Nov. 11, 2013
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GEORGIA TECH HEAD COACH Brian Gregory
Opening Comments
“Give Delaware State credit. They really wanted to control the tempo by taking time off each possession and score during the “mayday” part of the possession – in the last 15 seconds. I thought at times we did a good job defensively. I thought we got out of sorts at times and at times we showed a lack of maturity in terms of what needs to be accomplished on the court and unfortunately didn’t finish some plays that needed to be finished.
I thought Trae (Golden) played very well. I thought Solomon (Poole), even though he didn’t make a basket, did some good things with eight assists. You kind of see the opportunities we have with multiple guards, multiple roles and different statistical areas that each guy can do a little bit of.
We did a good job at the free throw line.
My biggest disappointment is on the glass. We didn’t do a good job of rebounding. We won the rebounding battle by two, but we gave up 11 offensive rebounds. We missed 21 shots and only get four rebounds on that. That’s not Georgia Tech basketball and we’ve got to do a much better job than that.
On the play of Travis Jorgenson and Solomon Poole
I thought Travis did some good things for us in the first half, he just didn’t make shots. I think he had two assists in the second half and played a little better. Solomon was not aggressive enough on offense – at times – to score, but did a good job of passing. Solomon did a good job of making the extra pass and creating shots for some other guys.
If you look at our primary guards, Solomon had eight assists and one turnover, Trea (Golden) had three and three and Travis had two and one. That’s 13 and five and that’s a pretty good ratio from our guards. Our goal is total production there and I’m pretty pleased with that aspect of it because they took care of the ball.
On given up 11 offensive rebounds
They took 22 three’s out of 56 shots, so whenever you take long shots, it leads to long rebounds. You have to be very disciplined to rebound the basketball on long rebounds, because the tendency when the shot goes up is to run to the rim. Well, on those long rebounds, you’re running to the rim and the ball’s going over your head. So that’s one. The second, when you’re out of position – as I’ve always said — broken down defenses have a hard time rebounding. They broke us down at times.
On next game at Georgia
We’re 2-0 and obviously we’re making improvements and we’ve done a lot of good things. We’re much a better team and now we need to take another step up. We have a day off and then we have two days of practice to get ready for the game against Georgia. Obviously it’s a big game, because it’s the Georgia game. We need to stay focused on the things that we need to get better at. If we do that, the things at the end usually take care of themselves.
DELAWARE STATE HEAD COACH GREG JACKSON
On his thoughts on the game…
“Especially in the second half we got into a rhythm. In the first half we missed so many wide open shots. When playing teams on this level, you can’t afford to spot a team that way. I thought they did an excellent job of getting out in transition in the first half and making some easy buckets. We played pretty much behind the first half. I thought the second half we settled down a little bit more. We were able to get some transition buckets and were able to make some shots. I thought that was the difference for us to get back in the ball game.”
On frustrating Georgia Tech with their style…
“The game plan was to limit possessions. We’re not strong enough to give them so many opportunities, so we came down and possessed the ball. I guess with five minutes left we were only down by nine and we missed an easy shot. When you’re playing teams, especially on this level, you have to possess the basketball. I thought our zone caused them a lot of problems. They’re not a great outside shooting team…and they miss some easy shots at times.”
On 11 offensive rebounds…
“That’s energy and effort. I thought our kids are obviously smaller than Georgia Tech, but I thought they did an excellent job of taking up space and going to the glass. Any time you rebound the basketball if you look they had 30 rebounds and we had 28, we were in the game off the glass. That was a big key for us. We wanted to come in and just rebound the basketball and give effort, and I thought our kids did an excellent job of that.”
On this game being the first of two ACC games…
“That’s [the Clemson game] is going to be another tough game. We have to continue to focus on coming together as a unit. The reason why we play these types of games is to develop a team chemistry and team unity. You’re out there by yourself. It’s us against the world. That’s the mentality you have to have. Going to Clemson, we’re going there with a game plan. We’re not conceding just to come here and play basketball to participate. We’re coming to compete and win a basketball game, and we’ll do the same thing at Clemson.”
