Everything Interim Head Coach Bill Courtney Said After Wake Forest Loss
In this story:
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The Miami Hurricanes (4-12, 0-5 ACC) continue to lose. The same drug is being beaten over and over again and another loss has been added to the loss colum on the season.
The Hurricanes could go this season without winning a single conference game, which gives the next head coach a tremendous task ahead of him. For now, Interim Head Coach Bill Courtney is trying to find ways to motivate and encourage the team to play at an elite level.
Miami Men's Basketball Drops Fifth Straight as No. 4 Duke Looms in the Wing
Opening Statement
On the effort...
We gave physical effort and that's the first step you know especially when you have eight guys you playing um to give that kind of effort 40 minutes I thought was very good but we just again they made some tough shots you know good players do that sometimes you can play good defense but the offense could be that much better meTyler Johnson makes a shot uh Hunter SalI think made his last five or six shot over top of guys it wasn't like they were in contested shots he just did a tremendous job of being a really good player.
On the defensive changes...
Yeah it's difficult you know we tried a little bit of everything like you said we tried some Zone tonight we tried some different ball screen coverages um you know try a little bit of everything and that was the main uh agenda in every Hall was keeping them out of paint between them and the basket and you know for whatever reason we weren't able to do that um but we're not going to stop you know quit trying um we're not going to quit trying different things um and you know eventually something is going to work.
On Cameron Hildreth big game...
I said it before the game you know we we got two freshmen out there going against Cameron and Hunter Silas two terrific all-league players and we knew we were going to have a challenge with those two guys. Hildreth presents a challenge for us because he's so crafty around the basket and when he's shooting like that it becomes even extra dangerous because his ability to go to the basket his ability to make shots and he's a very smart player and a tough player. He was tremendous tonight I thought we did a better job on him in the second half but you know he's a good player.
Divine Ugochukwu update...
I don't know you know he tried to jug this morning and he couldn't do it and said he couldn't play and uh I'm not sure you know what going to happen we got two days opposite before Duke and hopefully he can get better before then.
On the Duke game and the Matchup with Cooper Flagg...
it's funny you know, Duke is very good. I mean Mike Young said the best defensive team you've seen ever right your size and length present so many challenges. Cooper Flagg had 40 today incredible players, generational talent and they got guys surrounding that are very good players also but at the end of the day for us it's about getting better every day right? We can't worry about Duke as much as we have to worry about Miami and we have to do the things that we've been concentrating on to get better doesn't matter about D we we have to get better and that's that's what we'll be focusing on
On Austin Swartz Returning to the starting lineup...
Yeah well since not a point guard but you know we're forced into that situation because of injury uh and I thought he did a good job I mean again for your first time out playing point guard in college in ACC team against a good ball club. You know Tyler Johnson saw him playing point guard and tried to go after him a little bit I thought Austin handled it well and I thought he had a good game.
On Lynn Kidd and his early foul trouble problem and shooting a ton of threes...
it's difficult because you know one of the things that happened to us in the first half when we got behind is we were trying to attack the pain and you know one of the things that we knew going into the game is weight force is very good at being in the gaps and preventing dribble penetration so when you go in there you have to be strong and play off two all right normally the open pass is going to be the kick out and then the extra pass and then you can attack a close out. We were going int here thinking that we were going to go to the basket and they were just ripping out our hands and we ended up with nine turnovers and seven of those were of that variety go in the paint and lose it and now they're fast breaking the other way so without Lynn the game we don't really have another post player. We're short-handed in that area until Kriee Huiee gets back and so we you know we end up with per players to shoot threes we don't have a lot of drivers so we end up you know shooting threes. As long as they're open threes and we move the basketball we can get a paint touch and out we'll accept that we got good shooters we'll make shots we take good ones.
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Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University earning a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Communications with a concentration in Print and Digital Journalism. During his time in Starkville, he spent a year as an intern working for Mississippi State On SI primarily covering basketball, football, baseball, and soccer while writing, recording, and creating multimedia stories during his tenor. Since graduating, he has assumed the role of lead staff writer for Miami Hurricanes On SI covering football, basketball, baseball, and all things Hurricanes related.