Feb. 12, 2006
– NOTING GEORGIA TECH: Career high 22 points for Zam Fredrick, with six assists and just one turnover. Previous high was 19 vs. Florida State last time out. He has hit 16 of 23 shots for 43 points in the last two games . . . Tech his now 23-39 vs. ranked teams under Paul Hewitt . . . The win snapped Tech’s eight game losing streak this season as well as the Jackets’ seven-game losing streak against NC State . . . Tech is 18-for-31 from three-point range in the last two games .
GEORGIA TECH HEAD COACH Paul Hewitt
“If you see me wearing sneakers Wednesday night, you’ll understand why. (Coaches from both teams wore sneakers today in support of Coaches vs. Cancer).
“A great effort by our guys, in particular Zam Fredrick. He started out the game taking some great shots, and you could see his confidence just get rolling.
“Despite the numbers, I thought we did a pretty good job contesting them, but they’re an outstanding shooting team. We played pretty hard defense and didn’t really give up on anything. One of the plays that’s probably going to be lost in the game is when Bennerman stole the ball and Lewis Clinch ran him down and contested the layup and he missed it. Those are the type of plays we’ve become accustomed to seeing as a coaching staff, so it was great to see that. As I told them in the locker room, I’m glad to have our team back. I thought we made quite a few hustle plays. Ra’Sean took a charge, we rebounded the ball well. I guess if I had to point to one or two things, it would be Zam’s play and limiting our turnovers to 15. We can still improve on that, but that was the key to us winning this game.
“The misconception among young players is that great shooters make everything. Great shooters take great shots. NBA, college, high school, they take great shots. Early in the game especially, they take those shots with their momentum going towards the rim. We broke down every three Zam has taken this year. On inside-out threes, he’s shooting 45 percent. On threes that come at the end of a ball reversal, he’s shooting about 29 percent. On off-the-dribble threes when he’s trying to shake somebody, he’s shooting 11 percent. When he takes good shots, he’s an outstanding shooter. Once you start gaining confidence, then those tougher shots at the end of the shot clock become a little easier. Maybe the reduced minutes has made him little fresher and given him a little more energy because he definitely had some bursts where he was blowing by his man. I think it’s a combination of him being a little fresher and taking quality shots.
“When you’ve lost eight in a row, there’s definitely a sense of relief, but the way I look at it, these are college kids who are trying to get better. We’ve got to try to keep better. Let’s see if we can build on this by playing good defense at Carolina and taking care of the basketball. Again that’s going to be a key for us. If we take care of the basketball, our record could be a lot different, but those games are in the past, so let’s play with energy and take care of the basketball and see if we can put ourselves in position to win another ballgame.
NC STATE HEAD COACH HERB SENDEK
On the last play of the game: — “It wasn’t a designed play. When we got the ball off the miss, we had an open floor situation, a transition opportunity and we thought we would see what could transpire in that situation as opposed to going against a set defense. Cameron has obviously made those kind of shots for us before and that one just didn’t go down.”
Did you anticipate this kind of intensity from Georgia Tech given their record this season? — “I did. We watched their game against Florida State on the road earlier in the week and thought they played very, very well and played with great intensity in that game. That’s how teams play in the Atlantic Coast Conference.”
“I think Georgia Tech is a really good team and I just think it speaks to the strength of our conference that a team as good as Georgia Tech, or for that matter a team as good as most anybody in our league can suffer a series of losses. I just think it is a clear reflection of how good this conference is. You watch Georgia Tech and they are a talented basketball team.”
“We turned the basketball over. We had 19 turnovers for the game. Especially in the first half, we had 15 at the break and then we came out and we had two right out of the gate to start the second half. From about the 18 minute mark on, we only turned it over twice, but those 17 early turnovers and then the two additional ones, they represent 19 trips down the court that we didn’t get a shot and for our basketball team, that’s damaging.”
On the play of Zam Frederick: — “He had 11 points the first time we played, but he really made tough plays, big shots, he showed how talented he was and tonight obviously he really got going and was in a zone and certainly was a major factor in their victory and played a great game. He had 22 points, six assists and one turnover and was nine out of 12 from the floor.”
“We didn’t play our best. And I don’t mean in that comment any way to diminish Georgia Tech’s effort but we were sloppy with the basketball and didn’t take care of the basketball the way we need to and on the other end, we had a very difficult time getting stops.”
PLAYER QUOTES
GEORGIA TECH GUARD Lewis Clinch
On getting the win against a quality opponent — “That goes to show you what we’re capable of doing. They [NC State] are 16th in the nation and that goes to show you that we can beat anybody in the ACC. All the games that we’ve played, we might have gotten beat by a large number in the end, but we were leading or right there in the first half, but we play sluggish in the second half. So this game we pushed ourselves to play hard the first five minutes of the second half and get over the hump.”
On staying away from the scoring drought “That comes with just playing together. We have four or five guys that are capable of scoring 15-20 points a game, but it’s not all about that, it’s about who’s scoring then and it just happened to be Zam Fredrick today.”
GEORGIA TECH GUARD Zam Fredrick
On his scoring surge over the last two games — “For the past three weeks or so I’ve been working on my jump shot. Coming in and getting extra shots, trying to find my stroke because I came in as a shooter and I haven’t been knocking it down early in the year, so I just kept working hard and got my stroke right, which gave me confidence so that I can be aggressive and go out and perform.”
On coming off the bench — “I get to see what’s going on in the game before I check in. I get to see what we need, energy, maybe good defense, maybe a bucket or putting somebody in a position to score. As soon as I come in there is no time to wait so I have to come in with a lot of energy and just play hard. When I see sitting on the bench what needs to be done, I go out there and try to do it right away and give us some energy off the bench.”
GEORGIA TECH FORWARD Jeremis Smith
On the difference today versus the previous games — “We were knocking down shots, playing good defense, running the floor in transition and helping each other on defense. We kept the crowd into it and playing our style of basketball. An up tempo game and just kept them out of their game. We forced them to take tough shots and stayed with each other on defense.”
