Q: What did you see on the foul call on the three attempt by Mallory there at the end?
Jai Lucas: We can't put ourselves in position for that to happen. I felt we were in position for that to happen. We just got to be a lot smarter and show our hands in that situation. You can't even give them the opportunity to make the call. You'd rather them have to bank it in or just miss it, miss it before you make that happen. After the main basket that I did,
Q: Did you contemplate calling the timeout so they could not just rush up the floor?
Jai Lucas: Yeah, I was trying to find the ref. I couldn't find him. But I should have did a better job of just getting on the court or calling the timeout or screaming it or something. But by it got it out so fast, just kind of happened. But that was the intention.
Q: Were you pleased as much as it seemed like you lived with two feet in the paint today? Were you pleased with that, even though sometimes you had problems completing over contest?
Jai Lucas: That's who we are. That's who we have to be. We're built that way. We have to play to our strengths. And that gave us the ability to hit nine threes, one of our best shooting games in a while. And so we like I told the team, this is like a Sweet 16, Elite Eight type of game. Things happen. It's one possession here, one possession there. You know, you wish you had something back. I'm sure they wish they could have something back. But we're right there. They battled. We did everything we talked about. A big part of what we talked about was keeping them off the offensive glass to limit them to only four offensive rebounds, which is one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country. To win the glass by seven, have less than 11 turnovers. We made our free throws. It's one possession here or there that kind of changed the game. So it's nothing really, to be upset about because my team played good. I'm just more frustrated we weren't able to pull it out in the end.
Q: You weren't able to pull it out, man. what did you have set up on the last play, and were you anticipating they were going to try to foul you before you could get a shot?
Jai Lucas: I did. I felt like they might foul, but it's also as a coach is in that kind of gray area where you don't want to foul with that much time left because it also opens up so much stuff where if it was 10 seconds or 8 seconds, I felt like they probably would have fouled with it being like 3, I think it's three points something, it puts you in that position where it's kind of like, should I, should not. So we were just trying to flood one side and kind of clear the back side for a flare, but the length bothered us.
Q: In terms of this being a matchup with a highly ranked team, you guys are right next to each other in the standings, despite the outcome, does this give your group a little more confidence going forward, or how do you view that?
Jai Lucas: No, I think we're right where we need to be. I think we have, we've been in wars. We've won some, we've lost some. I think we're in the part of February where we're confident enough in who we are as a team and what we need to be and our identity and our identity showed in the game. It's just a good game. You're playing another good team, so things happen. But, you know, we got another tough game. You're gonna play the hottest team in the league next. You gotta go to Tallahassee, Florida State. This is what makes the ACC so good is that everybody this year is competitive. You know, I keep telling people, I think it's the second best league in the country. I think the Big 12 and the Big 10, you can argue like 1A, 1B. I think we're right there after that.
Q: Mallory hit the three free throws at the end of the game. Just what'd you think of him, freshman guard?
Jai Lucas: Just watching him on film and watching him throughout the year, you know, one of my best friends is on staff at Virginia, so I watch a lot of the games. And for a freshman, the poise and the confidence, you know, I was telling the guys before the game when we're going through the personnel, he's kind of their swagger. He's kind of their personality, him and White. When they come into the game, it's a different level of pop that comes with them. And both of them impacted the game. And both of them hate big shots. The one White hit on the break transition. I know as a coach, you're like, no, no, no. I'm like, no, no, no, because I knew it was going in. But, that's just, and then to make three free throws as a freshman and go seven for seven from the line in a game like that, very impressive. They got a really good team. Coach Odom has done a good job just with his roster construction of fitting the way he wants to play. He's done a really good job. Anything else?
Jai Lucas: We can't put ourselves in position for that to happen. I felt we were in position for that to happen. We just got to be a lot smarter and show our hands in that situation. You can't even give them the opportunity to make the call. You'd rather them have to bank it in or just miss it, miss it before you make that happen. After the main basket that I did,
Q: Did you contemplate calling the timeout so they could not just rush up the floor?
Jai Lucas: Yeah, I was trying to find the ref. I couldn't find him. But I should have did a better job of just getting on the court or calling the timeout or screaming it or something. But by it got it out so fast, just kind of happened. But that was the intention.
Q: Were you pleased as much as it seemed like you lived with two feet in the paint today? Were you pleased with that, even though sometimes you had problems completing over contest?
Jai Lucas: That's who we are. That's who we have to be. We're built that way. We have to play to our strengths. And that gave us the ability to hit nine threes, one of our best shooting games in a while. And so we like I told the team, this is like a Sweet 16, Elite Eight type of game. Things happen. It's one possession here, one possession there. You know, you wish you had something back. I'm sure they wish they could have something back. But we're right there. They battled. We did everything we talked about. A big part of what we talked about was keeping them off the offensive glass to limit them to only four offensive rebounds, which is one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country. To win the glass by seven, have less than 11 turnovers. We made our free throws. It's one possession here or there that kind of changed the game. So it's nothing really, to be upset about because my team played good. I'm just more frustrated we weren't able to pull it out in the end.
Q: You weren't able to pull it out, man. what did you have set up on the last play, and were you anticipating they were going to try to foul you before you could get a shot?
Jai Lucas: I did. I felt like they might foul, but it's also as a coach is in that kind of gray area where you don't want to foul with that much time left because it also opens up so much stuff where if it was 10 seconds or 8 seconds, I felt like they probably would have fouled with it being like 3, I think it's three points something, it puts you in that position where it's kind of like, should I, should not. So we were just trying to flood one side and kind of clear the back side for a flare, but the length bothered us.
Q: In terms of this being a matchup with a highly ranked team, you guys are right next to each other in the standings, despite the outcome, does this give your group a little more confidence going forward, or how do you view that?
Jai Lucas: No, I think we're right where we need to be. I think we have, we've been in wars. We've won some, we've lost some. I think we're in the part of February where we're confident enough in who we are as a team and what we need to be and our identity and our identity showed in the game. It's just a good game. You're playing another good team, so things happen. But, you know, we got another tough game. You're gonna play the hottest team in the league next. You gotta go to Tallahassee, Florida State. This is what makes the ACC so good is that everybody this year is competitive. You know, I keep telling people, I think it's the second best league in the country. I think the Big 12 and the Big 10, you can argue like 1A, 1B. I think we're right there after that.
Q: Mallory hit the three free throws at the end of the game. Just what'd you think of him, freshman guard?
Jai Lucas: Just watching him on film and watching him throughout the year, you know, one of my best friends is on staff at Virginia, so I watch a lot of the games. And for a freshman, the poise and the confidence, you know, I was telling the guys before the game when we're going through the personnel, he's kind of their swagger. He's kind of their personality, him and White. When they come into the game, it's a different level of pop that comes with them. And both of them impacted the game. And both of them hate big shots. The one White hit on the break transition. I know as a coach, you're like, no, no, no. I'm like, no, no, no, because I knew it was going in. But, that's just, and then to make three free throws as a freshman and go seven for seven from the line in a game like that, very impressive. They got a really good team. Coach Odom has done a good job just with his roster construction of fitting the way he wants to play. He's done a really good job. Anything else?
