Q. For either of the players. Florida State, their length and their height how much do you think that disrupted what you wanted to do offensively?
KYLE GUY: I think they’re a very athletic team very long like you said. It did disrupt us a little bit and we’ll watch the tape and I think it was very evident what we needed to fix and we’ll be ready come next week.
TY JEROME: They were just the tougher team tonight. More physical tonight. All of it.
Q. How do you get your team ready for post-season now?
TONY BENNETT: Yeah, well I think grow from this experience. We had some chances to win the game. I think we went up one. But Florida State played well, they defended well, they were sound and tonight they were the tougher team, or more physical — they’re physical that way. So we look at the things we can clean up and you always have a growth mindset, that’s the way it is. Get our rest and get ready to go. And again the play on the glass, was just a lot of areas that you look at that will be good on tape to grow and then prepare for wherever we’re at in the NCAA tournament.
Q. What lessons did you learn both yesterday and tonight that you can carry on and use as good knowledge for moving into the NCAA tournament?
TONY BENNETT: Well, I think when you get into this kind of setting, the possessions matter. So you can’t have empty possessions or some of the things that, I don’t know if you want to say self-inflicted wounds, but if we miss a block or we miss a coverage we’re not going to be perfect. But I think that we have just been, these guys have been amazing all year and we have always found ways to pull it out. And sometimes that’s a good reminder when you can’t pull it out, we got to tighten the screws in other areas and be ready. But hat’s off to Florida State. That’s a well-coached, good team. Nichols was so good tonight, even at times when we did guard him he just made some shots in our face and their length is noticeable.
Q. What did Florida State do differently tonight than you guys did back in January?
TONY BENNETT: It was quite awhile ago, I think they shot it better. They were so balanced in their scoring. We probably didn’t, obviously did not shoot it as well and I think they defended, they were a little tighter on us and played a more physical game and sometimes at this stage of the year the game is more physical.
Q. Ty, you struggled shooting both nights here. Was there anything about this setting this venue or why did you feel little off?
TY JEROME: I don’t know sometimes the ball doesn’t go in. Just go back, get back to Charlottesville get back in the gym and get ready for our next game.
Q. Kyle, how would you assess the team’s play defensively overall given that Florida State shot 56 percent, you held it them to 34 percent the first time you guys played them.
KYLE GUY: I think coach and Ty really hit the nail on the head, they were the tougher team, they were trying to penetrate and kick out or finish at the rim and they got to the paint a lot and that bothers us and it’s very repetitive but we’ll watch the tape and we’ll be better from it.
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Q. What kind of scouting report did you have on Nichols? I don’t remember him doing a whole lot the first time?
TONY BENNETT: No, you watch them, Florida State’s good because they have one guy I think in double figures and then maybe they have a second guy, but they’re balanced and they play a lot of guys and he’s capable. He’s really capable as we have seen, but you could see where he would back us down and just kind of go over the top. He hit one a couple on Kihei, did it on De’Andre, he was rolling tonight and we couldn’t quite bother him enough and we tried to get a double to him. And when we needed to get a stop we couldn’t come up with a key defensive rebound so those things kind of hurt us to give him second chance opportunities.
Q. For all three, what are your thoughts on now after three months of fighting the wars of ACC getting a chance to play somebody different next week?
TONY BENNETT: Well incredible regular season, incredible year for these guys. They have played well. And this tournament last year we were fortunate to win the regular season title and the conference tournament. This year we weren’t. Now we go into another tournament. We always talk about it, it’s 40-minute territory, that’s kind of what we have been talking about and if you’re not sharp for the majority of those minutes or possessions, you get beat. And then you’re out of that tournament.
KYLE GUY: Yeah, I don’t think this is anything to hang our hat on. We got three losses on the entire year, six in the last two years, so I’m nothing but excited for next week.
TY JEROME: Yeah, it’s going to be painful not to play tomorrow, but I remember we cut down the nets in the ACC tournament last year and we didn’t like the way our season ended. So this isn’t the end all, be all by any means, so just about trying to figure out how much better we can get from now to Thursday or Friday.
