March 24, 2004
– GEORGIA TECH HEAD COACH Paul Hewitt
Opening Statement
“We got back to school, had classes yesterday, and today and tomorrow and then we’ll take off on Wednesday night to go to St. Louis, and hopefully we can play well again.”
On team’s play in Milwaukee
“I thought that we played very well defensively, and we had some very good stretches of offense. I thought that when we got leads, we didn’t maintain an aggressive posture. We didn’t continue to push the ball the way that we like to push it, get up and down, and when we got into a half-court game, we didn’t necessarily cut as well and as hard as we needed to. We had stretches that were very sound, and looked very good offensively, but we were sporadic at best. The thing that this team has learned more than anything this season is that if we continue to defend and rebound, regardless of how things are going on the offensive end, we have a chance to be successful. In the two games that we lost back-to-back at home against Wake Forest and NC State, I think the lessons that we learned in those games have come back to help us.”
Assessment of the Wolf Pack and biggest concerns with the Nevada team.
“They are shooting the ball very well, and any time you can make shots and make threes, that can really give you a big boost and a tremendous advantage. They’ve got a young man in Kirk Snyder who is as confident an offensive player as I’ve seen all year, with the exception of maybe Tim Pickett of Florida State. They are very tenacious. They rebound the ball very well, especially on the offensive boards, as I think they’re averaging almost 13 offensive rebounds a game. They’re an aggressive team, and they play with an awful lot of confidence.”
On facing a No. 10 seed and not the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds that didn’t make it to the Sweet 16.
“I think with the way that the game is going today, a lot of the quality big guys are either leaving school early or not showing up at college at all, and it doesn’t lend itself to an awful lot of parity in the college game. I think that if you ask us coaches, you realize that there are very few upsets anymore in college basketball. In the regular season, there is no such thing as an upset on the road. If you take a higher-ranked team on the road, if that team loses, it’s not an upset, it’s just a lot parity in the game. You know about it with Nevada, as we saw them earlier in the year. We saw them play against Connecticut and I was very impressed and am not shocked at all to see them in the Sweet 16. When they went up to Connecticut and played there, I looked at them as a team that could definitely make a run to the Sweet 16 and Final Four.”
How do you control the excitement on the younger guys about making it this far?
“You have to remind them to live a normal life right now, and for us, class at Georgia Tech can be very sobering. Classes are very difficult here. When we got back on Sunday, we had a nice reception in the parking lot and there were a lot of students there, but the last thing that I told them before they got off the bus was to remember that they had class on Monday morning. Unfortunately for you guys, they need to keep their media obligations to a bare minimum so that they could really get themselves back into school because they missed classes last Thursday and Friday and they are going to miss them again this Thursday and Friday so they really need to focus on catching back up in school and maybe getting ahead before we go back on the road. I think that’s enough to keep their minds off the other things that are going on.”
How do you keep the younger guys losing focus and understand they still have a job to do?
“I think it’s something that we will address today when we get together. To some degree, I want them to soak up some of this. This is one part of their life, although it’s not their entire life here as a college student. There are a lot of areas that they can feel good about themselves: they can get good grades in school, they can make good friends here while they are on campus, but this is an aspect of their life where they should enjoy when positive things come about. Today when we get together, we’ll tell them that now is the time to start focusing on Nevada.”
Comment on Clarence Moore coming back and what he’s brought to the team. Was there was any reluctance to bring him back?
“There wasn’t any reluctance on my part, but the thing that really made it easy, quite frankly, was that our players accepted him back so easily. They understood what he was going through, with the loss of his mom and trying to get through some of those personal issues, and they understood that basketball was not paramount in his mind last year and that’s why he didn’t play. I used this statement in the past: Mo is real, he’s not a faker. He could have played last year and gone through it half-hearted, but that’s not the way he his. He does everything with a tremendous amount of passion, and his enthusiasm for the game and his enthusiasm for winning, whether he plays 30 minutes a game or 17 minutes a game, really pays off in a positive way on the rest of the players.”
