NIT SEASON TIP-OFF

November 26, 2003

B.J. Elder

Paul Hewitt

PAUL HEWITT: First, that was a tremendous basketball team we beat there tonight. Certainly, we got a little bit lucky with them going 10 for 30 from the foul line. But with no disrespect to them, when we looked at the matchups we felt very good about the match-ups. Told the guys before we went out of the locker room, I said, hey, here is our game plan, here is what we're going to do. I think that made me confident and I kept trying to tell them, position to position, we like the matchups that were out there. We really like the matchups. We felt like as a coaching staff and we told the kids, if you go out and play to your ability with these match-ups we're going to win the basketball game. They are a great team, they are going to be much better at the end. They are clearly one of the best teams in the country and at the end of the season they are going to be right there. This is a very nice moment for our guys.

PAUL HEWITT: Well, first of all, B.J. Elder, I'm not saying people should be rushing down to Atlanta to talk to this guy but I've said all along, I think he's the best kept secret in college basketball. I was teasing him last week, I said, hey, I've got my speech ready. You're going to go out and play against one of the best two guards in the country and I expect you to go out there and outplay them. He'll tell you, I was kidding with him last week, I've been worrying on my speech all this summer. The guy is an outstanding player, a terrific young man and he needs more moments like that. Now don't get me wrong, he can be more consistent, like at rebounding, and Ben Gordon is a great, great player but obviously I have a lot of confidence in my guy. So that's where we started with. Obviously Emeka Okafor is tremendous. We felt like we needed some help on our big guys. He's obviously a little gimpy, his back bothering him, you've got to be a little lucky sometimes to win these games.

PAUL HEWITT: I said at the start of the season, until we get Bynum eligible on December 13 and Tarver when we find out the status with his dislocated kneecap, you can't really tell where we're going to be. If we get those two pieces back healthy, I think we'll be very, very good. You know, much is written and said about who is left and it's almost like nobody is left for Georgia Tech to turn the lights off but you know what we still have some players here. But we have a couple pieces waiting in the wings. I think if those two pieces get back and get healthy we'll be a good basketball team. We have the makings of a good team but we'll see how things shape up come January and early February.

PAUL HEWITT: That's just the way we play. That's just the way we play. We were not going to walk it up. We just felt like we spent a lot of time on conditioning, and they do as well. It's not like, you know, it was a one-sided affair and a transition offense, they got their share of transition buckets as well. That's the way we play. We felt like, let's see who is in better shape and who can get more transition buckets. I don't know who got the most but that's nothing different from what we normally try to do.

B.J. ELDER: I just want to come out and be aggressive tonight. Like coach said, they went for theirs just like I have. I just want to come out and be aggressive and try to attack the whole game. That's what I did.

B.J. ELDER: I just take it in stride. After a while, I don't think it's going to be a secret anymore. But I just try to come out and just play hard every night and help the team win.

B.J. ELDER: I don't know. That's up to you guys.

B.J. ELDER: We knew we had to come out and play hard, because they have a great team. I knew we had to come out and execute and play pressure defense and get into transition. They did some things that I think they can do better. We came out and played hard.

PAUL HEWITT: After the season we'll decide that.

PAUL HEWITT: That was one of the key parts of our scouting report. I was fortunate, having worked in the Big East for five years you know that you've got to take away offensive rebounding from a Jim Calhoun's team because they attack so hard and attack the glass. If you don't make an extra emphasis and really execute your box-outs it can be a long night for you. They got 17 offensive rebounds, but we really felt like in the first half and second half we did a good job of neutralizing them on the offensive boards.

PAUL HEWITT: You know what, it was interesting, he played on a great summer team. So, you know, even then when I go watch games to see Isma'il and B.J., I don't think people realized who we were watching. They had a deep team, Segana(ph), they had a bunch of good guys and we just liked these two guys. Both very good academically, played hard and they were both local kids which was important for us to establish that. I just kept watching and seeing that this guy is talented. You hear coaches talk about, boy, if he ever realized how good he was, he'd be dangerous and that's how I felt watching B.J. play in the summertime, he never realized. The guy next to me, just aggressive, terrific going to the basket. He has picked up the offensive nuances of the game and now I think people are starting to see with Isma'il, he's been a terrific defender rebounder, slasher and now I think he is learning to read defenses better.

PAUL HEWITT: With him? Very early, early in the summer, July, when I first got the job. That's the first time I really saw him. I remember I think, what was it, what was the movie that was out, Shaft? What was the tag line there, "no question"? I forget what the tag line was.

PAUL HEWITT: No, it was like, "no question," or something like that. And I remember Dean Keaner (ph) was sitting next to me, he made a move, no doubt, it was like "this guy can play." It was early July in Vegas.

PAUL HEWITT: Well, as I said earlier, I think we have a good basketball team but as I told you the other day before we left, we still have a couple of pieces. When Will Bynum becomes eligible on the 13th, Tarver's rehab is coming along well, he was playing great in the preseason and was clearly one of our best players. If we get him back, you're talking about adding two significant pieces there so we have a chance to be pretty good. As I said the other day, this is a game, this is a great opportunity for our guys and a good game so that they can learn that they can play with the best teams in the country. But it's a long way off before we can finally start saying, okay, this is the type of team we have at Georgia Tech this year.

PAUL HEWITT: They had a bad night. That happens. That happens. I'm sure they will look back. Again, when you win a game like this, you have to get a little lucky and we certainly got lucky in that area.