Jan. 14, 2003
GEORGIA TECH VS. FLORIDA STATE, Jan. 14, 2003
Final Score: Georgia Tech 81, Florida State 74
Georgia Tech Head Coach Paul Hewitt
“That was a great effort by Marvin Lewis. Earlier in the year he was struggling about how to manage his new role in terms of being captain and being more vocal in the locker room and on the court. I think that detracted from his play early in the year, but he is much more comfortable now in terms of talking to guys and getting his message across. I can see him getting more comfortable in that role, and now his play is starting to step back to the level he’s played at the last two years.
“It was nice to see us shoot free throws for a change so those e-mails can stop. All those suggestions can stop coming in. Still, if there’s one thing we’ve really got to correct, it’s turning over the basketball. The first half I thought we played pretty well when we got shots up, but 13 turnovers really hurt us. We had a chance to be up by much more than 11 and that could have really changed the complexion of the game. I’ve seen Leonard’s teams play, so we knew Florida State is going to play hard every possession. They’re going to go after the ball, so you’d better secure it with two hands.
“Marvin has learned to move without the basketball. He’s certainly a marked guy for us. He’s certainly going to be well guarded and guys are going to step out on him and try to deny him the basketball. I think it’s a collective effort in terms of him managing his role, moving with the ball and us passing the ball better.
“It came down to free throw shooting. They had gotten it to about 69-61, so at that point we said to ourselves, it’s a free throw shooting contest so let’s keep our best free throw shooters on the floor.”
NOTING GEORGIA TECH: Marvin Lewis scored a career-high 33 points, the most points by a Yellow Jacket under Paul Hewitt and the most since Tony Akins scored 33 against Florida State on Feb. 21, 2000 . . . In his last three games, Lewis has averaged 22.7 ppg . . . Lewis made his first eight shots before missing . . . Tech’s effort from the free throw line was its best performance since hitting 92.9 percent (13-14) against Wake Forest in 1996-97 . . . Chris Bosh recorded his seventh double-double.
Florida State Head Coach Leonard Hamilton
“I thought Georgia Tech did an outstanding job in the first half of getting exactly what they wanted from an offensive standpoint. They seem to get the looks and the shots were falling at a high percentage. Most of the times teams will shoot somewhere close to their normal field goal percentage when they get open looks, but they shot exceptionally well tonight. You have to give them credit – they were moving the ball well and were a lot more patient tonight which created some good opportunities for themselves.”
“I thought our kids hung in there and kept fighting back, we just couldn’t seem to get over the hump. We had several defensive miscues and I thought Georgia Tech did a good job of executing its offense and made us pay because of those defensive mistakes.”
