Nov. 7, 2014
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GEORGIA TECH HEAD COACH Brian Gregory
Opening Statement
“We are going to continue to play one of these exhibition games every year and just kind of rotate among the schools in the state. It’s great to have Clayton State come here and play. I think they have a chance to do some good things this year. They have some new guys in the program and a couple of guys banged up a bit. But it is good for us to put on the uniforms and get out there. I thought we did some good things. Obviously there are some things that we need to shore up. A couple of things that we have continued to do well is rebound the basketball–which is a positive for us. And other than the free throw line, we shot the ball pretty well. We are moving the ball a little better. There were times today where it was not as good as it has been so we need to continue to work on that. But you can we have a lot of different guys that can do some different things and can get it going. I was pleased. It was good to get out here. We’ll take a day off and get back to work on Sunday.”
On his team’s defense
“We’re getting better defensively. There were some breakdowns. More so out of communication than effort. I think we are playing pretty hard defensively. We are big and long. We have to talk more though. In this day and age of texting and all that stuff, the actual simple communication can sometimes be the hardest thing to get these guys to do. We have to get a lot better at that. But, I thought we took a step in some key areas defensively. I thought are ball screen coverage was better. We have to guard the basketball just one-on-one better though. They (Clayton State) missed some shots because of our length around the basket that I am not sure of down the road the teams we’re going to play our going to miss those shots. So we still have a long way to go defensively.”
On the balance between getting new guys time and preparing starters for UGA
“It was more getting guys minutes. I didn’t want anyone playing more than 20. Two had 21 because of the foul trouble so Demarco and Marcus had to play a little more. But keeping everybody between 12 and 20. We did a pretty good job. That’s hard though with 12 guys basically. I wanted to see different guys in different situations and different alignments. I thought our point guard play was good. I thought at times, our off-guard play was good. Tadric got it going a little bit at the end of the first half. I thought Marcus did a lot of good things for us. And our post play was pretty good. I think you saw where A.D. and Ben were maybe a little physically overmatched or not at the same physical strength as Demarco or Charles. But those two guys have a chance to be pretty darn good players for us. I was pleased with that. The 16 turnovers are too many and the free throw situation is not where it needs to be. Unfortunately it was a couple guys. And we have to shore that up.”
On ability to play big or small lineup
“I think that’s one of the things that we have to be prepared for. I think our recruiting has put us in a position where we have versatility. With only the two seniors, both post players, those other guys have some versatility where we can go smaller, play four perimeter guys and one post or go bigger like we kind of have done. I think that flexibility will help us as the season progresses. The guys have to understand that in this particular game, because of how we are playing or what we need to do to be successful, maybe their numbers won’t be called as much. In the great programs, you are able to do that and the guys know that when their numbers are called, they better be ready. I think we are progressing there.”
