Virgil Matthews is a 32 year old 188cm guard from Federal Way, Washington that is playing in Germany in the PRO A for BV Chemnitz in his second season. Last season for BV Chemnitz he played BV Chemnitz 99 (Germany-ProA) 30 games averaging 14.3ppg, 5.7rpg, Assists-2(6.1apg), Steals-4(1.8spg), FGP: 56.5%, 3PT: 34.3%, FT: 71.4%He played at Montana (NCAA) and in his senior year played  31 games: 10.1ppg, 4.6rpg, 4.0apg, 1.7spg, FG: 49.8%, 3PT: 48.4%, FT: 76.1%. In 2006-2007, he turned professional and came to Germany and played for KICKZ Muenchen Basket (Germany-2.Bundesliga): 29 games: 18.0ppg, 6.1rpg, 5.2apg, 2.6spg, 2FGP: 57.3%, 3FGP: 31.8%, FT: 66.5%. In 2007-2008, he played for Tacoma Jazz (IBL). In 2008-2009, he returned back to Germany and played for Schwelmer Baskets (Germany-Regionalliga). In 2009-2010, he played for Olympia Reign (IBL, starting five): 21 games: 23.1ppg, 7.2rpg and for Seattle Aviators (NABL).In 2010-2011, he played his first season for Erdgas Ehingen playing 32 games: 11.6ppg, 5.3rpg, 3.6apg, 1.5spg, FGP: 57.6%, 3PT: 29.4%, FT: 71.3%. He would play until 2014 with Ehingen playing 126 games with three seasons in the Pro A an done in the Pro B. He spoke to German Hoops after the 81-78 loss to Science City Jena.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Virgil for talking to German Hoops. BV Chemnitz suffered a tough loss last weekend to Science City Jena 81-78. When you look back at the last 1,36 minutes how did you guys lose control of crunch time slipping by allowing a 6-0 run?

You have to give credit to Jena for continuously playing hard and not giving up. I mean when you lose games late like that everything plays a part, I´m sure we could’ve executed better just need to get big baskets to finish off games.

If one looks at the stats one could name the 20 turnovers as a big factor for the loss, but honestly stop German Lars Wendt 2-3 times cleanly and you would have won the ball game. He attempted 14 free throws and made 13. What made this guy so hard to stop cleanly?

He’s good at getting to the line,  he is a smaller guy and I think he does a good job selling contact, we also made bad fouls that gave him so many free throws.

How hard have the last 5 games been for a guy like Greg Logins who really has broken out of his shell and produced past expectations?

Greg has been great really keeping us in the past games he’s been great on the boards and has been knocking down shots all season so its nothing specially different Greg has been consistent all season it just the numbers have gotten him more attention the past games. I think he’ll continue to do big things.

This was another close battle that BV Chemnitz lost and seventh tight loss of the season. You have lost the last four games combined by 13 points. Does it get more and more frustrating over time losing these type of games?

It is frustrating to lose any game but yes losing this way makes it hurt more especially with 2 games being at home and one being a derby. It makes it hurt a little more to let the fan down when they come out and give us such great support.

Do you believe this inability to win close games has more to do with the mental side than what is actually done physically on the court?

It is a bit of both I think for most people it is harder to stay concentrated mentally when the body is tired physically. And we have a core that plays a lot of minutes and so possibly that could affect us mentally down the stretch of games. At the same time there are no excuses these losses are just on us.

If BV Chemnitz had won four of those seven tight games, they would have 15 wins now and be in sixth or seventh place. Instead with four games to go and two wins from the eighth spot the team has to really perform in the last few weeks. How confident are you and the team that magic can be done

We have to take it one game at a time to finish out the season. Nothing can be gained by looking back on those games and what could have been. Got to just look forward to the future and I am confident that we will do what we need to do to get where we want to get.

Do you think that the announcement of extending head coach Rodrigo Pastore until 2018 was the perfect timing for the team to get that extra motivation to do special things in the last four games?

I don’t know if it is the perfect timing or not, but I think the extension was a no brainer, he is a great coach and has us in a great position even with all the obstacles that we may have within the team or the organization. I don’t think there is any extra motivation though everyone is on the same page and we know what we have to do to get there.

The last four games were close affairs, but in all games the club was well above it´s season average of giving up 71 points. What do you feel has been missing in the last weeks for the team not having been able to defend better?

We just have to do better containing guys off the catch and finishing the play with rebounds I think once we do that we will be hard to beat for anyone.

BV Chemitz can start a new winning streak this weekend as they tangle with Paderborn and the RheinStars within 48 hours. This season the two times where you played two games on the weekend, you have a 3-1 record. These two teams are below you in the standings. How confident is the team that you can come away with victories?

I think we are 1-3, but we don’t worry about stuff like that we look at it as we play Paderborn, after that we look at it as we play Cologne we got to keep the approach of one game at a time. We are confident but we also know nothing is easy or guaranteed so we just got to continue to work.

You suffered a close loss to Cologne, but easily beat Paderborn. What will be key in getting the win?

The key will be the same as we always have play our game, rebound and get out in transition, both teams have some similar traits but again we just take it one at a time.

As one of the leaders on the team, what is your biggest focus now in taking the best qualities in your game and being able to help your team play best?

The biggest focus for us I think will be to make sure we stay hungry and don’t think that because we played the two top teams close that it will be easy against teams lower in the rankings .

Your averaging four turnovers per game. With the season winding down, but the club still able to reach the post season do you channel your aggressiveness more in the decisions that you make?

I’m not going to change what I do now that would be a mistake. I’m always concentrated on taking better care of the ball but with the playmaking comes the turnovers too so it is a give and take situation.

How did you see the NBA trades recently at the deadline? What teams did the best?

Nothing big happened really but I think the Tobias Harris trade to Detroit will help them in the future.

Some of the older NBA players that played at different times are having a hard time giving Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors credit for their success saying they might not have had that success 20-30 years ago. Are these former players just jealous or why can´t they just give credit where it´s due?

Its understandable I think everyone thinks it was better in their day no one wants to be forgotten. I also think maybe they just want to see him do it a little more than two and a half seasons. He’s great though but everyone won’t always give you your credit, and I’m sure he doesn’t care.

Recently ESPN made a top 100 greatest NBA players of alltime poll putting Lebron at #3 before legends Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and BIll Russell. Do you see that as being justified?

He does some amazing things I think there are cases for so many players being in different positions but he’s somewhere near the top.

What was the last movie that you saw?

Trumbo Good movie!

Thanks Virgil for the chat.