East Carolina, UNC Asheville Postgame Quotes
November 16, 2014 | Men's Basketball
UNC ASHEVILLE 83, EAST CAROLINA 79
Sunday, Nov. 16, 2014
Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum
Attendance: 4,149
East Carolina Head Coach Jeff Lebo
Opening statement
"Congratulations to UNC Asheville. I thought they played well and they had the best player on the floor, no doubt about it in [Andrew] Rowsey. He's a terrific player and watching him play last year and this year, you really get a great appreciation of how tough he is, how smart and crafty he is, he's got everything in his game, except what God hasn't given him is any size. He dominated the game. He did it two nights ago against Wake Forest too. He outsmarted us many times tonight and give him credit for being a tough player."
On foul shooting and rebounding
"We put them on the foul line and they shoot it very well from the foul line. They go 28 of 34 at the free throw line. We left a lot of points there on the foul line ourselves and we didn't make any shots until late in the game from behind the 3-point line. Rebounding is going to be an issue for us all year. Our best offensive team is our poorest rebounding team, so when we got down we had to put the best offensive guys out there and it's not a terribly good rebounding team because we're so small. We only had five offensive rebounds in the game that's not very good for shooting especially as poorly as we did in the first half."
On a second half comeback attempt
"We shot much better in the second half. Fifty-five percent is certainly a winning percentage. We had some odd fouls off the ball at crucial times when we had some momentum and that took that momentum away from us. I thought we battled to the end, extended the game very well and had chances at the end if we could've a stop or two. If hey had missed a foul shot or two we maybe would have maybe had a different outcome. Give them credit they were better than us tonight."
UNC Asheville Head Coach Nick McDevitt
On sophomore guard Andrew Rowsey
"Andrew just has a knack for scoring the ball. Weather it is free throws or unconventional layups the deep ball, he just knows how to score the basketball. It is never an emphasis on our part that Andrew has to score for us to win. We have to score for us to win and I think Andrew has done a nice job throughout the time of his short career being a prolific scorer but a willing passer at the same time."
On getting the ball into the paint
"We like to get paint touches all the time. I think we have a pretty good backcourt but it is important to get paint touches. We talked about the ability to do that both off the bounce and off the pass into our post players. That wasn't stressed anymore so then any other night. The defensive becomes very vulnerable when the ball goes into the paint and we continue to stress that."
On foul shooting
"We have emphasized free throw shooting over the last few weeks. I guess when it was in our exhibition game that we did not shoot free throws very well and in close games, which we anticipated this weekend both on Friday and tonight that we have to make free throws down the stretch and I think we shot 82 percent both games. We were 23 for 28 the other night and 28 for 34 tonight. When you get free chances you got to take them especially against teams like ECU and Wake Forest."
Sophomore forward Caleb White
On surprises thrown at them by UNC Asheville
"No, I think everything they threw at us we went over in practice. I think we executed it well in practice but in game situation we didn't relay it as well."
On the sluggish start to the game
"I think both teams played Friday and we both came back and practiced on Saturday. It took just a little for our adrenaline to get rushing and our legs to get under us. I think that was the main thing." On the problems with the offense tonight
"I think we took a lot of shots: first shots, second shots, and our ball movement has to be a lot better. We turned it over a lot. I think it was 11 in the first half. We took a lot of quick shots that are pretty much turnovers. They got some long rebounds off of bad shots, which turned into instant offense for them. I think that was the tale there."
Junior guard Terry Whisnant
On how's fitting in with the team
"I feel great. We got a lot of new guys. We are just getting our chemistry right and it is coming along."
On the team's struggles behind the arc
"We just got to get some more shots up. We have to take smart shots and get in the rhythm of the game. We also have to know when to take those shots and know when to attack the basket. We have to know what is a good shot versus a bad shot. It is pretty much just the rhythm of the game."
