Georgia Tech Post-Game Quotes (Game 30)
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (13-17, 5-12 ACC) 81, Boston College Eagles (14-14, 5-11 ACC) 76 (OT)
March 3, 2019 • McCamish Pavilion • Atlanta, Ga.
Georgia Tech Head Coach Josh Pastner
Opening statement:
“Great win for us and Georgia Tech … I thought Michael Devoe and Jose Alvarado played at a high level as a backcourt today. They had 41 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and only one turnover. That’s back-to-back games where we’ve had single-digit turnovers [as a team]. I was proud of James Banks, 18 [points] and nine [rebounds]. I thought he was solid. I thought Moses [Wright] had a lot of live-ball, second-chance activities and he finished well. I thought Curtis Haywood, seven rebounds and six assists, gave us a really good stat line. Khalid Moore was just solid for us, three assists and no turnovers. We did a good job guarding the three, holding them to 17 percent. I think Boston College is really good. It’s a good win for us.”
On importance of winning home finale:
“We’re building. That’s what we are doing. The ACC is the best league besides the NBA. Unless we are getting multiple five-star studs to come here, which we haven’t done yet, we are going to have to get old and stay old. We have to get old and I believe in that. We’ve had to rely a lot on a lot of young guys and we have to continue to build with them as our core group. I do believe we are moving in the right way and where we are trying to get to. We’re going to need our guys to play really well and Michael [Devoe] and Jose [Alvarado] have to continue to be great in the backcourt.”
On Georgia Tech’s conditioning:
“I think [that] anyone has been around me knows we run a lot and I believe in conditioning. In the summer and in the fall, we ran the heck out of the ramps … We ran a lot of line drills, so I believe in conditioning. [We do it] for [games like] today, because I know some of those guys are playing [a lot] of minutes. They have to be able to maintain [conditioning] and it’s not easy.”
On Moses Wright:
“Moses keeps getting better. I mean you can see it. Look at the last two or three games, he has had double-digit scoring. He is finishing around the hoop better. He didn’t start playing basketball until his sophomore or junior year [of high school]. He was a tennis player and was small. It’s going to take him the full four years. His best basketball will be when he is a senior and, by that point, because of his athleticism, he is going to be really good. I mean this is really only his fourth or fifth year of playing basketball. He has a very good feel for the game and understands basketball. He has a good IQ. He has to continue to take his craft very seriously. He has a chance to be really good.”
Boston College Head Coach Jim Christian
On the difference in the game:
“They made one more play than us in overtime. That’s how you pull it out. It was a one-possession game. It was [a two-point game] when [Jose] Alvarado scored from the corner. It was bad one-on-one defense there. Then we walked out to a three-point shooter with three seconds on the shot clock and he hit it. That put them up five. Now you’re digging a really deep hole … We’ve got to have a bit more sense of urgency. We lost the game in the first half. We didn’t play as hard as we should be playing in the first half. That’s not taking anything away from [Georgia Tech]. We gave up so many points on the offensive board in the first half and hustle plays. When you’re on the road, it’s hard to dig yourself out of a hole like that.”
On Boston College’s play in overtime:
“We got down early. We fouled them the first possession of overtime, so they’re not making a shot. You’re giving them an easy one. We played hard. The second half and overtime we played hard and made some big plays. They made just one more play than us and we lost by three. It was a one-possession game and we had a three-point shot to tie it. We didn’t make it.”
On rallying to send the game to overtime:
“We’ve done it before. That’s who we are. We’ve dug some holes on the road and we’ve always fought back. We’ve been right there just like we were tonight. We’ve got to stop digging those holes. We’ve got to stop putting ourselves in those positions where they go on those types of runs on easy baskets. There were some offensive rebounds and there were some transition baskets. You can’t give those up on the road. I don’t care who you’re playing. Georgia Tech played very, very well. They deserved to make those plays. You can’t do that on the road and expect to win.”
On his outlook for ACC Tournament seeding:
“We’ve got two games left. We play two it at home. It’s bunched up but we’ve got to keep playing better. We’ve been playing pretty well. In the last five games, we’ve played two overtime games. We we’re tied with Clemson with three minutes to go and beat Louisville. We won two games prior to that. We’ve just got to have a little more sense of urgency with the game on the line defensively. I thought we did a great job at the end of regulation. They had the ball with 20 seconds to go there was a lot of sense of urgency on that particular possession and we got the stop. When we got down in the overtime, it wasn’t the same. Maybe some of that is fatigue but there’s a lot of guys in this league that play a lot of minutes. It’s overtime man. You’ve got to fight.”
