Dec. 16, 2009
– GEORGIA TECH HEAD COACH Paul Hewitt
Opening Statement:
“The game played out the way they’ve played everyone all year, but our effort was not as good as it was [on Monday night at Chattanooga]. We took plenty of shots, sometimes you make them and sometimes you don’t. I just was not pleased with our transition defense and the fact that we couldn’t secure a lot of loose balls. That’s why they ended up having 16 offensive rebounds. If we can get that many shots every night, we’ll take it, but the defense effort, loose ball effort; we have to do better.”
On if the Yellow Jackets wore out Arkansas Pine-Bluff down the stretch:
“That’s how they’ve played all year. We were hoping to assert ourselves more efficiently in the first half and I thought we were on our way to doing that, but we just hit a lull and they hit some transition baskets. They were clearly much more aggressive than us, which led to them holding on to some dead ball rebounds because we couldn’t get our hand on the ball.”
On if the team is ready for ACC play:
“Yeah, I’m sure. We have a really good team. This is a very talented group. To use the cliché, we’re not always on the same page. We do our own thing sometimes at certain parts in the game. There were certain parts tonight where it just seemed like the light went on. The pressure looked good; we forced some bad shots and took some good shots. But, then we got settled back in and starting lolly gagging again.”
On being surprised if Savalance Townsend of Pine Bluff wasn’t more successful on the night:
“We did a good job on him last year, so sometimes that gets into a kids head. Sometimes, shots don’t go. He had some good looks, the shots just didn’t fall.”
On if the break from finals was the reason for sluggish play on the night:
“Usually you come out of the first game of finals and play pretty well. I think you saw that Monday night, we were really sharp. But, tonight, I’m hanging up the white coat trying to figure this one out. Again, this is a good team.”
UAPB HEAD COACH GEORGE IVORY
Overall Thoughts
“When you play a good team like that, you expect them to make runs and make plays. To me it was an outstanding performance by both teams.”
On Finally Going Home After a Long Roadtrip “Very anxious. Can’t wait to get home. “
On Going Inside On Offense
“Well, you have to be careful when you go in against those two big giants [Lawal and Favors]. We did do a pretty good job in there, but you look at those two guys, we looked at them and talked about them. I probably shouldn’t say this to Georgia Tech fans, but they are two first round draft choices.”
On Scorers’ Off Nights
“That can be credited to the defense that Georgia Tech played. They did an outstanding job on him. I think he missed shots which can be attributed to good defense.”
On Other People Stepping Up
“They played well. That’s what we look for our team to do when certain people are down. We need to have other people that can come in and score. Sometimes you have good nights, and sometimes you have bad ones. We also have a quality bench that can come in and do a good job for us.”
On Benefits of Playing a Talented Team “I think it helps us a lot. You can come in and compete against some of the people that we have played, and they should learn from it. I tell them that every time they play against a great basketball player, you learn, and even some of the moves they make on you, you should go back and try to work on that to help your game. I think it is going to help us a lot down the road.”
On Early Blocks on Gani Lawal and Derrick Favors
“When you go out there and you see two guys like that, it should be a challenge to play against two guys like that and step up and have some pride in yourself to play hard and that’s what they did. They just played. We are just glad nobody got hurt and everybody came out and played a good game.”
On Toughness of Georgia Tech
“They’re tough. You watch them on tape, and they are a very exciting basketball team. They have a lot of pressure offensively and defensively. They get out and run the floor which is what we look at and what we want to do. It was good for our team to see that kind of pressure all night long that they bring.”
