Jan. 25, 2012
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– GEORGIA TECH HEAD COACH Brian Gregory
Opening Statement
“A couple positives – obviously we solved the turnover problem. Only had eight turnovers tonight, but we didn’t do a good enough job as we needed to defensively. Anytime in this league, if you let a team shoot 48 percent from the field and 52 percent from the three, you’re going to have a tough time winning the game. So hats off to them (Miami). They did a good job. Most, if not all, their threes were created off the dribble, with dribble penetration. One of our Achilles’ heels all year long is the ability to defend the ball. When we defend it well, we’ve done a good job of that. In the last couple games, we haven’t been as consistent as we’ve needed to be. We knew this stretch was going to be very difficult, this month of January. We just need to keep fighting and keep getting better.”
On starting Glen Rice, Jr. tonight.
“I started both Glen and Jason (Morris) – neither one was in the starting line-up in our last game. We were hoping to maybe get off to a better start – and seeing if those guys could help us do that. I thought Jason – even though he was 0-for-7 – took some good shots. He just missed some shots that down the road, he’ll be able to put in. We’ve just got to keep trying different things and see if they respond differently.”
On Julian Royal’s play
“He’s been a bright spot all year long to be honest with you. He’s playing more minutes, he’s really engaged out there, really wants to get better and very coachable. He’s starting to pick up some things and ask some good questions. He’s getting on the glass, which helps us — three defensive rebounds and two offensive rebounds and he’s got really nice, soft touch. So being able to get him some pick-and-pop opportunities the rest of the way is something that we’re going to have to incorporate. Our guards have got to be able to look and hit him on some of that stuff because he can make those shots now.”
MIAMI HEAD COACH JIM LARRANAGA
Opening Statement
“We were very hopeful we could come up here and play well as we did tonight. We played some solid defense giving up only 49 points, 35 percent from the field, and 26 percent from three (point shots). And 45 percent from the foul line so each of our field goal categories we were in very god shape. We had 15 assists and only 7 turnovers and its another very important category to us. We’ve had a number of guys contribute in different ways and overall just a good team effort.”
On the Miami defensive strategy
“Defense is about effort and execution. Without the effort there is no execution and I thought our effort tonight was consistent throughout and some of the shots we were very fortunate that they missed.”
On the play of Malcolm Grant
“We had a conversation with Malcolm yesterday and explained to him we don’t expect him to get a lot of assists. We do expect him to pass the ball, but we told him the two passes he needs to make should be a post feed or reverse it and keep us in offense. What we do expect from him is to shoot, and he’s a great shooter and if the others guys are working to get him open and he gets open, he is to shoot the ball with confidence. Tonight he was the recipient of a lot of very good passes and ended up 4 for 6 from three and one of the baskets was off the dribble but the others were off the catch. That’s basically his job, to make threes. The other day we went 2 for 20 from three and we can’t win that way.”
On taking fewer 3-point attempts in the 2nd half and low post play
“We started out throwing the ball inside and basically both halves. In the first half, one of the first plays Reggie (Johnson) caught the ball and threw it out. That’s a real key element to being a good offensive team. If the opponent has to worry about your post players kicking it out to three-point shooters then that puts a lot of pressure on your opponent’s perimeter defense on whether they’re going to help or not. Kenny Kadji and Reggie (Johnson) are both threats inside and they’re both willing to share the ball and we’ve got very good shooters on the perimeter. We ended up 9 for 17 but a couple of guys who are very good three-point shooters did not hit any threes tonight. Rion Brown and Trey McKinney Jones also spotting up and hitting those perimeter jumps when the big guys kick it out makes us a much more difficult team to defend.”
