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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 12, 2014Robert Carter, Jr.Trae GoldenBrian GregoryGREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA Georgia Tech – 73 COACH GREGORY: First and foremost, I think as a program, as an institution, we come here excited to play, and at the same time, down and out a little bit because a guy who's very important to our program, Dr.King, our team dentist, who's been to every ACC game that Georgia Tech has ever played, is home recovering from a second surgery and was not able to make the trip. We talked to our guys a little bit before the game. There's nobody who loves Georgia Tech or Georgia Tech basketball more than Dr.King, and it's been hard this year without him being around. But I know he listened and watched, and he's feeling very proud right now, so it's important that we give a shout‑out to him and let him know that all the guys, all the coaches are thinking about him. Tonight's game, we knew it was going to be a challenge. Boston College has played exceptionally well and played those type of games all year long, as we have. They're never out of a game the way they can shoot the ball, the way they can change up their offensive system and put guys in different spots. It really challenges your defense. I thought we got some key stops when we needed them. At the same time, you know, they hurt us in some stuff. But we made a couple big defensive stops and a couple big offensive plays down the stretch. Excited about advancing. It's the first time our senior class has won an ACC Tournament game, so we've done a lot of good things in terms of firsts this year, and now we need to move on and figure out a way to play well against Clemson. Q. Trae, your basket there, the and‑one, that broke a 10‑minute drought at the end of regulation and overtime. What happened to you guys during that stretch? TRAE GOLDEN: I don't think they were doing anything. I think we missed some shots that we normally make. I think everybody was taking shots that they normally take. I just think sometimes that happens, and that's something we've definitely got to fix moving forward. But I feel like we made the plays we needed to get the win, and that's all that matters. Q. Robert, you banked in a three from a pretty tough angle. Are you one of those guys that believes when it goes in that way that maybe it's going to be your day? ROBERT CARTER, JR.: Oh, yeah. I mean, I couldn't get one to fall straight in, so going off the glass, I didn't try to do it, but yeah, like you said, when that one went in, I felt like I could make anything now. Q. Coach, you have won three in a row with Robert in the lineup. You missed him for a large stretch, obviously. Just remind us how that changes the complexion of your team. COACH GREGORY: Well it changes it quite a bit. I think towards the end run there with getting Robert back, we were just about to get Robert back, and then Trae went out. So one of the problems is you never really get into a really good flow or you never get to work on your team improving because you're just trying to get guys back in or trying to get guys recovered, and that's kind of where we've been at for the last two months, basically the entire ACC season. It's only been over the last two weeks, and obviously we're still missing Jason and Travis and they're out for the year. But over the last two weeks, we've been able to practice and concentrate with these two guys in the lineup in terms of what we need to do in improving. We're a different team, there's no question about it. We still make some of the same bone‑headed mistakes, but the game is mistakes, and we make less of them now than we did before, and we have guys that can make some plays to kind of cover up some of those mistakes. I said going into this game and the last four games, Robert has been at about a 17‑9 clip. He was at that again tonight, and he missed some shots, that to be honest with you, I'd take all day long. And hopefully tomorrow he'll make those. The same thing with Trae: That shot that he made to win us the game, and you can ask him, two weeks ago he couldn't make that play. He wouldn't have the‑‑ you can still see it sometimes, he's not as explosive as he was earlier in the year, but at least every once in a while he was able to turn up the gear and he was able to do that on that play, and that was a big one. We're a much better team with those guys. I don't know exactly what our record is when those two guys are playing together, but I would assume it's probably pretty good. Q. Robert, during that stretch where you guys weren't scoring, I think they scored 12 in a row, what did you guys do to keep from having that go the wrong way on you where you were able to hang in there and go to overtime and eventually win? ROBERT CARTER, JR.: Just talking to each other, encouraging each other, letting everybody know not to panic, we're still up. We lost a pretty big lead or whatever, but just coming in the huddle, making sure, like Coach said, in the huddle we was together and we was trying to figure out a way to win. And that's all we was worried about in the huddle was trying to figure out a way to win, not let this one get away, and that's what happened. Q. Trae, after the Wake Forest game a little earlier