Jan. 25, 2009
– Georgia Tech Coach Paul Hewitt
On Game – “We talked a lot coming into this game about how Clemson was going to be physical. The last four minutes of the first half and the first four of the second half we got loose and weren’t as aggressive as we needed to be. I thought we settled too much on the jumper and in the first half we made poor post feeds. There were matchups we wanted to take advantage of but didn’t. There were wide open shots that we didn’t make, and that was the difference in being able to withstand the run.”
On Clemson – “Clemson is a pretty good team. They had that one run that put distance between us. We had opportunities and couldn’t take advantage of them.”
On Effect of Losses – “I haven’t seen any, there were times we looked so young. Instead of kicking the ball out when we went inside, we would get it blocked. There were just times we could have gone inside better.”
On Grant stepping up for Clemson – “They are a very good basketball team. They got physical and we didn’t handle it well.”
On Frustration of losses – “It is not a good situation to be 0-6, but we just have to get ready for the next game.”
Clemson Head Coach Oliver Purnell
On his overall impressions of his team’s performance: – “I thought we did a lot of things well out there tonight. We stuck to our offensive gameplan, we were able to get the ball inside. I would have liked to see us rebound better, but they are a good rebounding team. Defensively, our press led to some turnovers. Obviously we could have played better, but I’m pleased with the win.”
On the cumulative effect of the press on the Yellow Jackets: – “I think it did wear on them. At the start, they went to a smaller lineup; they started both point guards. We thought that could be an advantage for us. I think it worked, because they didn’t hit a lot of jump shots in the last ten minutes.”
On whether he expected a letdown from his team after back-to-back losses: – “I don’t think so. Sometimes they listen better after a loss, especially the way we lost to North Carolina.”
On his strategy for matching up with the Yellow Jackets’ big men: – “Just go after them. We wanted to occupy the big guys in there, and basically that was it.”
