Postgame Quotes
November 25, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 25, 2008
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Coach Mack McCarthy VCU Post-Game Quotes 
East Carolina Head Coach Mack McCarthy
On Tonight's Win
"That was a heck of a basketball game. I knew VCU would play a heck of a basketball game, but I wasn't sure if we were ready to play that caliber of game or not. You don't know how a young team is going to respond to their first loss. The guys appeared to take it pretty hard and then focus on what we had to do."
On The Game-Changing Moments
"The game kind of turned on a couple of things. The first was going with the small line up in the first half, which enabled us to hang in there. We had to play zone and that at least changed what they were doing offensively.
"Then in the second half they were hurting us on the backboard and Daquan Joyner and Darrius Morrow went in and just changed the game completely by allowing them only one shot on four, five or six possessions in a row."
On The Impact Of Daquan Joyner And Darrius Morrow
"I didn't think DaQuan was even going to play. He didn't practice yesterday and has been in a great deal of pain. He came to me before the game and said, `Coach I'm ready. I can play five or six minutes at a time.'
"I was really surprised that he was able to play that effectively. He had a great first half.
"Morrow is just going to get better and better. He has great feet, hands and instincts. He still doesn't know how to play hard all the time yet. But he really has a chance to be a special player during his time at ECU."
On Sam Hinnant's First Half Performance
"Sam has been pretty efficient even when he hasn't been shooting the ball real well. He has figured out ways to be involved in the offense. Five for 17 isn't a great number, but he got to the free throw line nine times and helped handle the basketball against pressure.
"Sam and James Legan really helped Brock Young a lot tonight by bringing the ball up and taking some pressure off of him. We didn't get into our offensive flow as well as we should have, but we weren't turning it over and were eventually getting a good look at the basket."
VCU Head Coach Anthony Grant
On East Carolina Overcoming Adversity
"You have to give credit to East Carolina. I thought they had some adversity in the first half with foul trouble. But the guys they put in the game gave them an opportunity to be in the game. We had a 10 point lead there and then I thought we were fortunate at the half to have a chance to be up four with the way they played."
On VCU's Defense
"Their zone caused us some problems and we got frustrated with shots not falling. We let that affect the other areas of our game.
"With our basketball team, we talk a lot about our defense and trying to make it a staple of our team. I don't know if it's youth or maybe just the talent level that we're playing against, but we've had two games in a row now where we haven't been able to defend and rebound the way we need to. Rebounding for us has been an issue all year. Tonight I thought our lack of success on offense deflated our team from a defensive standpoint."
On His Young Team
"On this team, we have one senior and a bunch of young, unproven and untested young men who have to figure some things out. I think an unbelievable opportunity to find out about our character, heart and passion. I think you find out a lot about individuals and about your team as you go through adversity. I'm excited about how we're going to respond to this."
On East Carolina's Clutch Shooting And Offensive Balance
"East Carolina has two of the best shooters in college basketball in how they can rise up and make tough shots. It's not like they're not being guarded and are wide open. They are making tough, contested shots. Hinnant's four-point play was huge. That was a big shot and a great individual play by him.
"To me, the guy who really made a difference for them tonight, who didn't really play a lot in the second half was Joyner. In the first half, I thought he came in and really gave them a spark. I thought he played a terrific first half. In the second half they had a lot of guys step up."
