March 3, 2011
– GEORGIA TECH COACH Paul Hewitt
Opening statement…
“Iman Shumpert continues to have a terrific year. I’m not sure if people have noticed, because we certainly have been up and down. Again, he’s had a great year and he played another great ballgame tonight. There were huge assists from Maurice Miller – getting the 20 points. Also, Mfon Udofia who hadn’t been playing very well and getting fouled out in such a short period of time. It was great to get a look from Maurice like that.”
On pressing…
“We’ve been pretty good with that all year, I think we’re leading the league in turnovers. We’re getting steals, we’ve got to people in mind like Glen, Lance and Jason, who are long guys on the front line who have long arms and quick hands”
On making changes to the trap in the second half…
“We thought we needed to make adjustments on the back line, our guys were guarding no one. We needed the big guys like Kammeon and Nate, it allows them to get an open player”
On being comfortable in the 2nd half…
“We wanted to run some offense. We fouled a lot at the start of the half. We tried to protect the lead. I just wanted to move the ball and take really good shots while running some clock off instead of just taking the first good one from outside – the fouls just concerned me”
On Iman Shumpert…
“I just know he’s a great player. Unfortunately for him we haven’t put up a record that draws attention from a guy like that. But the last two days in practice, he’s been unbelievable, and I told him that. I pulled him aside and told him that. He’s been so physical and aggressive in practice – he’s had a great season”
On getting the first road win of the year…
It’s good to get that one. It’s important for these guys to get some momentum. Hopefully, we’ll carry some of that momentum into our last home game against Miami and into the tournament. These guys just continue to play hard, some of our young guys may not know where to be, but they’re out there trying.”
WAKE FOREST COACH JEFF BZDELIK
Opening statement…
“I want to first of all thank our fans for their support throughout this challenging year. They’ve been awesome. They’ve been here for us and we appreciate that very much. As far as this game is concerned, all year long our offense has really hurt our defense. Simply because our decision making with the basketball, coupled with bad turnovers, has just really put us on our heels so often throughout the course of the year. Case in point, tonight we had 22 turnovers, and they got 23 easy points off those turnovers. Then it compounds all the time with our inability to rebound the basketball – they just destroyed us on the boards. 38 points came off turnovers and offensive board play for them. It’s been an Achilles heel all year long. We need to be stronger with the ball, we need to make better decisions, we need to dribble less and pass more.”
On addressing the same problems in every game…
“It’s that simple. We got off to a great start and then we started turning the ball over and giving a team belief and life. When we were in a good position, we just started making some poor decisions. It’s deflating when you constantly give teams easy points off the offensive glass and especially off turnovers. We aren’t ball strong, and then when we do attack, we have to make better decisions with the basketball. We always seem to take one more dribble instead of just passing the ball to the open man. I’ve got to find a way to get them to pass the basketball in an effective way.”
On the effectiveness of Georgia Tech’s zone press…
“Our angles were very poor. To break pressure, it’s very simple. You have to have someone behind the ball, someone in the strong-side alley and someone in the middle. At various times, we didn’t have anybody in the middle and on our pass back, the angle was flat. We dribble across half-court and pick it up. Sometimes they would even just take it for us. It’s the same (trap) we use, so we know how to break it.”
On Gary Clark’s career…
“I think Coach Battle said it best in the locker room before the game that he’s playing more minutes now than he has in the first three years of his career, but throughout his first three years, he stayed the course, he never pouted and his attitude was always team-first. Throughout the course of this year, he battled and led by example. He represents Wake Forest the way it should be represented. He’s an outstanding student and he carries himself extremely well. He’s always played hard, and he’s always enthusiastic. He’s always positive in so many ways. He’s a class young man and is going to be very successful in whatever he chooses to do.”
