Jan. 14, 2015
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GEORGIA TECH COACH Brian Gregory
Opening Statement
“I thought Notre Dame played really, really good defense in the second half. It got us out of rhythm a little bit. Some of those baskets we were making around the basket were not quite as easy in the second half. I was disappointed in our defense for the first 15 minutes of the second half. Obviously they [Notre Dame] caused some matchup problems. We didn’t defend as well and we were a little bit more on our heels in those first 15 minutes. The last five minutes we defended the way we did during the first 20 minutes. It just comes down to making a couple of plays at the end of the game. We got the ball and tried to finish a couple of plays. Unfortunately, like the game down there, we weren’t able to do that.”
On Notre Dame’s defensive adjustments in the second half
“They started trapping the post a little bit. When we did get the ball in there, we were successful. But in addition to that, we really struggled. We are better than that when we have the two post players in there. And Charles Mitchell wasn’t in there much in the second half. So it was a lot times where Demarco Cox was in there on his own. We weren’t able to offensively score as well around the basket. We had a couple of layups that we didn’t make. So unfortunately, that put us in a tough situation. And because we weren’t as good defensively, we didn’t create any easy baskets on the other end like we did the first half. We got some deflections, some steals, shots on the rim during some fast breaks, and offensive rebounds. Our defense, when we’re good, creates two or three baskets in a half. But in the second half, we didn’t get those.
On Notre Dame’s offense in the second half
“It’s funny. They only shot 3-8 from the three-point line in the second half. Each one of those was a big one though, which is what they tend to do. Again, they spread us out a little bit. I thought Demarco played an unbelievable game. I thought he did a great job defensively on all of their ball screens. Pat Connaughton goes 2-8, Demetrius Jackson goes 3-9, Jerian Grant goes 5-12, and he [Demarco] did a heck of a job on those three guys. They went a combined 2-8 from the three-point line. VJ Beachem hurt us in the second half with the three. They had a big three in the second half and then the drive that game them the lead. We just have to square up the ball and cannot let them get to the basket on that one.”
On close loses throughout last four games
“It’s frustrating. No doubt about it. At the same time, you have to keep battling through and know that you have done a lot of good things, but not enough of them or at the critical times. I think that’s the big thing. We have some guys that are go-to guys and it’s important during those critical times that those guys respond. And it’s not like they aren’t trying or they aren’t competing. You can’t watch that game and say we didn’t compete at a high level. We just have to finish some of those plays.”
NOTRE DAME COACH MIKE BREY
Opening Statement
“I don’t know if I’ve ever been prouder of a group. I guess we could have had an excuse not to get tonight with [Zach] Auguste back in South Bend handling an academic matter. I’m really proud of our group, man. We defended in the second half better. We got into an offensive rhythm. We got some stuff in transition because we got some stops. I’m thrilled with what we found in Bonzie Colson. He’s been on MY mind, he’s been practicing well and then talk about answering the call and delivering. As excited as I am about the win, I’m excited to have another guy in our rotation that we can now count on.”
Bonzie Colson’s second half performance
“I thought he gave us good stuff in the first half. He’s unafraid. You know what he did? He gave us life. He plays great post defense. He catches an elbow in the face and he’s bleeding and those four veteran guys looked around and said ‘you know what? This young guy’s laying his body on the line and his face on the line. We better get going.’ He energized the rest of our group with how he played and taking that bow to the face.”
Jerian Grant’s last shot in spite of slow offensive night
“He wasn’t playing well. I really got on him in the last timeout. I actually grabbed his jersey a little bit just to wake him up. But he has made big shots and that was a big pass to [Steve] Vasturia for us too. We really defended and we were able to keep them off the backboard in the second half. That gave us enough room to get out of here.”
Defending the low post
“We felt we could get down in there and make them kick it out. The only guy we didn’t want to help off of was [Chris] Bolden, but we wanted to jam it in. I thought we did a good job of [having] our guards helping our big guys and then rotating out when they did pass it out. Because our guards stayed down there and crowded them, some of those shots were tough because they were taking jump hooks off of two guys and they were pushed off the block a little bit.”
