Jan. 8, 2006
– BOSTON COLLEGE HEAD COACH AL SKINNER
“The road is tough in any conference, not just this conference. It’s always difficult on the road If you are going to have success on the road, you’ve got to execute well and make free throws and obviously we didn’t do all of that.”
“We were looking to get the ball on the perimeter. I thought Tyrese, when he caught it, hesitated, and it allowed them to close out on the defender. We had a couple of other options that were available to us if Jared enters the ball into another area. It’s always going to be an inbounders decision on what’s available to him. I thought we had a possible couple of other options but that was the option that he chose and like I said, Tyrese hesitated and it gave them a chance to really close out on the ball.”
“Particuarly in the first half, I thought we settled and we weren’t aggressive and when we settled, we didn’t shoot the ball well. I thought we did a better job in the second half because we were much more aggressive when we attacked the basket.”
“Georgia Tech did a good job of taking it to us physically, particularly in the first 20 minutes. We didn’t respond particularly well, I didn’t think. In the second half, I thought we did a better job with that. They worked their tails off, they rebounded the crap out of the basketball and they hustled and I thought they played a great ball game. They had a couple of guys who made some shots, some three point shots as the shot clock is winding down and that makes it tough to win. In saying that, though, we had an opportunity and we’ve just got to capitalize on those opportunities.”
GEORGIA TECH HEAD COACH Paul Hewitt
“A great effort by our guys. I’m very, very happy for Zam Fredrick. He took a great shot, a quality shot, and he knocked it down. You never know what’s going to spark someone and be a defining moment. Hopefully that’s the one that will propel him to better shooting. I think his play has been good. His defense has improved and he’s running the club better. He’s been a good shooter all his life, and who knows, maybe this is the one that turns it around for him.
Jeremis Smith played the second half with a recurrence of back spasms that he had about 10 days ago. That’s one of the reasons why I didn’t take him out of the game. I wanted to take him out a couple of times but I was afraid it would tighten up.
[Game a turning point?] “It could be. I think we blew a turning point opportunity at Air Force. I’m not quite sure I’m ready to say that. I think we’ve got to do a little bit more. You don’t necessarily have to win them all but give yourself a chance to win. The last time we had what I would call a turning point game, at Air Force, I don’t think we gave ourselves a chance to win. But this certainly is an important win. Any time you have a home game in the ACC, you almost have to win.
“Al’s team is going to execute their plays and they want to get the ball inside to Smith and Dudley. Those kids play extremely hard. So it’s not like we played great perimeter defense, I just think it’s their emphasis on getting the ball inside. Now with that said, I think we did a pretty good job of making Craig work. You can say, 10-13? What are you talking about? But he got maybe two buckets where there were breakdowns defensively. That was a hard-earned 10-for-13, and if he does it like that against you, there’s nothing you can do but tip your hat.
[Clinch’s shot] “Not surprised, but certainly happy. He’s been after me to get him back out there, but we’ve been slow to try to bring him back. He’s a scorer, he’s been a shooter and a scorer all his life, so I’m not surprised.
“It’s going to be like this in the ACC. Every league game is going to be a one-possession game. What is encouraging is that down the stretch, every shot they made was hotly contested. Craig Smith some huge shots, but down the stretch our defense was very solid. To outrebound this team by 10 and hold them to nine offensive rebounds is a great effort by our guys.
NOTING GEORGIA TECH
This marks Georgia Tech’s 22nd win over a ranked team in Paul Hewitt’s five-plus seasons . . . Georgia Tech held the Eagles to a season-low 58 points; their previous low was 70 points in a 70-51 win over Shawnee State . . . Theodis Tarver grabbed a career-best six rebounds and scored eight points for a career-high in an ACC game . . . Lewis Clinch scored five points, including a key three-pointer in the second half, in his first action since the Georgia game (Dec. 7) . . . Tech outrebounded the Eagles, 33-23, after outrebounding Vanderbilt 35-18 last game. The Jackets have outrebounded seven straight teams, by an average of 13 rebounds, and have only been outrebounded twice all season.
GEORGIA TECH PLAYER QUOTES
On BC’s Craig Smith — “Craig Smith is definitely a low post presence. He’s very strong, a big guy, but he’s not that tall so he definitely has to use his strength down there. He was quick and very smart. I don’t know who’s going to be able to guard him in the ACC.”
On what this win means to the team — “I told the AJC after the Vanderbilt game to ask me after the Boston College game if I was happy, so now we’re going to have a swagger about our self, but we’re not going to stop there. We have to keep on working in practice, keep listening to coach [Paul] Hewitt, who’s a great coach, and the coaching staff. We have plenty of teams left, Duke, Wake Forest, NC State, UNC, so we still have a crazy schedule ahead of us so we have to keep it up.”
On developing the team chemistry — “When you look up at the scoreboard and you see all the teammates have four points, four points, six points and eight points, it’s always a team game. At the same time, we’re playing better defense, everyone is getting deflections, blocks and steals. We’re playing very good team defense, I’m very proud of my teammates.”
On hitting the three-pointer to give Tech a three-point lead — “When I took that shot I wasn’t really thinking about the situation, I just treat every shot the same way. I just knew that we needed a basket, I was open and I was happy that I was able to knock it down. It just so happened to be in the final minute. It was a big shot, but I don’t think of it that way, just take it one shot at a time, and shoot the same shot, regardless of the situation.”
On that shot potentially catapulting his season — “It could. I made one clutch shot. I’m going to continue to take my shot, regardless of the situation I’m going to treat it the same. I know that I’ve been a clutch player for a long time, I know how to score and know how to knock it down when I’m open. I hope this gets me on the right track. I’ve been playing well lately, not as well as I would’ve liked tonight, but I made a shot that put us ahead, so I’ll take the win.”
On the win — “We felt like after the Michigan State game we could play with anybody. Against Boston College we knew we had a good chance of winning and we did. With this win right here, in our mind, we know that we can play with anybody. We just have to keep going out there and playing as hard as we can and keep winning in the ACC.”
On tonight’s win — “He [Paul Hewitt] breaks things down so much to let us know that no matter who we play, if we play them the right way, it shouldn’t be a surprise that we beat them. Play with a high level of energy, play hard, box out and rebound.”
On Fredrick’s shot — “That was a big shot. I had the ball on the wing, I tried to go around my guy, when I stopped I knew somebody was open, I saw Zam [Fredrick] and I knew he was going to knock that shot down. That should get his confidence going straight through the roof.”
