Coach Hopkins Miami Quotes
Head Coach Designate Mike Hopkins
Syracuse Men's Basketball at Miami
January 2, 2016
BankUnited Center | Coral Gables, Fla.
Syracuse Men's Basketball at Miami
January 2, 2016
BankUnited Center | Coral Gables, Fla.
Opening Statement…
“That’s the second tough road game our kids have played in. They gave it a great effort. They really executed defensively. Our game plan, we tried to tighten up the zone and be really active in the first half. We did a really good job of keeping them out of the lane and forcing them to shoot contest jump-shots, and we were lucky they didn’t hit any. We got a decent lead. Our rebounding - we’ve been working on our rebounding – it was even. Three-pointers, I thought we did a good job defending it for the most part. I thought the difference in the game was when Ja’Quan Newton stepped up and hit two three-pointers. Give him a lot of credit. And then we lost the free-throw line game…and turnovers. I give our kids a lot of credit - they fought, they played hard. At the end of the day, we didn’t get it done again. But there are a lot of bonuses, like the rebounding. I thought our defense was good. Miami was a little bit better tonight.”
“That’s the second tough road game our kids have played in. They gave it a great effort. They really executed defensively. Our game plan, we tried to tighten up the zone and be really active in the first half. We did a really good job of keeping them out of the lane and forcing them to shoot contest jump-shots, and we were lucky they didn’t hit any. We got a decent lead. Our rebounding - we’ve been working on our rebounding – it was even. Three-pointers, I thought we did a good job defending it for the most part. I thought the difference in the game was when Ja’Quan Newton stepped up and hit two three-pointers. Give him a lot of credit. And then we lost the free-throw line game…and turnovers. I give our kids a lot of credit - they fought, they played hard. At the end of the day, we didn’t get it done again. But there are a lot of bonuses, like the rebounding. I thought our defense was good. Miami was a little bit better tonight.”
On Miami sophomore Ja’Quan Newton, who had 14 points in the second half…
“We tried to keep him out of the lane. We’ve had a couple of guys who went to Neuman-Goretti [Newton’s high school], and we recruited him a little bit out of high school. He’s just got that city [game] - he knows how to get in the paint, if there are nine guys around him he still finds a way. He’s such a dangerous player, and that opens up so much for their big guys and their shooters. We felt that he was a key guy that we had to keep out of the lane, and for the most part, we did. I also know he has a lot of pride. He’s a talented boy…that was the game, in my opinion. Obviously free throws were big, but those two threes were huge. That was on us. I thought players, our players executed to a ‘t.’ They stayed off of him, kept it out of the lane, and he stepped up and knocked down two back-to-back.”
“We tried to keep him out of the lane. We’ve had a couple of guys who went to Neuman-Goretti [Newton’s high school], and we recruited him a little bit out of high school. He’s just got that city [game] - he knows how to get in the paint, if there are nine guys around him he still finds a way. He’s such a dangerous player, and that opens up so much for their big guys and their shooters. We felt that he was a key guy that we had to keep out of the lane, and for the most part, we did. I also know he has a lot of pride. He’s a talented boy…that was the game, in my opinion. Obviously free throws were big, but those two threes were huge. That was on us. I thought players, our players executed to a ‘t.’ They stayed off of him, kept it out of the lane, and he stepped up and knocked down two back-to-back.”
On Syracuse senior Michael Gbinije, who finished with 10 points on 3-of-14 shooting…
“It was hard. Mike has to play the whole game for us at the point guard position, and we felt like he had to be out there with the ball. In a perfect world I could put him off the ball and have him off. They were pressuring us pretty hard…it was wear and tear on him a little bit. I put K.J. [Kaleb Joseph] in and he was pretty good, but the pressure was bothering him a little bit too. I just felt like we had to go with Mike. Not being able to play Frank [Howard] is out, he would have been a big help for us tonight. For the most part, the kids really battled and they were fighting out there against a really good Miami basketball team. I hate to say it, but we got to the five minute mark again tied and we just couldn’t close it out. There were a couple of plays that we just can’t have happen.”
“It was hard. Mike has to play the whole game for us at the point guard position, and we felt like he had to be out there with the ball. In a perfect world I could put him off the ball and have him off. They were pressuring us pretty hard…it was wear and tear on him a little bit. I put K.J. [Kaleb Joseph] in and he was pretty good, but the pressure was bothering him a little bit too. I just felt like we had to go with Mike. Not being able to play Frank [Howard] is out, he would have been a big help for us tonight. For the most part, the kids really battled and they were fighting out there against a really good Miami basketball team. I hate to say it, but we got to the five minute mark again tied and we just couldn’t close it out. There were a couple of plays that we just can’t have happen.”
On what his thoughts were at halftime, with his team leading 25-17…
“I’m telling them they’re going to make shots in the second half, and our defense has to be better. Any good team, any championship type of team like Miami, they’re going to come back. They’ve done a heck of a job building their program. They have a lot of fight. They have a lot of veteran players…[Angel] Rodriguez, [Sheldon] McClellan. They have some fighters out there. You knew it was going to be tough, that they were going to make some runs and the crowd was going to get into it.
“I’m telling them they’re going to make shots in the second half, and our defense has to be better. Any good team, any championship type of team like Miami, they’re going to come back. They’ve done a heck of a job building their program. They have a lot of fight. They have a lot of veteran players…[Angel] Rodriguez, [Sheldon] McClellan. They have some fighters out there. You knew it was going to be tough, that they were going to make some runs and the crowd was going to get into it.
“For the most part when they made that run, we answered it. I thought Malachi Richardson was a go-to guy tonight. He made some plays that were big for us - threes, driving to the basket. He was really aggressive, and it was great to see that from him, because he hadn’t been that player in a while. We won’t win a lot of games with Mike [Gbinije] and Trevor [Cooney] scoring 10 and 5, and four of the free throws at the end [for] Mike. That’s my bad. We have to do a better job of getting him better looks and creating opportunities for him.”
