NC Central Postgame: Player Q&A

Quotes from Wake Forest players following the Demon Deacons' win over NC Central on Friday. DeaconSports spoke with Al-Farouq Aminu, James Johnson, and Jeff Teague following the season opening win.

Al-Farouq Aminu
On being more assertive:
"It's a bit harder than high school. People are stonger and it has been a bit of an adjustment. Before the game, coach just said to run the court and it would create a more open floor for us."

On his season debut:
"I think I did pretty good. I missed a couple of open threes and a few free throws and I wish that would have been better. Other than that we did good. I don't think we got the ball inside enough and we shot pretty bad from three but we did ok for the first game. I think we took care of the ball better."

How is the team chemistry?
"We really bonded in the offseason. We all became like best friends and you like playing with your friends. That really helps with the chemistry."

James Johnson
On playing along side Aminu:
"We challenge each other. Coach gives us the stats at half and I was one rebound ahead of him. So later on we were at the foul line and he told me to take shooter and he would pinch and go for the rebound because I was one ahead of him. Then Tony Woods ended up getting the rebound and we were just laughing."

On playing the two guard: "I played a lot of that in high school so it wasn't too out of the ordinary. It was fun."
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On him and Aminu having the green light to bring the ball up the court:
"Me and Farouq try to help the guards out so they don?t have to push the ball up every time. When we lead the break the guards can run the wings and we can kick it to them or take it to the rim. It?s nice to have a coach that lets us play our game."

Jeff Teague
On Aminu's debut:
"He showed why he was ranked so high and came in with all the hype."

Thoughts on running the point:
"It's fun running the point. I like to score so sometime I have to think about when to attack the rim and when to set up a play. It?s ok. I played the point in high school so I'm fine with it. Whatever we need to do to win. When Ish comes back it?s going to be something special."

On his first half injury:
"Somebody just came down on my foot and we banged knees. It wasn't too bad. I'm fine."