GEORGIA TECH HEAD COACH JOSH PASTNER
Opening statement:
“You know, good win. Two things about our team: I think we are, at least to this point, we’re a very good defensive team. That’s been our identity. That is our identity. We’ve got to hang our hat on the defensive end. You know even the Tennessee game we really defended. That’s just got to be who we are. East Carolina is a good club, well-coached. Coach [Joe] Dooley is going to have that program turned around in a hurry. I’m a big fan of Coach Dooley. He’s got a great staff. He’s got good players. They’re very, very good, very well-coached. And the second thing – first is defense and then, secondly, we are going to live by the three-point shot this year. And I just hope that we rarely die by it – it got us versus Tennessee. But we are going to shoot threes and when we’re making threes by multiple guys, and if we hold true to our defensive mindset, we’ve got a chance to have a really good season. And that’s who we’ve got to be. So, when we’re making threes, it just ups our chances to win, bottom line”
On if Georgia Tech took East Carolina lightly at the beginning of the game:
“No, I didn’t think about taking them lightly. I just think that these are not robots, they’re 18-22 year olds. They’re human beings and the game is a game of energy and emotion. We had a little slow start and East Carolina had a better start than we did. We were careless with the ball and East Carolina had more competitive excellence to start the game. After a little bit there, then our defensive intensity picked up and we had better competitive excellence that got us going. But that’s a credit to East Carolina. The way the game started, that’s a credit to East Carolina.”
On Georgia Tech’s energy and effort:
“I’ve said it we’ve got to be perfect in two areas – that’s discipline [and] that’s knowing your job and doing your job. So I always tell the guys, ‘Do you know your job? The you’ve got to do it.’ And then motor – that’s 100-percent effort, 100 percent of the time. Those first five minutes, we weren’t giving 100-percent effort, 100 percent of the time. So that’s why we were down a little bit. We have to be perfect in discipline and motor. Our motor has got to be that energy, that motor, that internal drive that we have to be perfect every time we step on the floor”.
On Curtis Haywood II:
“Curt did a great job after the first media timeout. He jumped the guys. It was good, he had great leadership there. Guys like Curt, they’ve got a good feel for Curt. He did a good job and he had good leadership. We had a couple of tough losses last year. Part of it was [that] we had a lot of young guys. You can speak until your blue in the face on how every possession matters, but the best way for people to understand that is through experience. That’s why I’ve said getting old and staying old is the best way to move forward in the progression of this program.”
EAST CAROLINA HEAD COACH JOE DOOLEY
Opening Statement:
“Obviously, after about the first 10 minutes, I thought Tech got on a real good offensive run and made some shots and we obviously didn’t shoot it very well and they made us pay. When [we] turned it over, it was an avalanche, which was disappointing. But I think a lot of that is attributed to Tech turning us over. A lot of it is also attributed to us turning it over carelessly. I think it was very disappointing the way we handled adversity. That’s something we need to learn how to do a lot better. With that being said, I feel like Tech played with very good offensive poise, moved the ball and made us pay for mistakes.”
On what East Carolina did defensively to frustrate Georgia Tech early in the game:
“Just being solid. [After the first 10 minutes] we did some things where we got on the wrong side of guys. We did some things that I hadn’t seen before and I don’t know what that’s attributed to. We need to figure that out quickly. We ran under some screens … When we got discombobulated, it was a total meltdown. Obviously, with a young team, that’s not good. I know Tech is young also [but] they handled things with a lot better poise.”
On if the result was due to the newness of taking a young team on the road for the first time:
“The bothersome thing is this is the first time we [haven’t] been unbelievably competitive. That’s the thing – we have really competed. In our scrimmages and games, we have had problems, but we competed. Tonight, [when] we got hit, we didn’t compete.”
On East Carolina’s 2-of-17 shooting from three-point range:
“It was a nightmare … the free-throw line too. It seemed like in the first half, we’d stop the run, we’d get to the free-throw line, we’d miss free throws. I think that just sucks the air out and the confidence out of you. You can’t let it take the defensive confidence out of you [but] it did.”
On Georgia Tech bouncing back from a poor three-point shooting night at Tennessee:
“Law of averages. That’s a big point of emphasis for them. I think they were attempting 30 three-point field goals a game. I do think with [Curtis] Haywood [II] and [Jose] Alvarado and those guys – Alvarado didn’t shoot the ball well [at Tennessee]. Law of averages – the way they do shoot the ball, he was bound to bounce back, especially at home.”
