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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

January 24, 2011

Paul Hewitt

THE MODERATOR: We have with us now Georgia Tech head basketball coach, Paul coach. If you could, a few comments about your team and we'll open it up for questions.
COACH HEWITT: We are certainly playing some very good basketball. Lost to a very good Virginia team on Saturday. Outplayed us. Really shot the ball well, Virginia did. Played a very good second half. But obviously disappointed we didn't get the win. Very encouraged by how we have been playing over the last couple of weeks or so.

Q. The decisions for guys to potentially turn pro early will be a little more difficult this year with the lockout sort of looming out there. How much more difficult will it be for kids and how will you help gather information to make that easier for your guys?
COACH HEWITT: I think the mechanism to gather information remains in place in that the NBA Planning Committee is there. You can mention an idea, get an idea, a reading as they call it, from that group of general managers, scouts, player personnel people.
And at the end of the day, it comes down to what the young man is comfortable with. We've had situations over the years here where kids have felt comfortable with the idea, okay, second round pick and I'm going to go ahead and do it anyway. Other kids who say, listen, I'm safely in the first round, or I'm safely in the lottery.
So it comes down to each individual case.

Q. Do you foresee a situation where more kids may lean towards coming back, just because there may not be a season to go forward to at the next level?
COACH HEWITT: No. I think if they look at it as, hey, I'm going to be a first round pick, at some point, they are going to play again. I don't think anybody foresees the whole season being cancelled out.
So even if it takes until December or January, which it did the last time, I think what happens is people will tell them, just get your clock started moving towards your second contract. Unless somebody can make a strong argument there will be no season, I'm not sure it will impact some of the decisions.

Q. Obviously in your last five games, you've had some really good defensive performances in those wins and then not so much. What is the focus in terms of how to get that defense to be consistently good and to be the level it was against Carolina or Wake?
COACH HEWITT: Obviously part of it is not going against hot-shooting teams like we did on Saturday. We did not do a good job of defending the three-point line. I thought there were too many times where we lost sight of our man at the perimeter.
With that said, I've been in games where guys have been open or even more open than Virginia was the other day and they just didn't make them. When I looked at them the first half, they made 7 out of 8; I think it was actually 7 out of 9, the stat sheet was wrong. They took 9 threes in the first half. Four of the ones they made I thought were pretty well contested.
So I think we are getting more consistent. Maybe instead of allowing those guys to get off consecutive threes, the answer when you play teams like that that shoots the ball well, you have to make them put it on the floor.

Q. Just wanted to know when you went back and watched the film, what was the difference between the first half and the second half?
COACH HEWITT: We made an adjustment in terms of how we are going to defend those three-point shooters. We are more conscious of where they were. I thought there were too many times we got caught ball-watching and they kicked out there were maybe three I thought were complete breakdowns. But there were four I thought were pretty well contested.
And as we looked at the film yesterday with the team and broke it down, the next step you have to do, the guys making threes, you have to make them put it on the floor and become two-point shooters. I thought the second half we forced them to the basket. Did a better job forcing them to the basket and our length around the basket forced them -- I think they shot 31 percent the second half.
You know, we have to play them again, and I'm sure Tony will make some changes. And we have to make some changes in how we defend, and we'll see how it goes.

Q. And is that making them put it on the floor, is that part of the issue with some of the teams that you've run into this year?
COACH HEWITT: Honestly I've never seen anything like it. It's 25 years I've been around this game and I don't think I've ever seen a team run into so many hot-shooting teams. That said, can we do a better job contesting shots? Yeah.
But Northwestern is 10-for-12 and Clemson is 9-for-9 in the second half against us, and they were 7-for-9 the first half against us. And I watched Clemson the very next game against Carolina, caught that game on ESPN, and they had equally open shots and just didn't go down for them.
Some of it is bad luck, and some of it is we have to do a better job of making people put it on the floor when they hit those hot streaks.

Q. In studying Virginia Tech for tomorrow night's game, their defense has improved pretty significantly this year; what have you noticed about how they are using the zone and how they are mixing in man-to-man, as well? What have you noticed?
COACH HEWITT: Well, they are very -- they are very active in that zone, and a guy like Delaney, he seems like he covers a lot of ground, and all of them, really, they cover a lot of ground.
We played Syracuse earlier in the year and I see some of the principles Syracuse employs in terms of when the ball is on the baseline, they will trap the ball on the baseline with the center and the forward guys on on that side.
They are just really active. They just don't stand around and watch the ball. Even though they are in a zone, they are playing some of the man principles that they see the ball and the next man in their area, so when that ball is in flight, they are moving and do a great job with it.
Again, just very, very active and every time the ball moves, an entire zone moves appropriately.

Q. Why do you think you guys have been so successful at home this year? Just comfort level in your surroundings?
COACH HEWITT: Yeah, and the last couple of games in particular, our students have been great and just giving us a little bit of an energy lift and we'll need them on Tuesday because Virginia Tech is playing good basketball right now. Delaney is playing like a First-Team, All-League guy that he is, and the energy level we will get from the crowd certainly helps us.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks for taking time for being with us today. We'll hear from you the same time next week.

End of FastScripts

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