Jan. 15, 2004
Recap?|? Final Stats
– Georgia Tech head coach Paul Hewitt
“I was very pleased with out defensive effort tonight. Virginia deserves a lot of credit because when we had a chance to put it away, I think it was 56-39 and we stalled at 56 because I thought their defensive intensity picked up. They hung around. But obviously we’re happy to get our first ACC win of the year. Defensively, I thought we did some really good things, and that led to some pretty easy baskets for us. At this point in the year, it’s all about trying to get better. As you go deeper and deeper into league play, the teams are going to get better and they’re going to come at you a little harder. It’s about us getting better, especially at the offensive end of the floor. But as long as our defense continues to play the way we’ve been playing all year, we’re going to give ourselves a chance to win some basketball games this season.
[Lineup change] “Right around December, I sat those five kids down – Marvin, B.J., Isma’il, Will and Jarrett – and I told them, there are going to be times when we shuffle the lineup around. Any combination of those can start. So that wasn’t a surprise, and I think that’s one of the reasons Marvin and B.J. handled it so well. They came off the bench and gave us a huge lift. Certainly Will and Isma’il, with their energy early in the game, got us off to a pretty good start. That’s what I was concerned about. I thought the last two games, we started out really passive and we weren’t attacking. Will and Isma’il really go strong off the dribble and they’ll attack you. Isma’il got off to a quick start, Will got off to a quick start, and obviously Mo has been playing well all year.
[Combatting Virginia’s hot start] “We got a little more selective in how we were playing the post and how we were trapping the post. I thought we were a little over-aggressive early, but that’s okay. We established early that they were going to have to beat us from over the top. They got off to that quick start and made their first five threes – if people keep up that pace, you’re not going to win the game anyway. We made some adjustments and we did a much better job of when to go at people and when not to go at them and that led to four turnovers.
Virginia head coach Pete Gillen
“I think to be successful on the road, you have to rebound, you’ve got to defend and you’ve got to make your free throws. Tonight, we didn’t do any of them particularly well. We didn’t defend particularly well. We did a decent job, but not great and certainly didn’t rebound, they beat us on the boards, and we didn’t make our free throws. If we had made our free throws in the second half, we could have made it interesting. We’ve just got to be more physical and more aggressive and that’s something that we are capable of doing – it’s a choice. We can choose to be aggressive or choose to be not – we are not as aggressive as we need to be. More physical and more aggressive is something that we need to be.”
“Georgia Tech had some spurts during the game and we had some unforced turnovers where we just dropped the ball out of bounds. Twice our post guys turned the ball over, Tech didn’t steal it, twice they just dropped it out of bounds to different guys.”
“Tech controlled the paint tonight. They had 34 points in the paint and we had only 16 and we’ve got to be able to mix it up in the paint. I thought that Schenscher did a great job and dominated the paint area. We’ve just got to be more physical and aggressive.”
“It’s a game of spurts, and talented teams like Duke and Georgia Tech go on spurts, and we get caught up in it. They get a little lead, we get a little frazzled and get a little individual and get flustered and the spurt gets bigger.”
NOTING GEORGIA TECH: Tech has now won four straight games over Virginia and eight of the last nine meetings, including seven of eight games under Paul Hewitt and 15 of the last 18 versus the Cavaliers. Tech is now 19-6 against Virginia at Alexander Memorial Coliseum . . . Tech improved to 8-0 at home . . . Georgia Tech started a different lineup tonight for the time all season, with Will Bynum, Isma’il Muhammad and Clarence Moore replacing Marvin Lewis, B.J. Elder and Anthony McHenry, but Lewis (17 pts) and Elder (16 pts) led Tech in scoring . . .
Tech Player Quotes
On getting back on track — “It’s a good start. A home ACC victory starts us 1-1 in the league and now we’re on a roll. Now we just have to keep playing hard.”
On coming off the bench — “Coach has mentioned that it doesn’t matter who starts, just go out there and be productive. Whomever is knocking down the shots is going to get minutes and I started hitting them”
On different combinations — “It just brings versatility to our team. We bring a lot of energy the way coach subs. Everyone comes off the bench with a lot of energy ready to play.”
On playing Maryland in less than 48 hours — “Coach talked about Maryland right after the game. We have to move on from this win and get ready to play on Saturday. It’s my home team so I have to play hard.”
On the start of the game — “We don’t feel that we started slow, they were just hyped. We knew that they couldn’t keep that up the entire game.”
On starting — “I believe that was what coach was trying to do, get some energy right off the bat. Usually I come into the game four or five minutes into a game and he felt that I could provide a spark from the tip.”
On getting back on track — “It was a good feeling because we had two disappointing losses. Coach wanted us to get that confidence back, not that we lost it, but it was good to get that winning feeling back again.”