Opening Remarks:
I'm very proud to sit before you after a heck of a win on the road in the ACC. This conference – as I think you guys realize – is the best conference in the country. Clemson beat Cincinnati today. The success this league has had, and the success Florida State has had, really makes this a great win for us.
I'm very proud of the adjustments the kids made after halftime. I think they showed a lot of poise. We talked a lot about poise, we talked a lot about toughness, we talked a lot about togetherness.
At one point in the first half, they had two breakaways and the crowd really got into it. I thought about calling a time out, but said: 'No, let's see what we can do.' We execute a play and Sean May gets a three point play.
I'm excited to see these kids growing up. Those experiences at Illinois, Kentucky – I think really helped us here today against Florida State.
On Second Half Adjustments:
One, we wanted to get Rashad untracked a little bit. He wasn't really himself in the first half and I think his three off the bat was great and then he made a great defensive play bouncing the ball off the leg of Johnson, and I think that got us rolling.
I thought it was important that we come out with a great deal of energy in the second half. There have been a couple of games where I felt the first four minutes of the second half we didn't have that spark. We talked about going through warm ups really hard, being sharp, and really coming out with energy. Getting the ball to Rashad got him going, and I think everybody just played from there.
On the Contributions From the Bench:
They've been practicing really well. Part of Jawad's improvement has been from foing against David Noel in practice every day. You see the things he (David) can do, and Jawad's got to go against him every day.
We've been pushing Byron Sanders. Damion Grant's knee flared up after the Vermont game. We could have played him tonight, but Byron was doing such a good job that I didn't think we needed to. I think he had six points in the first half, and he really looked comfortable out there. It's great to see these young men growing up and having success.