George Washington University Athletics
GW Men's Basketball Media Availability Recap
2/9/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
With a key conference tilt vs. Saint Joseph's set for Wednesday night at the Smith Center, Mike Lonergan, Patricio Garino and Tyler Cavanaugh met with the media on Tuesday afternoon to preview the game. Below are some of their quotes from the availability.
Lonergan on the team's tenacity at VCU: "I feel really good. We were due to have a game like that on the road with our experience. We have been there before and have been blasted in the past. You can be down six and all of a sudden it can be 20. On Saturday, we hit a shot to tie it up and all of a sudden they hit three threes in a row. We hung in there and made some plays."
Lonergan on team defense: "We show it on film all of the time. We have to keep doing the right thing and play the right way. I think our guys realize how important it is. It can't be two or three guys at a time. It needs to be all five guys on the court. It starts with our starters and they know what is at stake. We are in a much better position then we are a month ago."
Lonergan on Saint Joseph's: "This is a tough matchup for us. Isaiah Miles is arguably the most improved player in our conference this year, definitely, and really even in all of college basketball. His numbers are way up. His ability to shoot the ball was always there and now he is taking it to the basket more. And with [DeAndre'] Bembry they have two guys that are really potent scorers, so it is not going to be easy."
Garino on momentum heading into Wednesday: "We are feeling great. I think momentum is on our side and our confidence is higher than ever. We need to not get to high into our wins and just deal with each game minute by minute. We have a great team but at the same time we are aware that we can lose to any team in this conference at any time. We need to stay focused but live off this momentum we have
Garino on sense of urgency as a senior: "We are really aware that his is the last chance for us (seniors) and we are entering the final stretch. Especially thinking back to last year, in February, where we really screwed it up for ourselves. Now we know, we are not going to have a second chance next year. This is even more important now. I think we showed that down at VCU. We wanted to get that win and now we want to get back to the NCAA Tournament. We know that we need to give everything that we have but we need to stay focused."
Garino on Saint Joseph's: "They have a lot of tools offensively. Bembry is one of the best players in the conference and Isaiah Miles is one of the most improved players. We need to stop them from getting comfortable in their offense. They are not a team that presses a lot but at the same time they can make a run whenever they want. So definitely staying focused on the defensive end is going to be a key to this game."
Cavanaugh on the team's reaction to Saturday's win at VCU: "Huge win for us, a road win, and the seniors had never won there, so we rode that high from Saturday into Sunday, but once we came back into practice on Monday we were ready to go and focused for another big game against Saint Joseph's."
On using the seniors' leadership: "It's great to be part of a team. It's not one night we need one guy to do everything. We have great balance and that's been something Coach Lonergan has stressed throughout his time here, and it's fun to be a part of that and have guys that make plays every night."
On having a #MonumentalHomeCourtAdvantage: "It's huge, it's big to have our fans there because it makes it even harder [for opponents] to play here. We're good here, but we need those fans and that crowd to make it that much more difficult."
On the team's approach through the rest of the regular season: "We lean on our three seniors, the guys who have been there before. This is new for me - I've never been in the conference running or a race for the NCAA Tournament. We've just got to do what we do, prepare, practice hard and follow the scouts and we should be fine."
