First and foremost, I am really proud of our team. We beat a heck of a basketball team this evening. We fought. We were together. We showed toughness. It was a big-time win for us. The second thing, our crowd was incredible, and I’m so grateful for them. The energy they gave us and how they cheered. They helped us. They are a big part of our team. I have said this from the beginning. I love the connection that we’re starting to develop together. Our team. The crowd is a big part of that. I thought we were aggressive. Florida State has an identity of their program is toughness. Coach (Leonard) Hamilton has done an amazing job during his time there of creating that culture. And we are trying to create a culture here of toughness, and I thought we showed that today. For our guys to respond after a very emotional loss on Saturday with one day of preparation and to come back and respond like this is big-time. I thought everyone that stepped on that court for us gave us positive minutes, and we’re in the fight together. I thought we executed a game plan. We felt like in studying them, they had a couple of guys percentage-wise that has not shoot the ball well. We wanted to shrink the court and to clog up driving lanes. They are a team that likes a lot of paint touches. They like to drive it. I thought we did a better job of rebounding today - gang rebounding. Again, big-time win for us. McGowens was amazing again. For us to get to the line, I thought we did a great job of attacking, jumping into their bodies, drawing contact. I thought we did a great job in stepping up and making free throws. Really proud of our team. We get a chance to rest at the end of a very tough schedule as far as back-to-back games - Wednesday, Saturday and Monday. We get a chance to have a break and get prepared for a different style than we have seen in Syracuse’s 2-3 zone.”

Going back to Saturday there were a lot of times you guys were up five and you never really could extend the lead, how did you guys extend the lead today?

We didn’t for a little bit, it was kind of like deja-vu for a little bit. The difference was that we continued to get stops that kept us that we were ahead a little bit, and then Xavier (Johnson) hit a big shot that extended it and that kind of opened it up for us. I thought we had a little bit more poise in that situation. I thought the energy from the crowd helped us and we were able to make a couple of plays.

The freshmen played with fearlessness, how much have the freshmen developed into this or were they kind of like that when they got here?

That’s who they are - all three of them. One of the things I loved about them is we got to know them during the recruiting process and I said this from the beginning: all three are naturally competitive and you don’t find that a lot. They are very, very competitive, which means that they have a toughness about them and that they aren’t afraid. Not one time this year have they been afraid. I don’t think my team has been afraid and so we’re trying to develop that. We’re trying to make that the culture of this program: toughness, togetherness, and fighting every second you’re out there. Today was a big step to beat a team that already has an established culture.

You talk about not being afraid, is that what you see developing most since conference play started because now would be the time the team might start being afraid.

Yea, but if you just aren’t afraid - some people are afraid it could be like first game jitters. You could be afraid for that. First road game we played at Iowa, you could be afraid for that. First neutral site game Saint Louis, you could be afraid for that. We weren’t. In those situations we weren’t, we didn’t play great. We certainly did some things in some of those games that we showed our youth. I think we’re starting to grow up a little bit. Certainly it’s a little bit easier at home because you have the adrenaline, especially when you have a crowd like ours. But I don’t think these guys have been afraid from day one.

What has evolved or happen with Trey over the last 3-4 weeks that has made him more assertive?

He has just gotten better. He has continued to work, continued to learn, continued to adapt to college basketball and figured some things out. We feel like he has speed where he can get by people, and then he has athleticism and he has fearlessness where he is not afraid to throw his body around. He took a very hard fall in the first half but still continued to throw his body around like that. He is a guy, where if you really look, during the season he has gotten to the free-throw line, and he did a heck of job of it tonight.

How did Terrell play such good defense without getting into foul trouble in a game where they were calling everything?

I thought the way our guys executed the game plan, we wanted to shrink the court against them. They’re a team where they rely where a big part of their offense are paint touches and for the bigs are lobs. If you go back and study their games, they get a lot of lobs because your helping up on your ball-screen coverage against them. TB wasn’t strung out a lot. I thought our guys did a really good job of doing that, and he’s getting better. He’s working. The three games prior to tonight over a three-game period he’s averaging 9 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 blocks. The thing that I love is that he’s starting to play through contact. That’s something that he shied away from earlier. I think he’s becoming more confident and he’s provided a presence for us on both ends. I think he’s going to continue to get better.

