University of Richmond Athletics
Men's Basketball Post-Game Quotes
12/06/2006 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 5, 2006
Head Coach Chris Mooney
On The Win:
"I think you're seeing a maturation process, and by no means are we done with this as a team, but we need to get more experience and more experience, and if we keep getting better and better we can become pretty good. I'm really happy for our guys, that's a really happy locker room in there."
On Having A Balanced Scoring Attack:
"We want that to be Richmond basketball. We have a lot of good players, most of them young, but we really want to be a team that can do that. That's why we have the guys that we do. Not just from game-to-game, but from possession to possession, everybody can score. Everybody can post up, everybody can pass."
On Building A Second-Half Lead:
"What was important for us is we came out of halftime with a six-point lead and we extended it to 10 pretty quickly on two easy baskets that were great to see."
On Playing With A Lead:
"When we can get a lead, not that we're going to milk the clock, but we can control the game and make the other team do some things that they don't want to do, and panic a little. We're also doing that with our defense. I think they took more time than we did on offense and they weren't able to free themselves for open shots."
On Having Six Different Players Make 3-Pointers:
"Hopefully that becomes the norm for us, we want five, six or seven guys shooting the ball well for us."
On Richmond's Defense:
"That was the best defensive effort by about a million times. I thought we really defended well, beginning with (Melvin) Buckley. He only had two 3s, they only had two 3s as a team, and that was the real emphasis. I don't want to say we learned our lesson from the (Marist) game, but we gave up so many 3s to their best shooter and traditionally we've been good at not letting guys get 3s off."
More On Richmond's Defense:
"This is the kind of defense that we're used to coaching, just making it very, very difficult to score. If they get a shot, it's a contested shot, if they throw the ball into the post, it's tipped, or the guy catching it is a few feet further out. I think the defense was tremendous tonight."
On Coaching Such A Young Team:
"There are some exciting times coaching such a young team and then there are some downs. There are highs and lows and it's how they come out of the lows that's important."
On Richmond's Young Guards:
"David (Gonzalvez) is a very good player. He's got this explosiveness in him, he's got a really strong body and he's a very competitive kid. I thought he was terrific tonight. The two plays he made were excellent and he defended very well throughout the game."
On Senior Peter Thomas:
"How much can you say about Peter Thomas. He's terrific, a former walk-on leading his team to a win on the road against a Big East team. He played terrific, he had some really big baskets."
On Richmond's Offense:
"On offense we don't want to necessarily take that much time, but when you're young and playing against pressure it's hard for us. We want to give our guys every opportunity to be able to run the offense, not just put their head down and take the ball to the basket."
Richmond Freshman David Gonzalvez
On Getting The Win:
"I feel really good because after the Marist game our confidence was a little down because we were down the whole game and we couldn't come back. The freshmen factor came in and it was playing with our minds a little bit. Pete had a speech and he told us `don't worry about it, we were supposed to beat that team, but we just got to bounce back and keep our confidence up, and the confidence in the plays, and in the coaches, and in the preparation. So I think we did that and it showed tonight."
On Richmond's Offense:
"We're starting to see more and more opportunities in the offense that aren't even in the offense, so we just got to make the open shots the we can get."
On Getting His Second-Career Start:
"It gives me confidence that (Head Coach Chris Mooney) has confidence in me to start so the more confidence he has in me, the more I have in myself."
On Hitting A Clutch 3-Pointer With 4:10 Remaining:
"I wanted to drive off the pick, but I look at the shot clock and I had no choice, I knew I had to pull up. I knew it wasn't in the offense, but I'm glad I made it."
On Learning The Defense
"At this point in the season I'm starting to learn about how this defense works more and more and I'm starting to learn where I can pressure and where I have to stay in tight and help with the post. Now that I know when to pressure more, I take advantage of it and came up with a steal and lay-up."
On The Difference Between High School And College Basketball:
"Coming from prep school after high school, I just thought I knew everything about the game, nobody could tell me anything and it showed because the first few games I didn't have good games. I just started paying attention more to the coaches and realize I don't know everything, actually I don't know anything. The coaches are so good working with the freshmen. We're just soaking it up and soaking it up, trying to get better and better."
Richmond Senior Peter Thomas
On Scoring A Career-High 19 Points:
"This style of play is great for me. Last year we had to learn the offense, but now that I have a handle on it, I know when to drive, when not to drive, and I know when to shoot. Coach Mooney has showed a lot of confidence in me, I have a lot of confidence in the offense, and I know that I have to score."
Richmond Sophomore Jarhon Giddings:
On Making His Key 3-Pointer With 3:18 To Play:
"I was really trying to get the ball into Gonzo in the post, but my man was playing off me and Gonzo was pretty well covered, so I just shot it."