Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner and guard Deebo Coleman spoke to the media on Friday ahead of the Jackets' road trip to face 7th-place Wake Forest.
QUICK QUOTES:
JOSH PASTNER
On Wednesday, good win and I’m glad we got the victory, real positive for us to secure that win. Secondly, Wake Forest is a really good team and Coach Forbes and his staff have done such a great job. They are really good and well-coached and they can score the ball. They are one of the best offensive teams in the ACC and in the country and we will have to play really well to win the game on Saturday at 5 o’clock.
On how they practice after a long game,
We get a lift and team talk in and shoot around, today is our heavy prep day, in mid-Feb. you want guys fresh and have good energy and be mentally fresh, we still practice hard and grind, but the next day after a game, you are guarded on how much you go.
On going smaller,
We need our guards to be good, but our guards need to get us wins, it is a guards' game and we need them on both sides of the ball, whether we go big or small we need our guards to be good for us.
On defense and rebounding late,
Deebo had a couple of big boards, it was exciting, Lance had the dunk, they had a miss, Deivon had a 2-on-1 break and missed then they had two fouls to give after their miss, we waited for the second foul to call the timeout. We had some great stops late.
On defense without as much ball pressure,
We haven’t forced as many turnovers in games, we don’t have that this year, we’ve been one of the better teams and shot blocking has also been big for us, we haven’t been as consistent this year in the zone with that, we usually get more out of that out of the zone.
On Deivon in the assist to turnover ratio and growth,
He has come a long way from last year to this year, he is making the right reads and keeping it simple, he has a chance to lead the ACC in assist-to-turnover ratio and he might be the leading rebounder for a guard in the ACC, those are really good stats there, that goes a long way toward player development and we hang our hat on that. That shows in Deivon.
On having Smith and Franklin on the floor today,
With Ja’von and Deivon we have more athleticism and they did well on Wednesday and Ja’von he had a great stat last three games, he is basically doing a double-double and 9 blocks in the last 3 games.
On Deivon’s shot
He has hit some big shots this year, a lot of that is confidence and a lot of it, is confidence and he needs to catch and shoot if he jabs or hesitates and that kills him. He has to be a better FT shooter and that he has to know when he is open and he is not, he has to improve his percentages.
On Terry and Franklin development,
We’ve done a good job with Ja’von and he has improved and Lance has improved we missed him a lot. We had James Banks and Jordan Usher and others we’ve gotten better. There are critiques of me and our program, but we haven’t had the record we want, but we get guys better.
On the season what they are playing for,
We have 8 games left and a ACCTCG and we are 1-0 in an eight game season and that is the way we are looking for, we’ve got 3 home and 4 away and then Greensboro, we have to keep plugging away to get as many wins as we can. It is another good team up there at their place, it will be a good challenge.
DEEBO COLEMAN
It felt real good, my celebration had been built up for a little minute there.
Rebounds are nothing but effort, but sometimes with size you can rebound and
It brings up some positive momentum and it takes some good things, we are going into this next game (WF) with some momentum.
On moving the ball around more,
We are finally realizing when the ball moves we are a better team and Coach has been hitting us on the head to make the extra pass and it showed last game when we play less selfishly.
On Deivon’s growth,
I think he has really matured and him and Kyle make each other so much better, coach put them against each other all summer and they made each other better so when they play together they bond well.
On Wake,
I’ve been watching alittle film on Wake and they have the leading ACC scorer and leading assist maker, their whole team is good
On getting a road win finally,
It is going to be a tough one, but I feel like we have a good chance at winning.
On going with the same five in the second half,
That same five the last couple of stretches, he feels like those five can get the job done well.
QUICK QUOTES:
JOSH PASTNER
On Wednesday, good win and I’m glad we got the victory, real positive for us to secure that win. Secondly, Wake Forest is a really good team and Coach Forbes and his staff have done such a great job. They are really good and well-coached and they can score the ball. They are one of the best offensive teams in the ACC and in the country and we will have to play really well to win the game on Saturday at 5 o’clock.
On how they practice after a long game,
We get a lift and team talk in and shoot around, today is our heavy prep day, in mid-Feb. you want guys fresh and have good energy and be mentally fresh, we still practice hard and grind, but the next day after a game, you are guarded on how much you go.
On going smaller,
We need our guards to be good, but our guards need to get us wins, it is a guards' game and we need them on both sides of the ball, whether we go big or small we need our guards to be good for us.
On defense and rebounding late,
Deebo had a couple of big boards, it was exciting, Lance had the dunk, they had a miss, Deivon had a 2-on-1 break and missed then they had two fouls to give after their miss, we waited for the second foul to call the timeout. We had some great stops late.
On defense without as much ball pressure,
We haven’t forced as many turnovers in games, we don’t have that this year, we’ve been one of the better teams and shot blocking has also been big for us, we haven’t been as consistent this year in the zone with that, we usually get more out of that out of the zone.
On Deivon in the assist to turnover ratio and growth,
He has come a long way from last year to this year, he is making the right reads and keeping it simple, he has a chance to lead the ACC in assist-to-turnover ratio and he might be the leading rebounder for a guard in the ACC, those are really good stats there, that goes a long way toward player development and we hang our hat on that. That shows in Deivon.
On having Smith and Franklin on the floor today,
With Ja’von and Deivon we have more athleticism and they did well on Wednesday and Ja’von he had a great stat last three games, he is basically doing a double-double and 9 blocks in the last 3 games.
On Deivon’s shot
He has hit some big shots this year, a lot of that is confidence and a lot of it, is confidence and he needs to catch and shoot if he jabs or hesitates and that kills him. He has to be a better FT shooter and that he has to know when he is open and he is not, he has to improve his percentages.
On Terry and Franklin development,
We’ve done a good job with Ja’von and he has improved and Lance has improved we missed him a lot. We had James Banks and Jordan Usher and others we’ve gotten better. There are critiques of me and our program, but we haven’t had the record we want, but we get guys better.
On the season what they are playing for,
We have 8 games left and a ACCTCG and we are 1-0 in an eight game season and that is the way we are looking for, we’ve got 3 home and 4 away and then Greensboro, we have to keep plugging away to get as many wins as we can. It is another good team up there at their place, it will be a good challenge.
DEEBO COLEMAN
It felt real good, my celebration had been built up for a little minute there.
Rebounds are nothing but effort, but sometimes with size you can rebound and
It brings up some positive momentum and it takes some good things, we are going into this next game (WF) with some momentum.
On moving the ball around more,
We are finally realizing when the ball moves we are a better team and Coach has been hitting us on the head to make the extra pass and it showed last game when we play less selfishly.
On Deivon’s growth,
I think he has really matured and him and Kyle make each other so much better, coach put them against each other all summer and they made each other better so when they play together they bond well.
On Wake,
I’ve been watching alittle film on Wake and they have the leading ACC scorer and leading assist maker, their whole team is good
On getting a road win finally,
It is going to be a tough one, but I feel like we have a good chance at winning.
On going with the same five in the second half,
That same five the last couple of stretches, he feels like those five can get the job done well.
