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Post-Game Quotes: Notre Dame 72, Georgia Tech 64

Jan. 14, 2016

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GEORGIA TECH HEAD COACH Brian Gregory

His thoughts about the game…
“We didn’t play very well. And give them credit, they were more aggressive on their drives, on the post, more aggressive in terms of attacking the basket. We didn’t respond to that the way we needed to respond, especially on the road. We got some quality looks at the basket, didn’t shoot very well, but we were down by only three at halftime, even with that. An area that we need to address, because when we get those shots around the basket, we need to finish them.”

On a difficult road schedule…
“They ain’t going to change it. We’ve got to play the game. Obviously, it put us in a difficult situation in terms of three out of our first four on the road and who we had to play. I think we played better in the two previous games on the road. But give Notre Dame credit, they played well. They kept the ball in the hands of their best player, in Jackson. Auguste, who hasn’t played great against us in the past, we did a good job on him because he’s a quality player, but we left him open too many times and he responded because he’s a good player and did extremely well.

On Zach Auguste…
“He was aggressive. He scores on some rolls but he also got a couple post opportunities and he was aggressive in scoring on those. They went to the free throw line and they made their free throws.”

On taking tough shots…
“We forced some shots, in particular in the first half off of rebounds. We had ten offensive rebounds and if they’re walling you up and swarming you in the post, you’ve got to kick it out. I don’t like to say ‘bad shots’, but we made some bad decisions about when to shoot and when not to. We showed some immaturity in our decision making in our shots.”

On not getting over the hump in the second half…
“We didn’t get any stops. To start the second half, they must have scored on their first six or seven possessions. We couldn’t get the one big stop, we cut it at three. We had two big shots right by the basket. If you make those it’s a different game, but we weren’t able to come up with the big offensive basket that we needed, or the defensive stop.When you can’t do that you get behind, and you’re always fighting uphill.”

Georgia Tech Players

Nick Jacobs, Senior Forward

On defending Notre Dame…
“As a team I think it came down to us guarding ball screens. The four bigs did a poor job of guarding ball screens. In practice we talked about how guarding ball screens is a five man defense and today we didn’t come out and guard it to the best of our ability. Coming into the game, coach was telling us this game was important because we had to guard ball screens. We worked on it all practice but today we just couldn’t guard.”

On team mentality after win against Virginia…
“We wanted to come in with the same focus as the last game. We did not want to be overwhelmed with the win. We both missed shots and it came down to the defensive end. We did not defend today so we paid for it.”

On poor offensive shooting as a team…
“It really wasn’t what they were doing. Nothing was falling for us. It was nothing they were doing. We were getting shots at the rim. Today just really wasn’t a good offensive day.”

NOTRE DAME HEAD COACH MIKE BREY

Opening statement…
“I was pretty proud of our group, bouncing back like they did. It was one of those ugly January games, but we were gritty and we played well in the paint. I’m pleased with how we shot free throws. I always thought that would be a weapon for us and it was tonight.”

On Matt Ryan starting…
“That looks a little bit like how we played last year, when he is on the floor. We played that way, but we never started that way obviously, but I thought it helped us get off to a better offensive start. I think it freed up Zach Auguste for a lot of rim rolls because we had a fourth shooter on the floor for most of the night.”

On Georgia Tech…
“They are much different offensively than they were last year. I was very pleased with how we defended tonight. We really helped in the post, and they are one of the teams that really throws it into the post. Our guards, we had a good chest from our bigs guarding their bigs, but our guards really came down and dug it out. That’s something we talked about as we prepared for them.”

On most of the points coming from the paint or the free throw line…
“I think it’s just the way the game was going, there was good spacing for us to drive and get fouled when you are more four on one. The floor is more open when you have shooters on the floor and you are open to drive it, and then Zach is ready to rim roll. I think the spacing really helped us tonight.”

On Demetrius Jackson…
“I thought he was great. They face guarded him and I think he wasn’t really able to get into a great offensive rhythm, but he never let that distract him on the defensive end with 9 rebounds. He was especially great at controlling things for us down the stretch.”

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