Georgia Tech Coach Josh Pastner
Opening Statement
“First off, I want to give a lot of credit and complete respect to North Carolina and Coach [Roy] Williams. He’s obviously one of the greatest coaches ever to coach in any sport – not just basketball but regardless of sport – and he’s also one of the great guys in all of coaching as well… Obviously he’s going to end up getting Coach [Dean] Smith’s record and keeping moving up the ladder on that. For us, it was a great win. I felt that we have continued to get better, especially with Jose Alvarado back.”
On recruiting and how playing UNC was different with their main player out
“I think North Carolina is really good. I think Coach [Roy] Williams is one of the greatest to ever do it regardless of sport. Anytime you lose a guy like a Cole Anthony, that’s not easy for anyone. We’ve gone through it, too, with [Jose] Alvarado, so I get it. That’s just part of the deal. That’s why, for teams, being able to stay healthy is a big part of having success. And to lose a guard like a Cole Anthony… or for us Alvarado, that hurts because like I said…you take your point guard or quarterback off the team [who] you are counting on, that is always going to make it a little bit tougher. But I still think Carolina is really good. I think Garrison Brooks is really good. They’ve got good players. [Armando] Bacot is really good. [Brandon] Robinson. They’ve got a lot of talent, and obviously Roy Williams, like I said, is one of the greatest regardless of sport, so they are a very dangerous team.”
On forcing turnovers
“Who we are and what we do is about defense. That’s who we are – we are a defensive-oriented team, we’re always going to pride ourselves on defense. That’s the deal. Everything is about defense. We defended at a high level to start the game. I thought James Banks has kind of been missing there lately and he was really active. Our guard play was really good. Jordan [Usher] was good, gave us a good burst of energy to start the game, too. But again, it comes down to those guards really managing the game and all three played at a high level. That was a big charge that Bubba [Parham] took in the second half — that was a winning play. We pride ourselves on trying to get 50-50 balls. I’m a big believer in 50/50 balls and we came up with a lot of good 50-50 balls today.”
On the Tar Heels’ momentum in the second half and how his team responded
“I was proud of our guys. Look, it’s North Carolina. I know there was an opportunity for Coach [Roy] Williams to get past Coach [Dean] Smith in the all-time wins list, so we knew Carolina was going to come roaring out in that second half. We knew the crowd was going to be loud, but we managed ourselves well. [The lead] got to nine [points] but we were able to continue. We got some stops and were able to score on the backend. As a coach, you’re sick to your stomach inside because you see it dwindling down a little bit, but our guards really managed the game in that time period and I thought Evan Cole gave us a couple of great minutes during that segment.”
Head Coach Roy Williams
Opening Statement
“I apologize to all of the North Carolina fans, people that care about our basketball program, former players, everyone who cares about us because we stunk it up tonight and that’s got to be my responsibility. It’s the most negative I’ve ever been about myself; most negative I’ve ever felt about any team. We weren’t ready to play right from the first five minutes of the game. We had zero points on second-chance opportunities in the first half and missed 18 shots. They shot over 55 percent in each half… If I had any idea what caused that I would have already changed it… most disappointed, most upset I’ve ever been in my life coaching a basketball game. It’s not even close.”
On how early he sensed something was off
“Before the game even started. I said something to our staff [about]’ I don’t like our attitude.'”
On what he noticed was off about the team
“When I’m standing in the locker room talking to them about the game and doing our things that we do in pregame, and I’m feeling like they’re not listening; they’re not involved, not buying in.”
On what the team was not able to do
“To miss 18 shots in the first half and not have any points on second-chance opportunities is just beyond belief to me because I don’t think anybody has ever emphasized rebounding more than I have my entire career. Zero offensive rebound points in the first half. This sort of sounds like I’m blaming them and partly that’s true. I know I’ve coached that part of the game. I know I’ve coached to freaking care about the game.”
