Georgia Tech Head Coach Quotes
Syracuse Men’s Basketball
Syracuse vs. Georgia Tech
March 4, 2017
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Georgia Tech head coach Josh Pastner
Opening statement:
“You’ve got to give Syracuse a lot of credit – obviously they were fantastic. Andrew White III was just amazing. They were dialed in. I thought the biggest changes in this game were two things. One was Tyus Battle, who has become a really great player, his start. He hit those 3’s early, gave them momentum, got them going, and that really set the tone, whereas at our place, we won the tip. Quinton Stephens had a 50-50 ball tip and he won it, and that set the tone for us.
“Even though we got down by nine [points] twice, that set the tone for us with our energy, and with [Syracuse] hitting all of those threes today, Tyus Battle really set the tone for them. Then, they’re making 3’s while we’re missing layups, and that’s a big difference. They were just tremendous. We’ve been severely limited offensively all year long, and it’s just really hard for us. Tonight—it happens—when you’re not scoring and they’re making the shots they’re making and it just makes it nearly impossible.
“That’s why this [season] is a rebuild job. We’ve got to get to the level of a ‘Syracuse [team]’ in terms of that type of talent level and that type of shooting. Obviously, it’s going to take some time but, to be in here with a major rebuild job from where we started, and from where I was told when I got the job. [They said to me] that you’re probably not going to win a game within your first year or you might not win a total of 20 within your first two years taking this job; [they asked] can you handle that mentally? To have eight wins in this league and to have 17 overall is just nothing short of literally a miracle—from where we started with our severe limitations.
“We’ve got to get ready for Pitt. We play Pitt on Tuesday at 7 p.m., and we’ve got to find a way to get a win on Tuesday.”
What was Andrew White III doing differently today?
“I think that Tyus Battle set the tone with those 3’s and then Andrew White III was an ‘All-ACC, All-American’ tonight. He was just surreal and he was fantastic. A couple times, we had some great defense on them – it was just their offense. A couple times, [Andrew White III] had a couple late shot clock threes, which were big.”
Your team had some scoring droughts today. What caused that?
“We just had some chances there, where both in the first and second half, there were kind of right there and we would just go scoreless. We had those scoring droughts, and it’s just been our Achilles heel. We missed so many layups this year. As good as we’ve been, in terms of where we are and how far we’ve come, our missed layups are one of the strangest things I have ever seen and I can’t tell you how long we spend on stupid layups.”
Syracuse vs. Georgia Tech
March 4, 2017
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Georgia Tech head coach Josh Pastner
Opening statement:
“You’ve got to give Syracuse a lot of credit – obviously they were fantastic. Andrew White III was just amazing. They were dialed in. I thought the biggest changes in this game were two things. One was Tyus Battle, who has become a really great player, his start. He hit those 3’s early, gave them momentum, got them going, and that really set the tone, whereas at our place, we won the tip. Quinton Stephens had a 50-50 ball tip and he won it, and that set the tone for us.
“Even though we got down by nine [points] twice, that set the tone for us with our energy, and with [Syracuse] hitting all of those threes today, Tyus Battle really set the tone for them. Then, they’re making 3’s while we’re missing layups, and that’s a big difference. They were just tremendous. We’ve been severely limited offensively all year long, and it’s just really hard for us. Tonight—it happens—when you’re not scoring and they’re making the shots they’re making and it just makes it nearly impossible.
“That’s why this [season] is a rebuild job. We’ve got to get to the level of a ‘Syracuse [team]’ in terms of that type of talent level and that type of shooting. Obviously, it’s going to take some time but, to be in here with a major rebuild job from where we started, and from where I was told when I got the job. [They said to me] that you’re probably not going to win a game within your first year or you might not win a total of 20 within your first two years taking this job; [they asked] can you handle that mentally? To have eight wins in this league and to have 17 overall is just nothing short of literally a miracle—from where we started with our severe limitations.
“We’ve got to get ready for Pitt. We play Pitt on Tuesday at 7 p.m., and we’ve got to find a way to get a win on Tuesday.”
What was Andrew White III doing differently today?
“I think that Tyus Battle set the tone with those 3’s and then Andrew White III was an ‘All-ACC, All-American’ tonight. He was just surreal and he was fantastic. A couple times, we had some great defense on them – it was just their offense. A couple times, [Andrew White III] had a couple late shot clock threes, which were big.”
Your team had some scoring droughts today. What caused that?
“We just had some chances there, where both in the first and second half, there were kind of right there and we would just go scoreless. We had those scoring droughts, and it’s just been our Achilles heel. We missed so many layups this year. As good as we’ve been, in terms of where we are and how far we’ve come, our missed layups are one of the strangest things I have ever seen and I can’t tell you how long we spend on stupid layups.”
