Nov. 21, 2014
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GEORGIA TECH HEAD COACH Brian Gregory
Opening Statement
“We talked about prior to the game that IPFW was a team that won 25 games last year. They know how to win. They know what it takes to win. Those guys know their system extremely well. Jon has done a tremendous job in taking over the program and recruiting those kids. He’s got a great relationship with those guys, and obviously they play extremely hard for him. And they played well and did a lot of good things. It’s a team that’s going to have a very successful season. Sometimes one of the things I always say when you upgrade your schedule, it’s just not the home and homes that you play – the Vanderbilts or the Charlottes that won again tonight – but it’s those one way games against teams that are going to be highly successful during the year. And IPFW is obviously one of those teams, and you saw why tonight. They’re good. They’re a good team. They put you in a lot of difficult situations because they stretch the court and take you off the dribble. They shoot just well enough from the three, and they did a little better in the second half. And then with Forbes inside, you’ve got to be aware of his post-ups and post isolations.
“I thought Demarco played exceptionally well tonight. I thought Marcus played a steady game. Obviously Quinton hit some big shots, and we got good point guard play. Josh, if he’s not leading the country right now in assist-to-turnover ratio, he’s got to be up there. At the same time, I wasn’t pleased with our progress. You know, I’m pleased that we won the game, that we played a good team and that we figured out a way to make some key baskets. But we have got to keep getting better. With this team at this stage of the year, it’s move on to the next day. And we’ve got figure out what we need to continue to do to emphasize on some of these small areas that we need to improve in.”
On team’s 3-0 start
“That’s the best we can be right now so I like that. We’ll be able to get some practice time in prior to the game on Thursday night. But there are some areas that we need to tighten up. Some of that can occur on the court and some of that can occur just by watching film and being a little more committed to what we need to get done. And I think that’s a big thing for this team. As I said, there are a lot of guys on this team that are now put in a new role. And when I say new roles, it’s not just they have to score more. But how they perform is counted on them. And that’s the new role that’s a challenge for guys.”
On team’s ability to answer back to IPFW’s offensive surges
“I thought we made some big plays. We got some timely stops when we needed to and we made some big baskets. I think Quinton made a couple of big ones. Marcus hit the big three and Josh hit a big shot. Demarco had a post move that put the lead up to 10 points. We responded well in the last eight minutes, and that’s when you have to do some good things. We got stops on the other end too, which I think was important. There were some mistakes defensively that were more so out of concentration than effort. We’re not at a point where you can make those mistakes.”
On Quinton Stephens’ play on offense
“We’re comfortable calling his number in some of those situations, and he’s responded well. If he’s open, he’s a very good shooter. And he’s one of the few guys that can hit from the three and also hit from 17-18 feet as well. He can hit that Dirk Nowitzki shot from the elbow. The one thing is that he can shoot over guys at 6-9. He can shoot over some of those guards. He needs to work on some defensive stuff, but on offense he was pretty good.”
On team’s success on the offensive glass
“We wouldn’t have won tonight if it wasn’t for that. But the rebounding has to be a big key for us. Getting second chance points, getting extra possessions, that’s very important for us. That’s a clear sign of effort and energy level, if you’re getting to the offensive glass. And for us, we need to take another step. Because playing with that energy and effort level now that we’ve got all our guys, that’s the baseline. That’s who we are. You have to do that. But there are also some other areas we need to tighten up.”
IPFW HEAD COACH JON COFFMAN
Opening Statement
“I’ll start by giving credit to Georgia Tech. They did a really nice job. They are a challenging team with the way they offensive rebound. They are going to give a lot of people fits. When you throw Charles Mitchell and Demarco Cox out on the floor at one time, that’s really tough to deal with. We like to go small and play faster than we did tonight. Those two guys are tough. We were able to get Charles (Mitchell) in foul trouble and out of the game at times, and that helped us with some runs and to stay competitive in the middle of the game. I think this Georgia Tech team has a great opportunity to have a lot of success this year. This game was kind of neat for me. I’m an Atlanta native, went to Marist High School. We played our state tournament here, I’d love to see it come back here, and it was really cool to coach on that floor. Our guys love coming to an ACC opponent and having a great challenge in front of them and competing. I feel really good about how we did compete, but not so much with our execution all the time, but our guys really competed tonight.”
On the physical nature of the game
“There was a lot of weight flying around the paint. We brought our weight and they obviously brought theirs. It’s a physical ball game. They let them play tonight. Steve (Forbes) has got it in him to finish, 6-16 is not who he is. He just didn’t have enough attempts. He is significantly better than what he played, but you have to give credit to Charles (Mitchell) and Demarco (Cox). Those guys were good defensively.”
On free throw shooting and other shortcomings tonight
“Steve Forbes was 5-10 tonight that’s not who he is. Mo Evans was in the high 80s last year, he was 1-4. We’re better than that. It’s disappointing. We spend a lot of time working on it. Some nights it doesn’t fall. With the free throws I think it’s just up in your head. I don’t think we played our best basketball early. We like to swing the ball side-to-side and our motion game is better than we showed tonight. I think our guys started out just a little out of rhythm tonight. We clawed to stay in the game, made a couple plays late in the first half. I think there was a stretch in the second half where we played to my vision and who I should have seen on the floor, but we played Georgia Tech. They will be a good team, they are a good team. They’re going to throw a lot of challenges at you. I shrunk our minutes tonight. Some guys played some heavy minutes. I’ve got some really good players on our bench. The problem is five of those eight guys from last year that were part of that special team with 25 wins, I’ve got a lot of confidence in those guys. I kind of ride them a little bit. We need to stretch it out, because we do have a lot of good players that can contribute.”
On Isaiah McCray’s limited playing time due to foul trouble
“Not having him absolutely hurt us. I mean he had 12 rebounds last game. We’ve got him listed at 6-1, he’s 5-10 and a half, but he can rebound. He’s a diesel out there. He’s as strong as any kid Georgia Tech has out there. He’s a phenomenal player and leader. When he sits down it hurts our team.”
