Nov. 25, 2012
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Georgia Tech Coach Brian Gregory
“Very proud of our guys. We beat a very, very good team today that’s well coached with some big time experience and has a premier player. We needed to play extremely well and we responded after a disappointing loss to Cal. I thought we played for 30 minutes on Friday, but when you play teams like Cal and Saint Mary’s you need to compete for 40 minutes, and that’s exactly what we did. Brandon didn’t have his best game the other night, and we need to have everybody. I was really proud of how he played tonight. He did a tremendous job. As important as his points were, he did a tremendous job on defense. Total team effort tonight.
- (On Dellavedova) We’re pretty good defensively, and we could be really, really good if we rebound a little bit better. We have four perimeter players that have size and strength or quickness. We kept different guys on him. We used our size when we had bigger guys on him, or we used our quickness. We kept active hands, and he still makes some of the most amazing passes. But we made him work for everything that he got. I’m just pleased with the way out guys responded to that challenge.
Player Brandon Reed
(On confidence after tonight) – “It will give us great confidence. We need to hit it from the inside first and be ready to shoot and knock it down. This game will raise the confidence of the guards.
- (key to 11-2 run) Defense. We stepped it up on D, everyone was dialed in and we made shots. Making shots makes it easier. Our defense is always there, and when our defense gets going we’re hard to beat.
- Australian Olympian Matthew Dellavedova of Saint Mary’s posted one of the DIRECTV Classic’s top scoring performances with 32 points against Drexel Thursday. He led all DIRECTV Classic scorers with 48 points for two games, but finished with five points and eight assists in the Gaels’ 65-56 setback to Georgia Tech. Dellavedova was the only Saint Mary’s player to average in double-figures in scoring for the tournament as the Aussie had 13 assists for the three games.
- Georgia Tech had two players average in double-figures for the DirecTV Classic as Mfon Udofia scored 36 points and had eight assists for the three games while making 14 of 28 shots from the field. Marcus Georges-Hunt scored 33 points for the three games with 14 rebounds.
Saint Mary’s Coach Randy Bennett
“We didn’t play well in the first half offensively. We’re struggling bad offensively. People are trying to make it hard for Matt to score. We can’t be the team where Matt has to get 30 to win. We have much better players than that, and we have to figure that out as a team. In the first half, we were winning ugly. There aren’t that many possessions in that game. We’re so bad in that area, that we can’t finish a game. We were pretty good defensively, we were very good on the boards, but you have to give yourself a chance offensively. To be honest with you, I’m a little surprised at where we are offensively. We should be doing better than we are. We have good players, and they’re better than they’re playing. In the course of time, they’ll work themselves out; this tournament was good, it exposed some things. We’ve had four good games this season, we’ve won two lost two. Winning at Utah State was a good win, and Drexel. I thought we had a chance to win both nights but we’re not executing.
- (on Matt Dellavedova) They’re going to make it tough for him to get the ball back. They’re going to make him give it up which is fine, we saw that all year last season. If they want to play that way, Matt may not get 15. But he’s going to make the shots he gets. If a team wants to take a guy out, they can. We know how to play out of that, and that’s where I’m a little surprised. We’ve got to go back to work. We’re going to see that until we can play through it and beat it.
Player Stephen Holt
“We’re six games into the season, we lost key seniors last season, we need guys to set up and fill their roles. We need to correct things offensively. I need to step p and make shots.
- First five minutes of the 2nd half we didn’t come out with the same intensity of the first half. We should come out with the same greediness we had in the first half. We need to continue to take steps in the right direction as a team and not digress. We have a whole week of practice before our next game, and we’ll work it out.
