Jan. 31, 2018
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GEORGIA TECH HEAD COACH JOSH PASTNER
Opening statement:
“First off, a great win for us – a gutty win. We really defended well. I’m really happy we were able to get that win, especially with having another sellout today. I wanted to make sure we got that win for the crowd. From start to finish, we really defended. We’ve been a very good defensive team here and then last week versus Florida State and Clemson, our defensive principles just weren’t there … Today we really guarded in the way that we should be guarding if we want to continue to move up the latter. I was proud of our defense.”
“I was really proud of Tadric [Jackson] for scoring over 1,000 [career] points. He was ready to play; he was solid. He made a big 50-50 ball where he got that in our short corner in front of our bench. We won the 50-50 ball battle today and that was really important to us.”
On the importance of the win:
“Losing stinks. The agony of defeat compared to the – I don’t know if it’s the thrill of victory … but it’s the relief of victory. We needed a win. We’re getting better and I see it, but we’ve got to be able to close games and we closed today. Look, we still have got a tough road ahead but through nine [conference games], we’re at four ACC wins right now with some great opportunities in front of us and a lot of tough games in front of us.”
On Georgia Tech’s offensive gameplan:
“It’s not that we struggled, we got some good shots. But we wanted to muck the game up. We wanted to keep it a lower-possession game, which I thought was better to our advantage. So, we really took our time and only had nine turnovers. And when you make your free throws and you don’t turn the ball over, when you have nine [turnovers] or less, you give yourself a chance. When you do those two things and guard at the standards that we’ve set forth, then we have a chance to win a lot of games.”
On the importance of getting a wire-to-wire victory:
“I thought we started the game well and then again we had some lapses here and there offensively. But we started well the second half, where we’ve had some issues starting the second half. That allowed us to get a little lead and get a little cushion.”
On the physicality of the game:
“I thought it was physical. I thought both teams competed and battled and it was a good, well-played basketball game. Maybe there were some issues offensively for both teams, but it was a hard-fought, competitive, high-level basketball game.”
SYRACUSE HEAD COACH JIM BOEHEIM
Opening Statement:
“We just struggled on offense. Georgia Tech played good defense and made it hard for us. We got some looks, some opportunities that we like, but we just didn’t convert. We’ve struggled scoring and this was a classic example. We’ve got to be able to score better. Again, give Georgia Tech credit for their defense. We just have to find a way to get something down on the offense end. Our big guys have got to be more physical down low. That game was about offense and we just didn’t get enough done down there.”
On Frank Howard’s technical foul:
“He said something but it was just a quick ‘come on.’ He hasn’t gotten a technical in three years. We haven’t had a technical this year or last year I don’t think. None of our players do that. It was a quick play and he said ‘come on.’ It wasn’t anything more than that.”
On defensive struggles down low:
“We had to play [Ben] Lammers and he’s a good player. Our one forward got back and other one did not and he should have.”
On both teams’ offensive performance:
“It was a bad offensive game. When you don’t make shots and you have to drive it becomes a hard game. We don’t run set plays to get shots because we can’t make them. So we’re trying to create some movement and create some driving situations. The one thing with their two big guys being down there is that it’s a little hard to get there. That’s the way we have to try to score for the most part.”
On playing low-scoring games:
“Our offense is terrible. It’s been terrible all year. I think we’re 14th [of 15 ACC teams]. We’re lucky there’s one team worse than us offensively. We’ve had an occasional game or two here and there but it’s not many. It’s a struggle for us to score. When you don’t make jump shots you have to get to the basket. [Ben] Lammers is good down there and protects the basket pretty well. We didn’t get there enough.”
On transition points:
“[Georgia Tech] got some at the end but they missed a lot of them. We had six opportunities in transition and didn’t score a point. You can’t be any worse than that. We had six two-on-one’s or one-on-one’s and we charged twice and didn’t get a shot twice. You can’t be any worse than that.”
