Dec. 14, 2009
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery
Head Coach Paul Hewitt
On the game…
“We wanted to get the ball inside right away, and for some reason we didn’t execute the play. It led to a turnover and [Chattanooga] came down and knocked down a three. I just rolled my eyes and said here we go. I thought the last five minutes of the first half and certainly in the second half, we started to execute things both offensively and defensively. We got a good win considering it was the first true road game. It’s a good opportunity and a good experience for our guys.”
On the post position…
“They are good players. The first play was supposed to go inside and for some reason we broke it off. We establish both Gani [Lawal] and Derrick [Favors], we have a chance of being a very good team. If we don’t respect what we have there then we can look pretty sloppy at times.”
On finishing out the first half…
“I thought [Maurice] Miller and Nick Foreman came off the bench and gave us great energy defensively and settled us down. Our freshmen in their first road game played like freshmen. I didn’t think Derrick [Favors] was particularly assertive in the post. He had five turnovers. Brian [Oliver] wasn’t his normal self and Mfon [Udoifa] had four turnovers. I think the physical play, the intensity and the energy that the home team played with kind of caught those guys by surprise. I thought Nick [Foreman], [Maurice Miller] and of course Gani [Lawal] was tremendous getting us to settle down and just play.”
Junior Gani Lawal
On play while with the ball…
“I just want to make quick, decisive moves. Obviously, some teams will double and some won’t, but that’s depending on how they’re playing. I just want to make good moves and make good decisions whether it’s a quick shot or a quick pass.”
On Chattanooga’s double team…
“They were pretty physical. Coming into the game, we scouted them and looked at a lot of film. We knew that they would double hard so we just have to be smart, take our time and attack it.”
Head Coach John Shulman
General thoughts on the game…
“I don’t want to do that again. I watched them on tape and watched the two big guys on tape. We knew we would have a tough time guarding them. I am still in belief that we don’t have to beat Georgia Tech to go to the NCAA tournament. In turn, I can’t go out there and play a packed in 2-3 zone. I can’t do it because that is not who we are. We challenged our guys. I don’t have to play against [Derrick] Favors or [Gani] Lawal in the Southern Conference. In turn, we challenged them and we just guarded two of the best post players in America. Hopefully, this will make us better. If it doesn’t then we don’t need to be playing these games. Hopefully, it makes us better. We grow from it and move on. [Georgia Tech] that is a basketball team built to have a lot of success. To tell you the truth, they don’t have a gimmick. They aren’t a pressing team, or a this team or a that team. They can guard you in the half-court and score on you in the half-court. They are a good team.”
On Favors and Lawal…
“We doubled [Al] Horford and [Joakim] Noah and they scored six points apiece against us. We could block those guys out. These guys are special. I am telling you. They are offensively gifted, strong, play hard, and well coached. I think they are two of the best in the country. I think they have the best front line in the country. I saw it on tape, and I saw it in person. I would rather watch it on tape. Actually, I would rather wash it on TV. I don’t want to see them in person anymore, and I don’t think we will have to see them in person again this year or next year. They aren’t going to be around Georgia Tech next year.”
On offense and defense…
“I look to [David] Conrady during the game. I talked to Teddy Valentine and Mike [Wood]. We looked like a team that lost five starters. That is what a team looks like. We are still down to 10 scholarship guys. Maybe, if you’re Georgia Tech you can do that, but you can’t do that at Chattanooga. I am counting on Troy Cage to be a good player for us, and he is over on the bench with a rod in his shin. Dontay Harvey has experience and has a cast on his arm. Chris Early has practiced for two weeks. This is Ty Patterson’s second game of the year. We didn’t have enough Jimmy’s and Joe’s. The X’s and O’s were fine. There will be a lot of people that won’t have enough have enough Jimmy’s and Joe’s against Georgia Tech. [Derrick] Favors ducks in on Jeremy [Saffore], catches the ball and it is like he is playing on a Nerf hoop, that is a problem. But I could have been hard headed, packed it in and played zone. I can’t do that, that is not who I am. We are going to guard, and be tough guys. I am going to challenge them, it is not going to be fun to go through at times. We could have held the zone, but that is not who I am.”
On Glen Rice…
“Glen Rice has come to team camp for the last three summers. He hasn’t made that many threes at summer camp. Then, he goes and does that, that is just par for the course. That’s okay.”
On battling in the game…
“The whole thing is a great experience. I thought we battled in the first half. I thought we deserved better than being down 19 in the first half. We battled our guts out and to keep on battling when the ball isn’t going through the basket is a hard thing to do. We probably battled for 30 minutes. Then we just got frustrated, tired, and sick and tired of the ball going out. We got sick and tired of the ball going into two [NBA] lottery picks. Then [they] turn around and just dropping the ball in. It gets old. You have to be an unbelievably mature basketball team to keep on plugging. We went for 30 minutes. There are some positives, but we will have to look hard to find them.”
On Ty Patterson…
“You don’t expect him to miss three free throws at a crucial time, when you are trying to hang in the game. I think he missed three free throws in a row. Then, they came down and scored a tough basket, that is a six point swing. That is a big swing especially when you are hanging on for dear life.”
On Georgia Tech…
“Credit to them, they are ranked 15th in the country. They are probably a top 15 team in the country. They couldn’t play with your Kentucky team. Very few people could. Those two big kids are special. [Gani] Lawal is special, he is tough. They have a good team.”
On goals for the game…
“I could stick [Nicchaeus] Doaks, Khalil [Hartwell], and KG [Kevin Goffney] as seniors into the post and that still would have been all we had. You tell me who is going to score against those two big guys. Nobody in the Southern Conference. My goal was to shoot 40 three’s and let them shoot 40 threes. We shoot 38 and they shoot 16. We knew we weren’t going to score with the ball inside. Very few people are going to score the ball inside against them. They have two [NBA] lottery picks. I am not talking about the Tennessee Lottery, but the NBA lottery. Those are two lottery picks. For us to be in kind of a rebuilding mode, we lost an awful lot. To play two lottery picks with young and inexperienced guys is a difficult to do. I challenged them, and we hung in there for a little bit. They are just too good. We will grow and learn. I thought they played good. They had been off forever, and we just played Saturday. We only had one day to prepare.”
Junior Ridge McKeither
On Georgia Tech’s physicality…
“They are a very good team. They are strong in the post. They handle their business down there. We gave our best in the first half. Not saying we did terrible in the second half, but we could have done much better in competing harder in the second half.”
Sophomore Keegan Bell
On tonight’s game…
“Frustrating, but they are a good team. I am proud of our effort. I felt like we didn’t give up and that we didn’t back down. They have big, strong guys, but I felt that the majority of our guys out there went hard and played till the buzzer rang. It is just frustrating to give up that many points. I give credit to Georgia Tech. They are a well coached team and have a lot of talent. They are going to do very well the rest of the season.”
On Georgia Tech’s physicality…
“They are big and physical. They don’t just have one monster down there, they have a couple. We were going down to double, but they had moves, where they would turn around and score before we got down there. It was hard to guard. We struggled, it was disappointing. We put them on the foul line so much. We wanted to be physical and try to set the tone physically but fouling was not smart and that was not what Coach [Shulman] wanted to do. I think that helped them get on a roll. Once a team starts hitting free throws and knocking them down, that boosts their confidence. I think that is what happened tonight.”
Senior Ty Patterson
On Georgia Tech’s physicality…
“We fought back, played defense. We rebounded and I guess we messed up on our defense execution. They had easy buckets all night. We did our best to help. But at the same time, they are NBA guys and they score. They have moves down there no matter how much pressure we put on them.”
