Jan. 31, 2015
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– GEORGIA TECH COACH Brian Gregory
Opening Statement
“We played well in the last few minutes of regulation, but obviously we didn’t start off great. They (NC State) played well. Obviously, they’re a good team, and they’ll only get better. I thought our guys responded well in terms of not getting off to a good start. We did what we’ve done all year: we kept fighting – kept scratching and crawling. I thought in the second half we rebounded the ball well. We’re getting better on offense obviously. It’s a tough game to lose like that. We just have to keep fighting and do what we do. It’s disappointing. I’m disappointed for the guys, because they put in really good work through this 12-day stretch. We’ve had those four, and except for one, we played pretty well. We won one, and two other ones went down to the last possession. We’ve got to figure out a way to keep bouncing back. The guys have been great. I’ve believe in them and they believe in what we’re doing so we keep plugging away.”
On offensive rebounding performance
“Well we were great. We got the ball inside. We did a great job on the offensive glass, particularly in the second half. Our offense generated good looks. So that makes it easier to offensive rebound. We got good post touches and good hard drives to the basket. Even the jump shots were open, which gave us the opportunity to get the offensive glass. That’s always and effort area – your offensive rebounding. It’s something we pride ourselves on. Obviously with 22 of them, we did a good job today.”
On NC State’s performance and defending them
“(Anthony) Barber is a great player but (Ralston) Turner’s the shooter. Barber is an explosive player, but has been playing well lately, but give him credit he responded well today. We did a very good job on him in the second half. (Trevor) Lacey is a dynamic player because he can shoot the three, but has great strength and is able to put the ball on the floor. They are explosive offensively. We did a much better job in the second half, I don’t think in the first half our defense was where it needs to be. In the second half we did much, much better.”
On moving forward after the Loss
“We have to keep plugging away. I believe in what we do. Our guys believe in what we do. It’s put us in the position in nine of the games to win seven of them. We’ve got to play here or there and those are the plays we’re not at that stage yet to be able to make those plays. In the big picture, I think that the progress that the team has made is really good. We have to figure out ways to finish those games. A defensive stop, one possession, a free throw here, a rebound there.”
On the early deficit and comeback
“They were great. We took a first hit. It was very similar like what we did to Miami the other night. I thought we responded extremely well. We didn’t get out of ourselves. We stuck to what we do. We talked about a couple of defensive assignments that I thought we weren’t as aggressive or didn’t execute as well as we needed to. They got some easy post-ups in that first 10 minutes. We got some good looks in that first 10 minutes, but missed some easy shots at the rim. It’s like Marcus said in the first time out, “Let’s stay committed to doing how we do things,” and that’s defend a little better, rebound a little better and keep sharing the ball on offense. There was a run where we had three straight stops. That was the only time I really got frustrated with our guys in the span – three straight possessions in the open court and three bad decisions. When you’re playing in this league, you can’t have those. You can have one but you can’t have three in a row. Then Barber hit the three at the end of the half to put them up by nine instead of it being a one- or two-point game. We talked to our guys at halftime about that. Obviously they erased a lot of that, and by the way they played in the second half, responded well. There’s no question at all how well our guys have responded to the challenges and the trials and tribulations that we’ve faced. You’ve seen out of these six games, you usually see maybe two or three times a year. That’s tough. Give our guys credit, they get up the next day and get back to work.”
On putting in Quinton Stephens at the end of the overtime period
“He’s an 80 percent free throw shooter. He’s made some big free throws down the stretch in other games in similar situations. He’s a great free throw shooter. He executed extremely well down the stretch. You can look at 10 things here or there that cost us that game, not just those free throws.”
On Travis Jorgenson’s performance during the comeback
“Travis was good. That’s the most minutes he’s played since he’s been here, played a good floor game. I thought he defended extremely well in the second half on Barber. I thought he played well in Miami also. We’re at a different pace when he’s out there in terms of our transition game, which is important for us. He’s a freshman so he’s going to make some mistakes so you can see his development throughout this year no question about that.”
On the final shot
“Obviously, you’re coming off the free throw line so it’s a bit of a scramble, but I thought we matched up well. It’s not an easy shot. It’s not really a designed play or anything like that. He just took and blasted it up there and made the shot.”
On the team’s response to the Loss
“They’re disappointed, they’re heartbroken. They’ve had that feeling before. Part of what we do is to be able to take that hit and get back up. Unfortunately we’ve had a couple, but our guys have always responded well and I don’t expect anything different from them.”
N.C. STATE COACH MARK GOTTFRIED
Opening Statement
“We’re obviously very excited. A phenomenal shot by Trevor [Lacey]. We were fortunate that they missed two foul shots. Cody [Martin] made the best decision which was to get the ball to Trevor which is what we wanted. Even if he had made a foul shot, we had a play designed to get Trevor the ball. Cody got it and went right to Trevor anyway. When Trevor had a bounce or two and a couple dribbles and got somewhere where it was going to be a normal shot, the ball left his hands and I never doubted it. I thought that thing was in right from the time it left his hands. The lesson for our team was we just kept playing. We didn’t give up. We had a great start to the game. They answered it. They played very, very well. We could not get a defensive rebound. They did a great job on the glass and kept giving themselves opportunities with the second shots. We just didn’t give up. We kept playing and we found a way to win so we’re very excited.”
On early foul trouble for N.C. State forwards
“We’ve got four post players that I think are all pretty good rebounders. They beat us on the backboard, period. That was to their credit. A couple times we’re going to block the shot and take ourselves out of position. We’re not getting the block and now we’re out of position on the rebound. We kind of hurt ourselves there. We also tried to double them in the post a lot, and we were doubling them with our two post players, and it left one of their other post players open, and our guards had a tough time keeping those big guys off the backboard. That was the part of the game that was frustrating for us. We couldn’t get a defensive stop, because we couldn’t get a defensive rebound. But even with that we found a way to win which is amazing.”
On Cat Barber’s performance
“I think it’s the best game he’s had in a year and a half. What I like probably more than anything is the seven assists and the one turnover. That’s something for him that we’ve been talking to him a lot about trying to get six, seven or eight assists a night. Tonight his three-point shot was going down for him, and he made some big shots. He played a great floor game and controlled the game. He didn’t turn it over. Defensively [he] was very good. I thought Cat was terrific. As I said I think it’s the best game that he’s played for us.”
On play call on Trevor Lacey’s final shot
“Get the ball to Trevor. We had a game in December against Wofford. We get the ball to Trevor, same play, same action right in the middle of the floor. He makes the shot, but it’s literally probably 1/100 of a second where the ball still sat in his hands. So even in a timeout we said ‘just like the Wofford game. We’re going to run the same thing.’ Really even if he made one of the two foul shots or the second foul shot, we had the right guy ready to take the ball out. [We were] trying to set a screen for Trevor, and we had the floor spread kind of the way we wanted to, but he missed it. Then I thought Cody [Martin] as a freshman made a great decision and kind of stayed with the play. He still got the ball to Trevor right there in the middle of the floor. That was a great decision by Cody right there to not just bring it up himself or heave one from 80 feet which is sometimes freshmen might do. It worked out good for us.”
