University of Minnesota Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Western Carolina
11/19/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 19, 2017
On his rebounding leading to energy for him...
"Oh for sure. I didn't rebound very good in the first half, and that's why I struggled a little bit. But I think as the second half went on I started to relax a little bit more. I got a few foul calls, got a little bit more comfortable."
Junior Guard Dupree McBrayer
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Minnesota Head Coach Richard Pitino
Opening Statement...
"We got the win, didn't play great obviously. We talked a lot about guarding the three point line, and certainly we did not execute that. We talked a lot about defensive rebounding, and we didn't execute that. So we're 0 for 2 there, but I think our guys were better in the second half when it came to executing and just pressing up a little bit more and taking away the three. So overall, it was a win and we gotta learn from it, and obviously with one day of prep we gotta get back to playing the right way."
Opening Statement...
"We got the win, didn't play great obviously. We talked a lot about guarding the three point line, and certainly we did not execute that. We talked a lot about defensive rebounding, and we didn't execute that. So we're 0 for 2 there, but I think our guys were better in the second half when it came to executing and just pressing up a little bit more and taking away the three. So overall, it was a win and we gotta learn from it, and obviously with one day of prep we gotta get back to playing the right way."
On struggling in areas they wanted to do well in, but still winning by 28…
"We won by 28, so it's hard to get guys to listen when you win by 28. I thought we did some good things in the second half. You know it's funny, sometimes you play at Providence College and you got a great environment, a very good opponent, and you're so locked in. But sometimes you play at home and you have a lot of distractions, like the fans, friends and family, those things, and sometimes you forget about what the purpose is to be there.It's human nature, and I'm not saying our guys are selfish. It's just that last game we had so many crazy good statistics that we have to understand that that isn't going to happen to us every time."
On how Amir Coffey has improved as the season has progressed…
"Well we've only played four games, but I do think he's playing good basketball. I thought today he definitely took a step forward in the leadership role, because we were kind of stagnant, and I think that made Amir and Murph [Jordan Murphy] really set the tone for those guys and I think that Amir is really just playing good, solid basketball, being aggressive, and playing good defense."
On Western Carolina's three-pointers and Minnesota's three-point defense…
"I thought our defense was bad the first half, I don't think those were tough shots. In the past for a couple games, they just might have been tough shots. At some point you're gonna have to get burned, I think Alabama had a kid who hit 10 threes the other day, so you're gonna have to trust the defense behind you, you're gonna have to get a hand up, and at some point, it's not always luck, it's just bad defense, so our guys gotta get better at that."
Junior Forward Jordan Murphy
On the team's 3-point defense...
"They had a couple of early shots that were pretty far out, that were contested. I mean our 3-point defense has to improve like you said, so I mean we did a good job, just taking that punch and throwing a couple of our own. We did a good job of bouncing back, I think Dupree and Amir were keeping us together in the first half."
On the play of the bench when starters got in foul trouble...
"I thought they did a good job of keeping the energy up. Reggie and Nate, they did a good job of not having the energy drop off and did a good job of doing just what they need to do. Just to stay on the floor, they made an impression on coach with the good energy."
On his rebounding leading to energy for him...
"Oh for sure. I didn't rebound very good in the first half, and that's why I struggled a little bit. But I think as the second half went on I started to relax a little bit more. I got a few foul calls, got a little bit more comfortable."
Junior Guard Dupree McBrayer
On how to improve 3-point defense...
"We do a lot of drills in practice, we just gotta take the drills more serious, in my opinion. We are just kind going through the motions, so now that teams hit 14, 11, and 11 threes on us, I think we are going to realize that in practice tomorrow."
"We do a lot of drills in practice, we just gotta take the drills more serious, in my opinion. We are just kind going through the motions, so now that teams hit 14, 11, and 11 threes on us, I think we are going to realize that in practice tomorrow."
On his performance the last few games...
"I mean, it's alright, I'm not too worried about it. It'll come. I'm coming back from injury, I'm not too worried about that though. I'm worried about winning."
"I mean, it's alright, I'm not too worried about it. It'll come. I'm coming back from injury, I'm not too worried about that though. I'm worried about winning."
Players Mentioned
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Guard
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Forward
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Forward
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