today, Coron Williams said he felt a sense of urgency because as a fifth‑year senior it would have been all over had they lost. Did you kind of feel that same thing? TRAE GOLDEN: No, you're definitely conscious of that, and I think that it's a weird feeling, obviously, because it's something you're feeling within the game when you look up and it's 62‑61 and they're up a point and you need a basket. I think ‑‑ I know me and Dan and Kamm, we talk to each other a lot during the games, like come on, man, it's our last game. Turning the ball over at the end of regulation, it kind of snapped my head, like come on, you've got to pick yourself up, go into overtime and help the team get this win. It's a great feeling, and you do feel a great sense of urgency just knowing that it could be your last college game, and you obviously don't want to go out in a negative way. It's definitely a sense of urgency feeling. Q. Can you comment on defending Hanlan and how that affected the game? COACH GREGORY: Yeah, he's a heck of a player, and he's so good in the open court, and he's just hard to stop. I think you've got to give a lot of credit to Corey because he guarded him most of the game. But he's kind of that point of entry in terms of our defensive scheme on Olivier, but then everybody has got to help and do a good job, and I thought we did that. Daniel and Robert and Kamm did a great job on the ball screen action that they run for him, not letting him turn the corner. I thought even on that last one that he got fouled on at the end of the game, our defense was pretty good on that play, too. He just made an unbelievable burst there to kind of split that gap. But you've just got to make him earn everything, and we gave up one three to him. He hit two threes. We gave up one three in the first half where we didn't make him earn it. But other than that, he had to work for that stuff. Those two guards, Hanlan and Rahon are pretty good and they're combined 7 and 3, and we did a good job on those guys. The guy that hurt us was Heckmann, and he's a touch match‑up for us at times. Our point of entry defense on the guards was pretty good today. Q. I don't know if you've commented on it, but obviously to win your first ACC Tournament game and to move on to the next game, I imagine there's a sense of relief. Daniel was talking about he wanted to get to the second day to stick around. Can you just comment on that feeling of relief or success? COACH GREGORY: Well, you know, it was important, because we had talked about that we had been playing a little better. Obviously, last week was a good week with the win against Syracuse and then following up with the win against Virginia Tech. I just felt our guys didn't want the season to end, they wanted to keep playing, they wanted to advance and do something. As I told them afterwards, this group, although‑‑ because of some of the stuff we've went through, they've stayed strong and done a lot of good things. We won back to back ACC games, hadn't done that in three years. We've done a lot of good things. We win three straight against Georgia, we've beaten some ranked opponents on the road, and now one thing that wasn't up there was to advance in the ACC Tournament. And so I think our guys have done a good job of setting some short‑term objectives, and then when they meet them, still hungry enough to try to set another one. Our guys have been good about that, and as I've said all year long, especially during this stretch, we've had some tough times, and our guys have not stopped fighting. They've shown, at times, unbelievable toughness and grit and unbelievable togetherness in some adversity. I'm just proud of them because at the end of the day, that's going to move the program forward, and that's going to help those guys who are moving on, as well. Q. Can you talk a little bit about Clemson? You have some struggles there with them, and you get a chance to also maybe get that monkey off your back? COACH GREGORY: You have to play really well because they're good. I don't know how those guys figure stuff out, but that's, in my opinion, an NCAA Tournament team. How many wins do they have in our league? 10 or 11? 10‑8; is that what they were? You win 10 games in this league, you probably can win a couple games in the NCAA Tournament. That's the way I look at it. I've coached in a lot of different leagues, and that's one thing I would say. You have to play extremely hard, and you've got to have great toughness because that's how‑‑ they're a tough team. They defend you well, they rebound the ball well, they have one of the premier players in the league in KJ McDaniels. They have a hard‑nosed point guard in Rod Hall, and they have a couple guys off the bench, their second guards have always hurt us. Last game it was‑‑ who was it? Q. Harrison. COACH GREGORY: Yeah, I tried to forget that, Harrison. I'll remember it tonight at 11:00 watching film. And Nnoko has made as big a jump as a player as anybody in our league. They've got all the pieces: They're big, they're hard to score on, and they're efficient on offense. We're going to have to play a 40‑minute, hard‑nosed, very well‑executed game. How's that for the longest answer in the world on one team? FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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