Wake Forest men's basketball coach Steve Forbes' media availability

Coach Forbes previews Virginia Tech and recaps the holiday break

Wake Forest men’s basketball coach Steve Forbes addressed the media on Thursday afternoon, addressing a variety of topics before the Demon Deacons jump back into league play. Read below to see what Coach had to say.

On the Holiday break:

“We were off from the 21st to the 26th. It’s probably the longest break, I've ever had in Division I. The one great thing about JUCO is you get a whole month off. Which is awesome for the coaches and the players. It's like having two different seasons. Obviously, Division I, we usually don't get this big a break, but I thought it was good for our players. Because if you go back to June, we had eight weeks in the summer, and then went to Europe for, you know, 10-11 days, came back at a very short break before school started, went 16 weeks before we started playing, played over Thanksgiving. So, this is really kind of the first time they've been able to really have some time off extended since June. I thought it came at a good time. Everybody was back on time on the 26th, I guess nobody was flying Southwest Airlines on the team. I didn't ask but my guess is they weren't. We had one practice on the 26th, two practices on the 27th, two yesterday. We'll go once today and once tomorrow before we get ready on Saturday to play Virginia Tech at noon.”

On Virginia Tech:

“Virginia Tech is a really good team. Mike Young, I believe, is one of the best coaches in the United States. I feel like his team is a reflection of his personality. Sean Pedulla could probably be voted the Most Improved Player in the ACC. I think Cam Hildreth would be in there too. [Grant] Basile is one of the best transfers in the league. [Justyn] Mutts is a veteran and can do a lot of things, great player. And [Hunter] Cattoor is a really good player and I think he was MVP of the (ACC) Tournament last year. So, they got a lot of really good parts, really well coached. It’ll be a really tough, physical game. We've been playing Mike for a long time. For many, many years. And so we got a good feel for that, and I'm sure he does for us. So I don't think there'll be a lot of big secrets coming out here on Saturday.”

On the schedule:

“We're in a tough stretch of our schedule. It started with the Wisconsin game. We play Wisconsin, Clemson, LSU, App State, Rutgers, Duke, Virginia Tech, North Carolina. It looks to me like seven of those eight games are against top-10 NET teams, whatever that means. We’re in a tough stretch. Obviously, every game is tough from here on out. We have four losses, three in the non-conference. As of today, I think all four of those losses are against the top 100. Loyola Marymount might be floating around 100, I don't know. I don't look at it every day because I don't really understand it. We went on the road, we played two Big Ten teams on the road, we played a neutral game against an SEC team, we had an SEC team here. I think we’ve played a very challenging schedule.”

On the ACC/Net Rankings:

“We have more teams, probably with better NET rankings right now that can help us get Quad 1, Quad 2 opportunities. As far as conference games, it's hard to get a Quad 1 opportunity at home because it's just 1-30. The Duke game was a big win for us, and we'll see if it holds up. Last year, against Carolina, that win didn’t. And that was wrong, because they were the National Runners-Up. They had a great year, a tremendous year. But we didn't get the credit for the win, which is why I don't really believe in [the NET]. It matters when you play teams. I was talking to the Conference Commissioner about this. Last year, we scheduled Oregon State because they're coming off an Elite Eight with four starters back and they didn't have a good year. How do I know that? We played Louisville when they were undefeated in league at the beginning of the year [when] Chris Mack was still their coach and we beat Florida State when they had their entire team. They were undefeated in the league to start ACC play and then things didn't go their way with injuries. A lot of these things you don't control, so that's why you gotta stay focused on what's ahead of you. That's why I don't spend a lot of time studying that stuff. Especially right now, because it’s going to fluctuate. But I do think the league is in better position.”

On lineups:

“Each player on the team has a defined role based on their body of work in practice and in games. We have a chart of our top 10 lineups. The best lineup we have is [Tyree] Appleby, [Damari] Monsanto, [Cameron] Hildreth, [Andrew] Carr and [Matthew] Marsh. I believe that that lineup is scoring about 1.24 points per possession, which is pretty good on offense and 0.71 points per possession on defense which is outstanding. We chart the offensive and defensive efficiency of every one of our players. Versus high major competition only. In the first half, we're scoring about 1.02 on offense, and giving up 0.84 on defense. That's really good. The second half numbers aren't as good. As you probably have seen. 0.91 on offense. And a lot of that is our effective field goal percentage which combines our twos and threes. We’re shooting 59% in the first half and 44% in the second. Why? We're not getting to the rim in the second half. Settling for too many jump shots. The defense in the second half is 1.02. Which is not good. Because we foul too much, our defense gets stretched because we get too worried about threes, and then we give up too many shots in the restricted area. I thought we did a better job of that against Duke . And these are some things that we'll be mindful of as we move forward.”

On playing time:

“For me, playing time is earned. It's not given. You play like you practice, you practice like you play. That's how I believe. I think each one of our players has his own unique strengths and weaknesses. They're expected to play to their strengths, stay away from their weaknesses. From the end of the season to the end of September, it's about them and their development. And then from the end of September to the end of the season, it's about us and doing what you need to do to help the team win. Each player on the team has a defined role based on their body of work and practice, and in games. Now those roles can change, as you play during the season or how you practice. You can’t have a good team if your best players aren't your hardest workers. You can't have a good team if you allow players to get minutes not to practice right.”

On Damari Monsanto:

“What I've learned over the years is that the bench sends a message from your butt to your brain that you better change or better fix something. That's it. I mean, he didn't practice correctly. I've said that ad nauseam now, and he didn't deserve to play. He knows it. And so he fixed it. And I thought he played pretty good against Rutgers. I thought he played pretty good against Duke. Now, here's the thing that I told him, I'll share with you. He can lead the country in threes if he took the right ones. As far as percentage wise. Granted, there'll be one or two of those games, but when he catches it off the pass with his feet set he’s outstanding. It's when he tries to put it on the floor, between the legs, whatever he's trying to do, those don't go in. I thought he had a really good day yesterday moving the basketball when he needed to, and shooting it when he was supposed to.”

On the health of his roster

“I think so. I mean, I think Jao is still looking at the injury report. Still got some soreness there. I'm not sure it's gonna go away for a while. Daivien, we had a long day yesterday, though. Second one was really hard. I think he got a little sore there late. Ty seems to be fine. Cam is probably the one that is still pretty sore from the fall against Duke. Yeah, I mean, you know, it's just that time of year. But we've got everybody available.”

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