Jan. 18, 2014
Recap | Final Stats | GT Photo Gallery
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GEORGIA TECH COACH Brian Gregory
Opening Statement
“I’m disappointed in that performance, on a lot of fronts. To be honest, there wasn’t one thing we did well today. I thought the first 18 minutes of the game our defense was playing pretty good. We did a good job of containing our penetration. For the most part at that time I thought we were mostly defensively rebounding pretty well, which is obviously a big concern of ours right now. We cut it to 19-17, and then they went on an 8-0 run to end the half. Give them (Miami) credit. They’re doing a good job of using their size and their strength in terms of that zone. We’ve got to get back on track and get back to practice tomorrow with whomever we’ve got healthy at this point and go out there and make sure we compete and a much higher level than we did today. We’ve got to shoot the ball better. We’ve got to move the ball better and we’ve got to just keep plugging away.”
On the struggles of seniors Marcus Georges-Hunt and Daniel Miller
“Dan and Marcus our two of our key guys obviously. We need Marcus to play much better and we need Daniel to play much better – especially in the situation we’re in. Daniel has got to get more than five shots. When he gets the ball in the paint we need him to be more aggressive and score. Hopefully he’ll see that when we show it to him on the film and he’ll understand for the rest of the season he should be getting nine, 12, 13-or-14 shots a game.”
On shooting difficulties throughout the game:
“We’ve had some guys that just haven’t shot the ball as well as we would have liked. Some of the times, it’s kind of a double-edged sword. They’re (Miami) hard to score on, which I think they’ve proven that, and then you get open shots you just have to make them. There was a couple even around the basket – you just have to finish those. You don’t know if it’s the two possessions earlier where you didn’t get a good look and you’re out of rhythm, or whatever the case might be. For us, at those crucial times, you have to rely on you seniors to step up and make some plays for us. That’s a lot to put on them, but those are the facts.”
On the attempted game plan against Miami’s zone and where Tech fell short
“You try get inside the zone and underneath the zone. We threw the ball into the post, into Daniel and Kam (Holsey). You don’t want to eliminate your post players just because (Miami) is in a zone. The one thing that we didn’t do that we need to do a better job of is that you need to dribble-drive against that and attack some gaps. The thing is, with attacking those gaps, there’s a maturity piece there where you see that it’s not the next pass that’s going to get the shot. It’s the one drive that leads to the second drive and then the third. If you do that, you’ll be able to get the offensive rebounds and get the shots. I thought we saw glimpses of that in the second half. We did a much better job with the penetration with the first and second drives that led to some offensive rebounds. When you don’t have a great shooting team and you play against a zone, you’ve got to get inside that zone. When we did that, if you don’t score at least you have the chance for an offensive rebound.”
MIAMI COACH JIM LARRANAGA
Opening Statement
“I watched the Georgia Tech-Pittsburgh game and was very impressed with both teams. I thought Georgia Tech gave Pittsburgh everything they could handle and it came right down to the wire. Pittsburgh is one of the best teams in the country, and I was very concerned coming in if we’d be able to defend Georgia Tech and score on them. I thought our guys came in very well prepared. They did a terrific job. Our defense was very good. I keep emphasizing to them it’s something we have to continue to improve. The results today are a reflection of them really focusing on the defense. Offensively, we went through stretches where we played very well, sharing the ball. Fortunately, we came away with a very nice victory.”
How good was Manu Lecomte’s performance?
“I’d like to have four or five guys in double-figure scoring. We only had two the other night and three tonight. We have to have everybody going. That’s what team is; where everybody chips in and we’re capable of getting more guys contributing at the offense end. Manu was just absolutely terrific. I rested him very briefly tonight. He’s probably a little worn out now, but he gets a well-deserved rest tomorrow because he was terrific.”
After Daniel Miller ran into foul trouble, did you try to work the ball inside more?
“We ran our offense and the opportunities come. What was happening was, Donnavan Kirk was playing very well so his teammates got him the ball more often and on a regular basis, and he made some good shots and good decisions when he was covered. It wasn’t the coaches telling the players what to do against their big guys, it was really the players making those decisions. They made good decisions.”
There were only four assists, that’s not something you see often.
“I was really surprised about that. It ended up coming down to that Manu’s baskets came off the dribble, Donnavan Kirk’s baskets came off the dribble and those are the guys who did all the scoring; them and Rion Brown. Rion I’m sure the assists were to him or someone for a layup. I’ll take it. I’d like to have more assists, but the victory was what is most important.”
