Georgia Tech Head Coach Paul Hewitt:
“For our team it’s unfortunate, this showing. I thought the toughness in the first half, getting down that early and battling back to have a two point lead going into the locker room. I thought we had pretty good control of the basketball game early in the second half, up 48-45, but from that point on Tim Pickett’s offense carried them and their defense shut us down. I thought the last ten minutes they just wanted it more than us.”
On FSU’s Tim Pickett
“Tim Pickett put on an offensive show here tonight. He’s a tremendous scorer. He’s a tough shot maker. I told the guys in the huddle ‘I don’t want to hear about him making tough shots.’ When he gets it going like that, we’ve played against very good offense players, maybe not better, but certainly as good. We’ve done a good job of keeping the ball out of their hands, but tonight he was just quicker than us getting to the ball.
“Those shots that he made, if you haven’t seen him before, you would say that he had a lucky night, but if you’ve seen him before you know that he is more than capable of making those shots. The way we play defense we switch a lot of screens and everyone had a hand in trying to stop him (Pickett).”
On Florida State’s NCAA Tournament Prospects
“If they were in any other league they would be in the Top 25, that’s for sure. They wouldn’t have four league losses, that’s for sure. They’re a top 25 team and they’re clearly an NCAA Tournament team, which you worry about in our league, guy’s beating each other up and the rest of the country not respecting how tough it is.
“What you hope is that the people that are doing the picking are knowledgeable enough to see that a team that is 7-9 coming from this death march, they realize that that team is a tournament caliber team. Nobody’s going to tell me that Florida State is not a tournament team, I don’t care what you say. No one’s going to tell me that. They play a tough schedule, they got some quality wins.”
Florida State Head Coach Leonard Hamilton
“In the first half I thought that Georgia Tech did a very good job of executing their offense, getting the ball down the court and attacking us. In the second half, at the beginning of the half, there was a flurry where I thought the tempo was going to get where they like to play at and I don’t think that tempo was very good for us. It seemed at that point our guys settled down a little bit and started executing offensive a lot better.”
“With about nine minutes to go, we had another rotation of guys come in and I thought that defensively we stepped it up a little bit and had some stops. Tim (Pickett) obviously put us on his back and made some key plays down the stretch that I thought that really made a difference and helped us beat a very good Georgia Tech team.”
On Pickett
“I wish I could say that I sensed something different, but Tim Pickett is one of those guys that comes ready to play every day. He practices with the same type of enthusiasm, he gives everything he has, he was extremely determined. He had a look about him that was obviously determination, he played with so much enthusiasm that he inspires some of the players. He was extremely positive. Everything that he said to the younger players and just had an air of confidence to him that was contagious tonight.”
“The thing about Tim’s play tonight is that he defended, he rebounded, and he dove for loose balls. He played a complete game. If I could, I would have slowed him down a little bit towards the end, but he was so excited, so determined, he was wound up and obviously it’s hard to calm him down, but that’s the way he plays. How can you not love a kid who gives you that kind of effort every time.”
“This is the first time, that I believe, that I can say that we’ve maintained a focus for 40 minutes. Even though we’ve won some significant games, it’s the first time from an execution standpoint, offensively and defensively, and just from a spirit and focus standpoint – I thought our guys were mentally and emotionally into the game for 40 minutes. We had a few instances where we made some poor decisions, but it didn’t affect our focus.”
ON NCAA Tournament hopes:
“I saw some improvement tonight and I’ve seen a tremendous amount of improvement the last two weeks. Hopefully if we can continue to keep playing, then the opportunities that we will have at the end of the season will take care of itself. The worst thing to do is to is to sit here speculating. That doesn’t do us any good. We have to go out and earn the right to be considered for postseason honors. It’s clear that you win enough games you making it too the NCAA Tournament. We’ve proven that we can be competitive at home, now we have to take the show on the road and take the next step.”
