Coach Thompson III Quotes - Georgetown
Syracuse Men’s Basketball
Syracuse vs. Georgetown
December 17, 2016
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III
You were worried about playing in front of this kind of crowd and not being able to replicate it in practice? How do you think the team did in this atmosphere?
“You’re playing in front of 30 – 31,000, I don’t know what the number is. You can’t simulate that. Coming down the stretch, we did some good things, we did some things that we have to do better. We made our foul shots, which was key. It wasn’t as pretty as we wanted it to be, but guys made enough plays.
“It was a team win. You can look at everybody who got in, everybody did their job. They got in and contributed.”
You were plus 10 in rebounds in the second half. Is that something you stressed at halftime?
“I think it was halftime, it was every timeout. One of their strengths, year in and year out, is second shots. They throw it up and they go get it. I thought to win against Syracuse you have to win the battle on the boards and limit their transition. In the second half, I thought we did a good job. They had a couple of breakaways. Usually, against them, when you make a mistake on offense it turns to an easy basket. I thought the times we did have some hiccups on offense, we were able to get back and contain them most of the time.”
Can you talk about Pearl Washington and the impact he’s had on today’s players?
“When you think about the BIG EAST at its inception, first and foremost you think of Mr. Dave Gavitt. At least I do. Then you go to Patrick Ewing, Pearl and Chris Mullin. He’s someone, without a doubt, that is one of the pillars of our conference.
“Everyone wanted to do what Pearl did. The group behind was watching, working on their handles. He was fast with the ball, but wouldn’t necessarily say he was super uber athlete. But (he) got to where he wanted to go whenever he wanted to get there, regardless of who or how many were in front of him.”
Syracuse vs. Georgetown
December 17, 2016
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III
You were worried about playing in front of this kind of crowd and not being able to replicate it in practice? How do you think the team did in this atmosphere?
“You’re playing in front of 30 – 31,000, I don’t know what the number is. You can’t simulate that. Coming down the stretch, we did some good things, we did some things that we have to do better. We made our foul shots, which was key. It wasn’t as pretty as we wanted it to be, but guys made enough plays.
“It was a team win. You can look at everybody who got in, everybody did their job. They got in and contributed.”
You were plus 10 in rebounds in the second half. Is that something you stressed at halftime?
“I think it was halftime, it was every timeout. One of their strengths, year in and year out, is second shots. They throw it up and they go get it. I thought to win against Syracuse you have to win the battle on the boards and limit their transition. In the second half, I thought we did a good job. They had a couple of breakaways. Usually, against them, when you make a mistake on offense it turns to an easy basket. I thought the times we did have some hiccups on offense, we were able to get back and contain them most of the time.”
Can you talk about Pearl Washington and the impact he’s had on today’s players?
“When you think about the BIG EAST at its inception, first and foremost you think of Mr. Dave Gavitt. At least I do. Then you go to Patrick Ewing, Pearl and Chris Mullin. He’s someone, without a doubt, that is one of the pillars of our conference.
“Everyone wanted to do what Pearl did. The group behind was watching, working on their handles. He was fast with the ball, but wouldn’t necessarily say he was super uber athlete. But (he) got to where he wanted to go whenever he wanted to get there, regardless of who or how many were in front of him.”
