Postgame Quotes
November 22, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 22, 2008
Recap |
Box Score |
Notes |
Photo Gallery 
Post-Game Quotes:
East Carolina Head Coach Mack McCarthy
On Tonight's Game
"I'm pleased that we were able to compete in this caliber of game this early in the season. George Mason is a team that was in the NCAA Tournament a year ago and has a chance to go again this year. They are a veteran team that is used to winning. Down the stretch they played like they were used to winning."
On The Positives Of Tonight
"We had a lot of positives tonight. Jamar Abrams had 10 rebounds and Darrius Morrow had nine rebounds. Sam Hinnant had a great game and Brock Young had 10 assists. Jontae also gave us good minutes off the bench."
On Moving Forward
"We'll see how we react to this loss. That's another thing that young teams have to learn, how to react to a loss. Do you start pointing fingers and making excuses or do you go back to the drawing board and get better at the things we said would make a difference in the game."
On Darrius Morrow and Chad Wynn's Performances
"They've got a lot of ability, but they haven't necessarily been as aggressive as we would like them to be, on either end of the floor. They made some mistakes, but at the same time they made some positive plays. Darrius has to finish with contact around the rim and so does Chad, who had some opportunities to finish with contact down low and did not do that. But they're a freshman and a sophomore who were playing against veteran, strong guys."
On The Biggest Difference In The Game
"I think it was the inability to defend the perimeter shot. Some of that was by design. We were trying to take away the drive so hard that we gave up some open looks. Some nights they make them and some nights they don't."
George Mason Head Coach Jim Larranaga
On The Game-Changing Decision
"We made one critical decision that worked out very well for us. Louis Birdsong, who is our four-man and guards the four-man, has also, in years past, switched to guards. We decided during a timeout to try him on Sam Hinnant because Hinnant was firing from deep. The only way you can really bother a guy like that is maybe with a guy who has some length. Lou has that speed, quickness and length. He was playing a great game. I'm sure he's exhausted right now after chasing him around."
On His Bench Production
"I was very happy with Andre Cornelius, who gave us 19 points. He's a tough little guy. He has done a great job for us. The guys really, really enjoy his personality."
"We ended up with four guys in double-figures and another guy with eight. We got some help from our bench there. That was a heck of a college basketball game."
On His Team's Defense
"I thought John Vaughan did a great job guarding Darrius Morrow and fronting him. They started to look for Morrow because of the mismatch, but I thought we kept enough pressure on the perimeter that the look was not so easy."
Senior Sam Hinnant
On Louis Birdsong Guarding Him
"He's strong. I knew I could probably go by him, but I never got a chance to do that. He's a stronger defender than the other two who were guarding me."
On George Mason's Team
"I knew they were going to come in and play hard. They made a lot of shots and came out with a win. Every time it felt like we were getting a little bit of a lead, they came down and made a 3-pointer. It seems like they just had it tonight, and hopefully, we'll have nights like that too."
Sophomore Chad Wynn
On His And The Team's Performance Tonight
"I feel good about my performance, but I'd feel a lot better about it if we would have come away with a win. We just have to learn from this loss. We didn't have a bad game, but we didn't have a great game, either. There are still things we have to work on."
