Feb. 3, 2005
– GEORGIA TECH HEAD COACH Paul Hewitt
“Certainly grateful for the win. I thought we could have closed the game out the game a little better, but Florida State did a great job of just hanging in there and battling. I told the guys this after the game: I’ve kind of let them down this year so far in that we have not adjusted yet to the loss of B.J.’s points. For some reason, I’ve not been able to get us to move the ball the way we’re supposed to move the ball. That’s what was so refreshing about Mario West tonight. This game is very simple. When you have shots, you take them; if you don’t, you pass it. If you drive and draw a lot of help, you find somebody open.
“I think our seniors are giving great effort, and I think they’re trying almost too hard to make up for the loss. And again, that’s my fault. There’s no question, I’ve done a poor job with these guys. By now, with a veteran team, we should not look so disjointed offensively. We got it to 14, and we’ve got guys dribbling the ball out of bounds, throwing alley-oops to two guys. I don’t know what it is. I can’t put it on them. It’s four weeks that this kid’s been out and we’re still searching for how we’re going to get points.
“It was refreshing to see Mario come in and play what I call our style of ball. We move the ball. When shots aren’t there, we reverse. When opportunities to go to the basket come, he attacks the basket. That’s how we’re supposed to play. And again, I can’t fault the seniors because I’ve had long enough to instill in them that we can still move the ball and find enough offense.
More on West “He plays the game the way it’s supposed to be played. When you spread the ball around, it’s hard to guard you. He doesn’t force a lot of stuff, and when he does draw help, he finds the open guy.
“Right now, we’re not good offensively. We’re just not. It’s that simple. We’ve got time to get there, but we’re not a good team offensively right now.
On the last play “I put the ball in Jarrett’s hands to make the decision. It wasn’t a matter of running a play for Will. It’s a team game, so let the open man shoot the ball. I put the ball in Jarrett’s hands and he came off the screen and he had options. Obviously Will was one of the top three option. Jarrett made a great decision, and Will made the shot. That’s why the play was good. The wasn’t good from diagramming it; the play was good because Will made the shot.
FLORIDA STATE HEAD COACH LEONARD HAMILTON
“Obviously you have to give Georgia Tech a lot of credit for executing so well offensively in the second half. There were two things that they did a very good job of and that was executing and sticking with the game plan and that’s why defensively we had so much difficulty.”
“We had a lapse in the second half where we didn’t do a very good job of handling their dribble drive and their penetration. They were scoring and creating a situation to get to the foul line and a lot of that was because we didn’t do a very good job. They moved the ball and made the extra pass and on our end we allowed their pressure to unsettle us a little bit and we didn’t execute nearly as well as they did, and that’s the biggest reason why we dug ourselves in such a hole in the game.”
“When you look at the grand scheme, they did a much better job of executing their offense than we did and they did a very good job of defending us in the second half because we had a lot of good looks and opportunities, but their pressure got us out of rhythm and that’s what good teams will do to you on the road.”
On the decision to go to a zone defense — “Well, the way they were dribble penetrating us, as much as I dislike going to a zone defense, I just felt we had to make a change because we had not stopped them on the dribble penetration all night and that seemed to be what they were doing best.”
“Georgia Tech has a very unique style that creates a lot of indecision for opponents. You have a big hand in Schenscher and he’s a distraction no matter if he’s blocking shots or not. We got the ball in the paint enough tonight that normally we would have scored and he was enough of a distraction to not give us those points in the lane. When you don’t get those types of plays in a game this close, it’s difficult to pull them out. You can’t live and die by the jumpshot.”
“For a team to be holding their opponents to 35 percent field goal defense is a tribute to their ability to play defense as a team and more than anything else, I thought they really executed on defense. If they continue to put it together like they did tonight, I think they’ll get back on their winning ways.”
GEORGIA TECH PLAYERS
Will Bynum, Guard
On making the last shot — “Coach drew up the play for Jarrett [Jack] to come off the pick and roll, Jarrett decided to pass it to me, I guess he thought I was open and I made the shot.
“I wasn’t going to hesitate. Those are the times when you’re in the gym when you’re growing up, that’s what brings you there.”
On finding a way to win — “This was big for us tonight. Mario [West] was so big for us. He pretty much carried us in the first half and in the second half, he played well, guarding Von Wafer.”
On building on this win — “We just have to stay consistent. We can’t win one and then lose one. We have to go out there and give the same energy and more at Duke because it’s going to be crazy up there.”
Mario West, Guard
On rebuilding his offensive game — “I’m still working, it’s not where it needs to be. I’m still developing my game and trying to be more confident and consistent and learn from the veterans.”
On crossing the barrier of being just a defensive player — “Over the summer I worked really hard and a lot of the guys, and the coaches, have been giving me a lot of confidence. Just during individuals, I was out there telling myself, `you can do this’.”
