Feb. 27, 2010
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– Georgia Tech Head Coach Paul Hewitt
Opening Statement
“We just kept telling them this is a grind it out team, they were going to run their stuff and it was going to hard to pull away from them. We were kind of prepared for when they made a run in the first half and when they made a run in the second half. But I’m glad that we got the win, and now we get ready for Clemson.”
On being aggressive defensively
“That’s one of the things that we talked about, especially having a week off. We wanted to be very aggressive defensively. We knew that we would have fresh legs today, and we kept talking about being very aggressive and trying to make defensive plays.”
On rebounding
“We had a little discussion about rebounds at halftime. They understood what we had to do.”
On offensive execution
“I thought that we did a great job of moving the basketball, making the extra pass and getting open looks. I got a little frustrated when we tried to over-pass a couple of times in the high paint area – I thought we would have been better off taking shots. Late in the game, I thought Iman made great decisions getting into the high paint and shooting over his defender. He made two shots that I thought really decided the game.”
On Iman Shumpert’s play
“When he’s good, he’s really good. The six turnovers, I thought at least four of them should have been shots by him. But he’s unselfish to a fault. You’d rather have a guy who wants to get his teammates involved than a guy who is taking bad shots. He’s got to remember that he’s a classic big guard – he can get into the paint, absorb a lot of contact, and still get a good shot off.”
“Always look at the foul column when you look at Derrick’s game – when you see `1′ next to his name, then the other numbers are going to be pretty impressive.”
Is the difference in Shumpert’s play just being more aggressive?
“Yes, it’s that simple. And decision making. I told him that the guy I saw in the last 10 minutes today is not allowed to leave until the season is over. Iman is the X-factor. He’s 6-5, 215, can shoot the ball, has great quickness, and when he forces people to help everybody gets easier shots.”
On the Clemson game on Tuesday
“Last time, it was a tale of two halves. In the first half, we handled their pressure pretty well and got some easy baskets. We didn’t handle it well in the second half and Zach (Peacock) had to make two big free throws. You have to handle their pressure. Obvously they will be pretty pumped up because it’s Senior Night for Calvin Booker. We’ll be ready.”
Boston College Coach Al Skinner
On effect of turnovers:
“No question about it. We mishandled the basketball, and it led to run-outs for them. That’s really what the problem is. It’s one thing to turn it over, but it’s another thing to turn it over and lead to run-outs for the them. It gave them easy opportunities. I thought in the half court, for the most part, we did a pretty decent job. We definitely did not handle the ball the way we should. You’re not going to beat many teams in this league by turning the ball over 21 times like we did in this game.”
“Our ball-handling was not what it should have been, and it’s not like it was one individual. We collectively did not handle the ball well.”
On substitution pattern:
“There was no message. I don’t necessarily coach that way. The guys sometimes need to settle down. Everyone that played tonight has been playing, so there’s not a lot of difference in what we’ve been doing. Sometimes when you do sit down, you get a chance to see the execution that needs to occur. To start the game, we definitely did not do a good job, but I think as the game went on, we settled in and did a much better job. The point is that it came down the ball-handling. Usually that’s a strength for us; today it was a weakness.”
On Georgia Tech’s defense:
“When you talk about blocking shots, there’s usually some collision. If fouls are not going to be called, then that’s going to allow shot blockers to be that much more aggressive. If fouls are being called, they can’t be that aggressive. No fouls were being called, they felt comfortable being aggressive. They attacked the penetration and came up with blocks. They’re very capable of that. That didn’t deter us from what we need to do.”
On Iman Shumpert:
“There real difference was Shumpert. He made some shots today that I don’t know if he’s been shooting that well this season. The other guys normally shoot it fairly well. I thought the difference today for them was Shumpert. He made some threes today that I don’t think at least the shooting percentage doesn’t say that he shoots it that well.”
