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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

February 14, 2011

Paul Hewitt

THE MODERATOR: We have with us now Georgia Tech head basketball coach Paul Hewitt. Coach, a few comments about your team, then we'll open it up for questions.
COACH HEWITT: Well, we're in a tailspin. We've got to come out and play good on Wednesday. Chattanooga is a good basketball club, they're having a good year. Like I said, we have to turn the tide. Shumpert is playing well, Glen Rice is continuing to play well, but we need to get more from other guys in order to correct what's been bothering us here lately.
THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions for Coach Hewitt.

Q. Yesterday I asked you about the slow starts and you referred to the shots just not falling. What is also occurring on defense that's allowing teams to jump out so fast?
COACH HEWITT: Well, I think some of our shot selection, when you miss a three, leads out to a long rebound, turns into a transition basket. Early on Virginia Tech yesterday was just hot. They shot the ball very, very well, especially Malcolm Delaney. Some of our shot selection will help us. We tried to make an effort to go inside early yesterday. Had a couple looks; just didn't go down.
When we talked about the quick timeout I called to get the guys' heads up, three good looks around the basket, just want to keep reminding them to do that, those shots will fall, eventually the game will straighten itself out.

Q. Obviously y'all are trying to address losing Oliver for an extended period, Hicks was out for a while. It's all around the league. Have you ever seen a year when the whole conference has been as devastated by injuries as this?
COACH HEWITT: No, not in my 11 years. I've seen injuries, but so many key players, I have not seen a year like this. I think it's one of those things, just a freak occurrence.

Q. Can you talk about the impact of not having Oliver, how it impacts you guys.
COACH HEWITT: Obviously, you prefer to have Brian out there. But it does provide an opportunity for somebody else to step up, and that's what we haven't had yet. It provides shots for some other guys. Like I said, it's a moment, an opportunity to all players look for.
We just got to have somebody step up and fill that role.

Q. I know you don't like to look ahead, but Kyrie Irving not being there, that team, you just played Florida State, can you talk about those two teams without their star guys.
COACH HEWITT: You know, I saw some of the early games with Kyrie. It appeared that he had a really positive impact on their front court, getting those guys some easy baskets. I think it's been pretty well talked about and documented that Mason Plumlee is obviously still a very good player but not the offensive threat that he was when Kyrie was around.
Chris Singleton may be the best all-around player in our league. He's one of the top two defenders in our league. His shooting has improved dramatically, his ball handling has improved dramatically. He's a terrific ball handler. I'm going to say he's probably a bigger loss to Florida State than Kyrie is to Duke. They've had a lot of games to adjust to his loss. Here we are in the middle of February, making your stretch run, they have to shift gears. It will be very difficult. They'll figure out a way to keep it together.
Probably in terms of who is a bigger loss, probably Chris Singleton is a bigger loss.

Q. Have you ever been ejected before yesterday?
COACH HEWITT: No, I have not.

Q. How many technicals do you get in a normal year? Just a handful?
COACH HEWITT: Oh, gosh, I probably over the years average one a year. I don't think I've gotten one this year yet, so I was due obviously.

Q. Can you discuss the development or play of the two redshirt freshmen for the past few games. Holsey seems like he's having trouble getting his shot off.
COACH HEWITT: I think his legs are tired, quite honestly. He's kind of hit the wall a little bit. He's got to battle through it. It's something that all first-year players go through. Daniel rebounded the ball well. Yesterday we talked about trying to establish him more on the inside. I thought he was a little more aggressive around the basket offensively. He did a good job.
But obviously both those guys, I think they're capable of more. We have to make sure we give them the ball more, keep feeding their confidence, get them some reps, not only in practice, but getting them some touches in the games.

Q. Can you talk about the development of your freshman guard Jason Morris.
COACH HEWITT: Very good offensive player, becoming more confident taking the ball to the basket, trying to attack people off the dribble. But defensively I think Jason knows that he can do more and rebounding the ball he can do a lot more because he's a very, very good athlete.
Those are two areas, I think being more disruptive defensively and rebounding the ball better and more consistently is something that he's definitely capable of.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks for taking time being with us today.

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