Are you at the point where no matter who you play, no matter what they’re ranked that you can beat or contend with anyone?

We feel like we’re going to fight every time we play. I think if we fight and we can play with some semblance of intelligence, we’ll have a chance. Look, there are teams that we play against that are more talented than us - that’s the reality, but that doesn’t mean that they’re a better team. Just because you have talent doesn’t mean you’re better. If you don’t fight, if you’re not together, if you have a bad attitude, any of those things then you cannot be a good team. If you’re a team that’s together and you execute, fight, and have a little bit of intelligence - you can have a chance. We are continuing to grow in those areas.

In the second half you held them to 8-of-24 shooting and out-rebounded them by about six, was part of that game plan to wear them down?

I don’t think, so no. They play a lot of guys, so we didn’t think we’d wear them down. We just tried to shrink the floor. Percentage-wise, they had some guys especially in conference play that have not been shooting the ball well. I don’t know if that’s analytics or what, but we tried to shrink the court and clog the lanes. We didn’t guard a couple of guys outside the three-point line. I thought that slowed them down. I thought our transition defense was really good, we didn’t give them many easy baskets. I thought us valuing the ball helped us. I jus think we we’re able to execute a game plan pretty much perfectly, especially in the second half.

Xavier Johnson had a rough stretch where he had some missed shots and some turnovers, and you didn’t pull him. What led to keeping him on the floor?

I have confidence in him. I don’t want out guys playing afraid to make a mistake. I was fortunate enough I played for a guy in college allowed us a lot of freedom and I enjoyed that. I don’t take guys our for mistakes, I take them out maybe if they’re tired or if I don’t think they’re playing hard, but not mistakes as far as a missed shot. If a guy earns freedom to take a shot, so there’s never been a perfect player - they’re going to miss. The greatest player to ever play shot under 50%, so that means he missed over half the shots he took. I believe in Xavier and I believe in all of our guys, but I believe in him to make big-time plays. Even though during that stretch he turned it over, we have to continue to work with him on the reads off the ball-screens. This was unique because that kid (Koumandje) is so big and so long and they didn’t play it like most teams do. He was able to stay back and use his length and I thought that confused him a bit, but he was able to make some of the biggest plays down the stretch for us and we have a lot of confidence in him doing that.

Did you hear the crowd chanting about Duke?

I try not to pay attention to it.

Did that work?

Yes

You’ve been here a relatively short time and your crowd is energetic to that point you are noticing them and they are chanting about…

I love our crowd. I heard them doing the Florida State war chant. I love it, I love the energy that’s in the building. That’s the way I remember this program, and it’s one of the reasons why I wanted to come here, because I knew what it has been and so therefore I know what it can become again. To feel that energy in the building and to see the people, the students, the Zoo to see them excited again about men’s basketball is a really, really cool thing. Our guys love it, they appreciate it, and they feed off of it.

What did you think of McGowens’ hustle with the five steals?

He plays hard, and all of our guys play hard. I don’t want to just single him out for playing hard, all of our guys play hard. We have taken more charges this year than the past two years combined and so again we’re gonna play hard and fight. It may not always be pretty and we’re gonna make some mistakes, but they are going to be mistakes going hard.

Leonard (Hamilton) said you’ve brought a swagger back to Pitt, are you surprised four games into the ACC schedule that the coach of the 11th ranked team is saying that about you?

I’m appreciative of that. There’s no man in college athletics that I have more respect for than Coach Ham. If you know his story. There was an amazing story that was written a few days ago about him and about his plight as a man and as a coach in this profession. Throughout the years he’s meant a lot to me and to a lot of young coaches especially African-American coaches and so to hear him say that - that’s a big compliment. I’m very appreciative and grateful of that. Our staff does a great job from everyone - assistants, strength coaches - everyone that is in this foxhole with us. When I got here that was my thing, I want people that are in the foxhole. This is not a 9-5, this is a lifestyle and you have to be committed to it and if you can’t, you can’t be a part of it and you don’t deserve to be a part of it with the way that we’re building it, so I’m appreciative of that comment.