FSU Basketball vs NC State Quotes and Video

NC State Head Coach, Mark Gottfried:

--"We're excited about the win...we obviously had a great start to the game, offensively made some shots..more than anything what I'm proud of is that we responded after they made their run. Sometimes that's hard to do. You build a lead, you know the other team comes back and makes a run at ya, ties the game, now it's right in the balance and we were able to make one more push out, which I thought was very important."

--"Cat [Barber], late last night got a phone call, and uh, a very difficult time for him obviously. Some body who was very, very close to him lost their life...today at breakfast he was obviously grieving in a big way and he didn't want to hurt our team. He said, "you know I don't want to hurt our team and it might be better for me not to play."

--"If you have any desire at all to be in the NCAA Tournament--which we do--you gotta find a way to win on the road."

--"Today was big for us and our confidence. There's 18 games and very few of them are easy...any time you can find ways to win, especially on the road, I think is really big."

--"Some of that (losing their offensive rhythm) had to do with them. They defended us better...when you're making shots like we did early in the game and then in the last couple minutes...obviously everything looks pretty good when you're making shots."

--"Absolutely. At halftime that was a point of emphasis...I think he was three for four in the first half and two or three of those were when we lost him in transition...the second half we had a much better awareness of where [Devon] Bookert was. We tried to locate him on every possession, where he was, and we didn't want him to get going."

--"Yeah, them three are hard. But those 3 or 4 after, they ain't easy. They're all hard...we got 18 difficult, conference tests...you just gotta figure out a way to get it done" -- On how difficult this stretch has been coming off UVA, Duke, and UNC.

--"Ralston [Turner] came out of a timeout with a big three in the far corner, and then I thought Trevor, the shot at the top of the key, that was the dagger. You know that was the one."

Florida State Head Coach, Leonard Hamilton:

--"Our inability to keep them from getting those offensive rebounds, I thought, really made the difference in the game...they converted a lot of their offensive rebounds."

--"They're a very good offensive team. There's no doubt about that."

--"Lacey is an outstanding player. One of the best that I've seen in a long time at being able to make...what some people call 'tough shots.' We had a kid named Tim Pickett here and he was a 'bad shot' maker. Well, I'm not real sure those were bad shots to take because I think they're great shots for those guys. Those guys make shots that sometimes most of us as coaches don't let our guys shoot."

--"I was proud of our kids that we fought back, because obviously we got down a large amount in the first half, but I thought we settled down...from an effort standpoint I was pleased."

--"We played a little smaller today, only because they only have what you might call one traditional type low-post player and both of their power forwards were very difficult matchups for our 7-footers. Because they run their offense through their forwards an awful lot and they both are good jump shooters as well as drivers. So we elected to go a little smaller in hopes that we could defend them a little better. I thought that made a little difference...but when the game was on the line they continued to make their tough shots."

--"We did not do a bad job contesting shots in the first half. They just made tough shots. I mean you gotta give them credit, I don't think it was as much of what we didn't do as...they just did a real good job of making shots. That's what they do."

--"I think Coach Gottfried has done a real good job of recognizing the talent that he has on his team and he's letting them--allowing them to play to their strengths. I mean I'm not real sure that I could let anyone on my team come down and have the freedom that he's giving those guys to take tough shots, because he realizes that they can make them. When you got a guy shooting near 50% and another guy shooting around 45% from three, I mean hey, that's good coaching."

--"We have some guys who are developing, some guys who are getting some very good minutes, and I think it's going to pay off over the long run."

--"Brandon [Allen) has been defending very well in practice. He's longer, he's athletic, and he's absorbed our defensive principles. And he's shown us in practice on a consistent basis that he can go into a game like this and hold his own on the defensive end. He potentially is a good shooter, but he's, for whatever reason--I guess not playing for three years and playing baseball--he's not quite back to where we would like for him to be offensively. But I think it's coming...We're more comfortable with him now."

--"[Xavier Rathan-Mayes] just fell on the floor and peeled the skin off his hand in practice. So he's probably a little sore, but that's part of playing college basketball...he didn't seem to complain about it." --When asked about the wrap on XRM's thumb.

--"We try to make sure when we are not successful that it's obvious what our shortcomings are. You know we'll break every film down, we'll do statistical analysis on every game and we'll go back and show them statistically and visually as to where our shortcomings were in that particular game. We try not to allow them to be wondering what's the problem. We want them to have a clear understanding of exactly what our challenges are and try to go back and improve on them."--When asked about how a young team like this one has to keep developing

--"That happens a lot...you get disappointed when you feel that the play didn't go as well as you thought it would. That's part of growing up and adjusting...you gotta forget those plays and move on and that's a mental that I think sometimes our guys don't really make during the game. They allow themselves to be frustrated."

Trevor Lacey on how NC State had to adjust without Cat Barber and how his size helps against smaller guards: <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/dS_Do7-PGIA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Montay Brandon on being more aggressive in the second half, the play of Brandon Allen, and learning from these games: <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/iaF38wxfVaY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>