Feb. 13, 2014
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POST-GAME QUOTES
Georgia Tech 74, Boston College 71
February 13, 2014 – McCamish Pavilion
GEORGIA TECH COACH Brian Gregory
Opening Statement:
“Needless to say it’s been an interesting season with all the things that have happened. I feel really good today about our guys in terms of the effort that they gave. We didn’t play as well as we needed to at times, but they kept fighting and we made the plays in the last eight minutes of the game that we needed to make to win the game. Proud of our guys.
“Feel bad for Boston College. They’ve had some tough gos and some tough games. If that shot goes in, everybody here is excited if it doesn’t they get a big win. It’s just one of those things, just the way the game goes. I feel good about our execution, especially on those last two plays. Everybody executed them perfectly. You still have to make that shot and Marcus (Georges-Hunt) did that for us.
“I appreciate everybody coming out. Today the crowd was into it. That was fantastic to see. It was loud. We got those defensive stops when we needed them at the end and I thought the crowd really helped us on that. Now we’ve got to move forward. We’ve got a couple days off get some bodies back hopefully. Get everybody feeling better and get recovered. Got two games next weeks and we’ve got some things to improve on. Obviously it’s better to do that after you get the win.”
On the final timeout Boston College called after taking its final lead:
“A lot of coaches just have different philosophies. Sometimes you call that to make sure your defense is set. Our final play we did draw up at the timeout. Simply because it is a play that we run, but we just changed up the spots. I wanted Marcus to get the ball. Daniel set a great screen, Robert (Carter Jr.) stretched the defense, Chris (Bolden) took his guys with him, and Marcus made the shot. He was very coachable today. I told him to make it and he did it.”
On Tech’s strong shooting in the second half:
“We got great shots because we got the ball inside. We did a good job of getting the ball inside. I was pleased with Robert Carter obviously. I think everybody saw a big jump from last game to this game in terms of his movement and his comfort out there. Our post guys had 15-18-10; that’s pretty good. They did a good job in terms of moving the ball, in terms of getting the ball out. As I’m always talking about, our guards rebounded the ball. That helps, that really helps. You out-rebound a team 36-19, you 74 percent from the free throw line, and you keep the turnovers down – you’re going to have a chance to win the game and that’s what happened.
On rebounding improvement from last game:
“We need to put a couple of these kind of rebounding games back-to-back before I can really say that the guys have bought into that. Our guards have to rebound. Plus, tonight we were able to push the ball a lot more. We got more plays into the open court. That’s because the guards rebounded and were able to push even more. We need to be able to do that.”
On Corey Heyward’s improvement so far this season:
“He’s doing well. His assist to turnover ratio has been good. He’s knocked down a couple open shots. He’s rebounded the ball and defended extremely well. I still say you won’t really see him until next year. That’s been accelerated because of the injuries, that’s only going to help him down the road. I do expect a lot out of him. In terms of not making a mental mistake, and sometimes that is unfair. He’s a guy you can coach and get on and show him film and coach him during the game and he doesn’t bat an eye.
On the team’s resiliency during the game:
“I thought our guys were good today because they recognized their mistakes and what they needed to do differently. There’s a lot on the young guys’ shoulders. They did well, they need to learn from those negative kinds of things and are stay positive. They did that out there today. We’ve got a lot of basketball left and a game like this will help us down the road.”
BOSTON COLLEGE COACH STEVE DONAHUE
Opening Statement
“I thought both teams played really hard. I thought both teams executed on the offensive end. They had the last touch and they did a great job on the last play. They executed what they needed to.”
What was the thought process, calling the timeout after Olivier Hanlan?
“When I looked up we had four guys underneath the basket and I didn’t think our defense was mentally ready to guard. I thought we guarded it well. There was a ball screen on Daniel Miller at the top, we switched it. We had a guy guard the shooter and he said he fouled him. We challenged the shot and he made it at the 35-footer.”
Was your game plan to attack more?
“I think we’re second in the league in getting to the foul line. We’re the highest field goal percentage as a team in the league; in league play. We’re fourth in points per possession, behind passed Duke, Syracuse and I think we just passed Virginia. Offense isn’t the issue. We do drive it well, it’s part of what we teach; spacing out, attacking the rim, guard our three or attack a close out and try to get to the basket, if they guard the basket find somebody.”
What did you talk about in the huddle during the time out?
“We’re going to have switch a ball screen if they do it at the top of the foul line and we did that. At half court we were on the same look and we switched it. It was a hard shot. I thought we executed our defense. The issue in the second half is that Georgia Tech really executed and we had no answers. They shot 77 percent from the field, which has been our Achilles heel all year. We’ve guarded okay in the first half, but struggled getting stops in the second half. That’s what we’re trying to get better at.”
What about rebounding?
“That’s the other thing. That’s something we talked about a lot. I started a bigger line up today, just trying to see if we could get some more physically in there. Obviously the lack of Dennis Clifford the whole season has been something we had a hard time with. Georgia Tech is a very physical team. I give them credit they did a good job.”
Did you change your defense?
“We were going zone and matching them up. We turned it over and we made some shots. We trapped the post turned them over a couple times. Obviously we didn’t sustain it most of the half so we were
