Opening Statement
“I went down to Josh [Pastner] before the game was over in case people decided to get on the court and I wouldn’t get a chance to tell him that he did a much better job of coaching his team and getting his team prepared than I did my team. I think early we took too many outside shots, we lost our confidence and gave them more confidence – their zone got stronger. I jumped our guys at halftime and challenged them “if you’re going to be tough enough to take a shot, be tough enough to make it,” and it made them even tighter – it didn’t work. We shoot 5-of-26 from three and they shoot 33 free throws to our 14. That’s basically the game right there because they were more aggressive, they got the ball where they wanted to get it more than we did. As the game went along, they got more confidence and more confidence. And we got tighter. I didn’t expect that and didn’t see that coming. But again, their coach did a much better job of getting their guys ready to play than I did.
“The disappointing thing is I thought that they were much more aggressive, they were quicker to the basketball. We fouled so many times because we were reacting instead of being prepared and playing defense early. It was not a good day for us to say the least -- 20 turnovers – it’s an ugly stat sheet. But from my side it was an ugly game. But Josh’s kids…really gave them a lot, they made their free throws, 25-of-28 in the second half, and we needed them to help us down the stretch. They didn’t, and we missed so many shots. Joel Berry, as we said the other night, he’s been sick. But Joel 3-for-13, Justin [Jackson] 6-for-17 – those are not good numbers. But the numbers in my head are much worse for me as a head coach because I have to get things better than I did today. But congratulate Josh and his kids, and Okogie was really big for them too – 26 points, 11-of-13 from the foul line. It was a good day for Georgia Tech and not a good day for us.”
On Joel Berry II’s health:
“I think he’s over it, but he’s not full speed -- that kind of thing. During the game on Wednesday night, he said his legs were just dead. So I’m sure he’s not 100 percent, but I didn’t say that to be acting like it was an excuse. North Carolina’s gotta play.”
On the team’s turnovers:
“We tried to penetrate to the basket, and we lost it on penetration. We got an offensive rebound and three different times go up to lay it up and lost it on that. There were a lot of ways.”
On Georgia Tech’s 1-3-1 performance:
“They played it well, they were aggressive. We didn’t move like we wanted to move. We didn’t get to the spots we wanted to get to. We practiced against it yesterday in preparation. You have to attack when they spread it out like that. The 1-3-1 covering the entire half court can really be good, we’ve played it ourselves. But you need to attack it better than we did today.”
On if this loss speaks to the strength of the ACC:
“I think it speaks to the weakness of North Carolina right now. I don’t ever try to figure out what my record’s going to be or anybody else’s record’s going to be. But today Georgia Tech was much more aggressive, had more enthusiasm. And as the game went along, we kept giving them more confidence. One time we go down and miss the layup and tip it and miss that, and they go down and make a three. They were more aggressive. At halftime, they had more…well fast break points ended up tied…but at halftime they had more fast break points than we did and had a couple of them even after we scored. They’d get it out and push it up at us.”
“I went down to Josh [Pastner] before the game was over in case people decided to get on the court and I wouldn’t get a chance to tell him that he did a much better job of coaching his team and getting his team prepared than I did my team. I think early we took too many outside shots, we lost our confidence and gave them more confidence – their zone got stronger. I jumped our guys at halftime and challenged them “if you’re going to be tough enough to take a shot, be tough enough to make it,” and it made them even tighter – it didn’t work. We shoot 5-of-26 from three and they shoot 33 free throws to our 14. That’s basically the game right there because they were more aggressive, they got the ball where they wanted to get it more than we did. As the game went along, they got more confidence and more confidence. And we got tighter. I didn’t expect that and didn’t see that coming. But again, their coach did a much better job of getting their guys ready to play than I did.
“The disappointing thing is I thought that they were much more aggressive, they were quicker to the basketball. We fouled so many times because we were reacting instead of being prepared and playing defense early. It was not a good day for us to say the least -- 20 turnovers – it’s an ugly stat sheet. But from my side it was an ugly game. But Josh’s kids…really gave them a lot, they made their free throws, 25-of-28 in the second half, and we needed them to help us down the stretch. They didn’t, and we missed so many shots. Joel Berry, as we said the other night, he’s been sick. But Joel 3-for-13, Justin [Jackson] 6-for-17 – those are not good numbers. But the numbers in my head are much worse for me as a head coach because I have to get things better than I did today. But congratulate Josh and his kids, and Okogie was really big for them too – 26 points, 11-of-13 from the foul line. It was a good day for Georgia Tech and not a good day for us.”
On Joel Berry II’s health:
“I think he’s over it, but he’s not full speed -- that kind of thing. During the game on Wednesday night, he said his legs were just dead. So I’m sure he’s not 100 percent, but I didn’t say that to be acting like it was an excuse. North Carolina’s gotta play.”
On the team’s turnovers:
“We tried to penetrate to the basket, and we lost it on penetration. We got an offensive rebound and three different times go up to lay it up and lost it on that. There were a lot of ways.”
On Georgia Tech’s 1-3-1 performance:
“They played it well, they were aggressive. We didn’t move like we wanted to move. We didn’t get to the spots we wanted to get to. We practiced against it yesterday in preparation. You have to attack when they spread it out like that. The 1-3-1 covering the entire half court can really be good, we’ve played it ourselves. But you need to attack it better than we did today.”
On if this loss speaks to the strength of the ACC:
“I think it speaks to the weakness of North Carolina right now. I don’t ever try to figure out what my record’s going to be or anybody else’s record’s going to be. But today Georgia Tech was much more aggressive, had more enthusiasm. And as the game went along, we kept giving them more confidence. One time we go down and miss the layup and tip it and miss that, and they go down and make a three. They were more aggressive. At halftime, they had more…well fast break points ended up tied…but at halftime they had more fast break points than we did and had a couple of them even after we scored. They’d get it out and push it up at us.”