Comment on Nevada’s guard Todd Okeson
“He’s a good player, very confident player, and a good shooter. He’s the type of guy who could be successful in this situation. He’s not a guy who is going to go out there and play scared and tight. He’s just going to lay it on the line, and he looks like the type of kid that will be able to live with whatever the results are. He’s going to play hard, he’s going to make aggressive decisions, and whatever happens, I think he’s one of those guys that’s not going to have any regrets. I don’t know the young man, but I certainly enjoy watching him play with the bravado that he plays with.”
Can you talk a little bit about the members of your starting five?
“B.J. Elder is probably our most complete player. He can score in a variety of different ways. Anthony McHenry is a terrific defensive player who can guard anywhere from the one through the five at any given time. Luke Schenscher, our center, has had a surprising year to some, but not to us. He’s very skilled and an excellent passer. At 7-1, obviously he just gets in the way. He’s one of those big guys that slides his way in front of the basket and can contest shots. Marvin Lewis, our senior leader, is probably our steadiest player, and Jarrett Jack has been the guy that I’ve said all along will set the tone. He provides a lot of continuity for our team with the defense that he plays and the tempo that he likes to play at, and he’s just a point guard that really sets the tempo for this team.”
What impresses you about the other two teams in St. Louis?
“I have watched Kansas once in a while because I am good friends with Bill Self and Norm Robertson and the assistant coaches, but honestly I haven’t seem them much. I was on the road, and I saw them play Missouri at Alan Field House, and that’s the last time. With UAB, I saw them early in the year against VCU, when we were scouting and getting ready to play VCU and I was impressed with the pressing style that they use there. Since December or late January, I haven’t seen either basketball team.”
Comment on seniors and juniors in the backcourt for the other teams in the regional.
“You need guys that have been through this before and understand how to value the basketball. You need to have senior guards that are not going to turn it over and are going to make sure that you get a good shot all the time. Let’s face it, in the NCAA Tournament, the longer the game goes, and the closer it is, if the score stays tight, it all of a sudden comes down to a one-or-two possession game. That’s when you have seniors who really know how to make good decisions and put their teams in the position to be successful. It’s one of the things that has been a real positive for my basketball team in that although Jarrett Jack is a sophomore, he played every single game last year and learned a lot in the ACC as a freshman. Now here he is, for all intents and purposes, really a junior, no longer a sophomore. Exceptional guard play means a lot in the NCAA Tournament.”
Comment on Luke Schenscher and his play; also on the defense Boston College played on him.
“He’s been such a presence, defensively, for our team. He’s a very smart player, he and Anthony McHenry are probably our two smartest players, as they really understand the game, both from an offensive and defensive prospective. Because of that, both usually put themselves in the right spot in order to make the proper players. Offensively, when we are doing things right, when we are spaced right, when we move the ball properly and are playing very loose, then we’re good. There is no question that we are a better offensive team than we showed in Milwaukee, but you also have to credit to Boston College and Northern Iowa. When we are doing things the right way, Luke is the guy that makes very good decisions out of the post.”
How has our team evolved from the beginning of the year to now?
“If you saw us in the preseason NIT, we didn’t have Will Bynum or Theodis Tarver. While Theodis has probably not played at the level that I saw him play prior to the injury, it’s nice when you can put a guy in there that can block a couple of shots. He played very well for us when we upset Duke by beating them at Cameron Indoor and also at Virginia, even though it was a loss. With Will Bynum, if we don’t have him, we’re not playing this weekend because a recipe for disaster in the NCAA Tournament is to have one of your top players get in foul trouble. When we had Jarrett Jack get into foul trouble against Northern Iowa, we didn’t skip a beat, we put Will into the game and he ran the club for 19 minutes and ran it extremely well so that we could withstand the foul trouble that Jarrett got into. Watching the Gonzaga-Nevada game last night, obviously Nevada played extremely well, but one of the key things in that game was that Turiaf got into foul trouble. He made some bad decisions and got into foul trouble and it definitely made an impact on the game. But this team is stronger because of the depth that Will Bynum and Theodis Tarver provide.”
Were you surprised as the way your team began the season?
“I wasn’t surprised at all. We lost Chris Bosh, and that was a very significant loss, but when you add in Clarence Moore and bring back all of the experience that we had, we felt like, if given the opportunity and to be in there playing against some quality teams, we could show what we could do. We got a break that we got through the preseason NIT semifinals, and once we won that UConn game, I think that everybody else around the country recognized what knew very early on in practice, that this is a very good basketball team.”
