some games where we've made them, and tonight we were on fire. So I think it's good for our confidence. Obviously we owe Richmond, it's a loss, a really heartbreaking loss here in double overtime, we wanted to go undefeated at home. They got us and St. Joe's got us. So it's not going to be easy on the road: they get great crowds, they'll probably sell out. They run good offense, they're well coached, they got a lot of capable scorers, and we have to be really disciplined defensively.
On playing the whole bench: I was really happy, what I was really happy about is, when you're up 30-35 points and you have two guys diving for a loose ball in front of our bench - sometimes we don't do that until we're down or fighting for our lives. So seeing guys play with energy even when we were up 30-40, that's something we've been trying to get them do all year. Hopefully we can build on that. I don't think we played the scoreboard at all. We stayed aggressive on both ends. Our bench guys really helped us for the second game in a row today.
On Yuta Watanabe shooting threes: I mean, he got open looks. That's the thing. Most of the time when we see Yuta miss threes, it's when guys got their hands in his face and he's fading away. But when he's open, I still think he's one of our best shooters. I think he's having a terrific year, but he's definitely having a rough year for shooting threes in league games. I think this may be the second game where he's hit more than one three in a game. Hopefully he can build on that. I think he's having a terrific year. He blocked three shots today, he's become a better rebounder, he's become right there with Patricio. One of our two best defenders. I was confident that he would make his threes today because he was wide open. Patricio was wide open. You give credit to Kevin and some of our inside guys, they would find them, but I think Paul's penetration really helped us get some open shots. I told Yuta not to worry about his three-point percentage. He thinks about that a lot because he wants to be a great shooter, but I just want him to be a well rounded player and he's starting to become that.
