Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner’s comments after the Yellow Jackets’ 62-60 win over No. 14 Notre Dame.
“What I would tell you is when we start the game, it was sort of like we got down – everyone knows I talk about energy all the time – it was sort of like we were just low energy to start the game, which is a credit to Notre Dame. They were making their shots. To be down what we were down (10 points nine minutes into the game) and then fight back, to be able to get the lead against that type of team in the first half, it says a lot about our guys.”
“I thought we guarded for the most part pretty well. I thought we did a good job on (Steve) Vasturia, who’s really good. I thought we made Matt Farrell take some tough shots – who’s an excellent player – and we didn’t switch as much defenses today. We pretty much stayed in man and we really guarded, and having 18 assists on 26 made field goals – the way we’ve continued to move the ball, we have really improved on that. Let’s not forget – we had to go to overtime to beat Shorter in the first game of the season, exhibition, in overtime, and we still have a long way to go. We are not out of the woods, but we have become a good team, and we have improved as a team.”
“It was a great week, to have two elite teams come in here (and to win both). And the fans, let me just say this – the arena was terrific. I told our guys after the game they had earned the right to have a sellout crowd that was all Georgia Tech.”
“If the tournament was today, we’re in and there’s no question about it. The question, though, there’s still a lot of games left. So the (season) doesn’t end today. If the tournament was today, we’d be in the NCAA tournament. We deserve to be in the NCAA tournament based on our résumé. We’ve got great wins and on the road against great teams. However, there’s still a lot of games left and in this league, our margin for error is zero. We can never forget this is a major rebuild job.”
“I thought Tadric Jackson was terrific. I’ve been hard on Tadric all year. I get after him, and to his credit, he responds. And I want to give him a big shoutout on his awareness on a big-time guard rebound – obviously late in the (game) – but his awareness to see the clock and not panic and move the ball up the floor and throw it ahead to Josh (Okogie), who was unbelievable on Wednesday, was not good today – to win the game, to beat Notre Dame without one of your key guys, who just had a night that I havne’t seen him play like this in a long time, but for Tadric’s awareness, to see the time and score and then Josh O’s speed – that burst, it was like Usain Bolt. I promise you. That burst that Josh O had to get to the basket, it was literally like Usain Bolt. It was as fast as I’ve seen anyone, the explosion on that type of (play), from point A to point A. What a great week for Georgia Tech.”
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