Q. You didn’t get much scoring off your bench either two nights, is that any concern going ahead?
TONY BENNETT: Yeah, I think that when we played them in way back, we did get some scoring. I think Braxton had a big game and you could see how they were really contesting. Kyle and Ty making shots hard, De’Andre got some stuff. But balanced scoring, which is what they had against us, is always very tough. And we weren’t, I didn’t think we were as productive or as efficient, of course, offensively. But we can talk offense all you want, sometimes that’s going to come and go, you got to be able to stand in there and get the stops and if you can’t do that, it’s hard to be successful.
Q. First time really that Kihei’s lack of size proved to be a liability. Teams have tried to post him before and you’ve always been able to adjust and cover. What did Florida State do tonight that made that more difficult?
TONY BENNETT: It wasn’t like they posted him. That guy, again, he hit a couple shots over a lot of guys, he did it over De’Andre, he was just, he was cooking. But he used his physicality and he sort of whatever you want to say, backed a guy down and then just jumped up and shot over the top or made some plays off the bounce, as he did against a couple guys. So you just try to contest those and bother him and even when we had some length he did it too.
Q. Curious, both halves, first half here in Charlotte the offense seemed to be struggling to get going. Is there anything that was happening there, because you made adjustments last night but today it didn’t seem to happen?
TONY BENNETT: I guess I didn’t make good adjustments at halftime, so that’s it. No, you get into this part of the year and this post-season and the defense cranks up, the physicality increases, and probably the game even slows down some. And so again the ability to, you got to knock down shots when you get them, but it was hard fought. We played a team that was very good defensively and to beat a team like that, you have to stop them and then be very efficient when you have your chances.
Q. Kyle just laid it out, you’ve only loss six times in two years. In this league. What do you believe your team’s potential to be in this NCAA tournament?
TONY BENNETT: Yeah, I mean I think we know what we have to do to be successful. You know it’s a one-game tournament, you just go 1-0, that’s always the way. But these guys have showed when we’re right and we’re efficient offensively and hard to score against, we play at a very high level and these guys have been so sound and so smart all year. But we also realize that we’re susceptible as every team is in this tournament and sometimes that’s as valuable to know instead of thinking you’re invincible. So if we play well, hopefully we can go 1-0 and then we’ll address the next one.
Q. Do you subscribe at all to the idea that taking a loss at this time of year, this stage of the game might help bring everything into focus for your guys going into next week?
TONY BENNETT: I do now.
(Laughter.)
No, you just, all right, we lost, we’ll get some extra rest for these guys, we’ll grow as we said, learn from the tape, and you take the hand that’s dealt and you make the most of it. We would have loved, I wanted these guys so bad to get a chance at a title fight is what we said again, but that didn’t happen. It wasn’t that their effort was poor or anything, but now we’ll use it to the best of our, or to our advantage.
Q. Really for all of y’all, it’s probably hard to think in the bigger picture right now, but you are a lot more elite offensively this year in your body of work than last year and you seem to be healthier too. So how does that impact you guys feeling like you have more weapons this year than you did last year and assumedly better health also?
TONY BENNETT: Yeah, I think versatility is very important and again their offensive efficiency numbers have been very good this year and tonight they weren’t, but we probably didn’t — again we didn’t defend well enough, but that’s healthy, I hope everybody came out of this game unscathed and we’ll get the rest and then attack the next one.
KYLE GUY: Yeah, really excited to play and very happy that nobody’s hurt, like coach said. And every loss we have ever taken we learn from it and just excited to play.
TY JEROME: Yeah, I think they improved the improved offense has been very good for us throughout the year but more times than not it’s going to come down to how well we defend and how tough we were throughout the game and today we weren’t the tougher team and when we’re not that’s what happens.
Q. Sorry you’ve been asked this but if not are you beginning to think Charlotte is a jinx, this place that you’ve had some rough outings here?
TONY BENNETT: Yeah, well, I got to live out my dream of playing in the NBA, I met my wife, got to play a good game yesterday, I think I’m pretty blessed, so I’m okay.
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