How did it set the tone for the rest of the year?
“No question. It’s a long season. We did have some humbling moments in the ACC, but that’s what the ACC was all about this year. It’s such a strong league, you knew you weren’t going to go through the league undefeated, but at the same time, we also realized that we were a very good basketball team. I guess the UConn game let everybody else in the country know that we were a good team.”
JUNIOR GUARD B.J. Elder
On being the highest seed remaining in the regional — “I wouldn’t say it puts more pressure on us. At this stage, all the teams left are good teams. It makes you come out and play hard because you know your opponent is going to be tough.”
On dealing with the distractions of making it to the Sweet 16 — “It’s exciting for us and for all the students here as well. It’s not stress or tension, but just a lot of excitement. We’ve had a successful season, and now it’s just a matter of going out loose and playing hard.”
On playing Nevada – “I know no one really expected them to be here, but I watched them the other night playing Gonzaga, and I was really impressed with them. We need to watch a lot of film on them. We know they’ve got some great shooters on their team. It’s going to come down to our defense again, which won the last two games for us. We need to stay tough on defense.”
On playing in a Dome — “In that atmosphere, you have to come out and get used to different backgrounds behind the basket.”
On maintaining leads – “We always want to knock them out, but sometimes things don’t always go the way you want them to. You just have to keep playing. That’s what our defense has done for us. When our offense is not going well, we need our defense to keep us in the ballgame.”
JUNIOR CENTER Luke Schenscher
On playing in the Sweet 16 – “Just to be in the tournament, first off, I am really excited about it. We won a couple of games, and all of a sudden, we’re in the Sweet 16 and everyone is excited for the opportunity.”
Does the feeling build with each round each time you win a game? — “You always concentrate on winning the first game you play, and we won that, but you can’t get real excited because you’ve got a game two days later. It’s the same thing. You’re excited to win that one, but you’ve got another game coming up pretty soon again. So it keeps you level-headed.”
You are the only post player among mostly guards — “Everyone on this team plays so well together. We know each other’s roles, and I’m very comfortable with my position on the team. I just go out there and do what I can. As long as I’ve got my confidence, and we’re winning, then I’m happy with that.”
On the closeness of the games so far – “We’ll get them anyway we can. A win’s a win. In the tournament, it doesn’t matter how you get the win, as long as you get it.”
SOPHOMORE GUARD Jarrett Jack
On Nevada – “We’re kind of the same way. At the beginning of the season, nobody thought we would be in the Sweet 16. They’ve come out and fought in every game like it’s their last. They have great scoring on their perimeter, and they’re playing good, hard basketball right now. We have a lot of respect them. They’ve worked hard just like we have. These are the last 16 teams playing, and nobody playing right now is a bad ballclub.”
On what Tech needs to do — “We need to cut down on our turnovers, the mental mistakes like we’ve been making like traveling, throwing easy passes away. And rebounding as a whole. That’s one thing we can do better Friday to turn that game into a victory. Against them, we need to limit their scoring from the perimeter and corral the long rebounds.”
Comparing himself to Tech’s past point guards – “I’m my harshest critic. People come to me and tell my I made third-team all-ACC, and I’m like, they could have put somebody else on the team. I’m hard on myself. Sometimes I don’t respect my own ability. I think I have the same type of run-and-gun style like Stephon [Marbury] and Kenny [Anderson] and Travis [Best]. I like to get up and down the floor. But I like to dish and get other guys going first, then look for my scoring as the game goes along.”
“Those guys thrived on scoring first. I try to keep the defense honest. When the other team is keying on B.J. [Elder] or Marvin [Lewis], I’m the one that can sneak up behind you and make a layup or a three-pointer.”
SENIOR FORWARD Clarence Moore
On Tech’s tournament so far – “It’s been great. The guys are up. We’ve had two close calls, but we pulled them out.”
On Nevada – “From watching the games that we’ve seen, they’re a fast-paced team that likes to get up and down the court, and they’re real athletic. So we have to come to play.
On playing in a Dome – “It’s a big difference from playing in a regular gym. There is so much space.”
On Tech being the highest seed left in the region – “We just want to play our game. We still have a lot of things to prove as team and as a program, so we’re just going to go out there and try to get this win.”
