Everything From Josh Pastner Before Northern Illinois Matchup

What did head coach Josh Pastner have to say before Thursdays game?

Jackson Caudell | Nov 16, 2022

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Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Georgia Tech basketball is off to a 2-0 start and is coming off of an exciting victory against Georgia State. The Yellow Jackets are getting ready for their first-ever matchup with Northern Illinois on Thursday and head coach Josh Pastner spoke with the media on Wednesday.

Georgia Tech head Basketball Coach Josh Pastner — Georgia Tech is off to a 2-0 start this season / Dawson Powers-USA TODAY Sports

Here is everything from Pastner on Wednesday.

Opening Statement:

"So a couple of things. Just to talk about Saturday's game, obviously a great win for the Yellow Jackets, anytime you can win on the road... I mean you see in this day and age, there are a lot of teams out there that... I have said it for a long time now, the parity amongst everybody in college basketball and just a lot of good players, good coaches, good teams, all spread out. You got the transfer portal and everything else, the COVID year, so its just you know... college basketball is wide open so you gotta come and play at a high level every time that you step on the floor and to win a road game like that early in the year in a hostile environment vs a very good basketball team in Georgia State, that was really exciting for our program and for our young men."

"We have a tough game tomorrow night vs Northern Illinois and Coach (Rashon) Burno and his staff, they do a really good job. They have good guards, they are well coached, they can score the ball, they have multiple guys that can shoot the three, they run good actions. They play hard, they compete, coach has done a good job there and I know he is building a program and I know we will have to play really well if we want to have an opportunity to win the game. We will need to be sound in everything that we do and this will be another good test for us tomorrow night. Like I said, this is a really good basketball team, they have really good perimeter players and guys inside who can play and we'll have to play really well if we want to have a chance to win."

1. On his takeaways from Georgia State...

"Well, I thought we found a way to win when it was not pretty, it was an ugly win, but ugly counts the same as... an ugly win is better than a pretty loss, so we found a way to do it on the road and that is a great thing. Things have changed. When I say things have changed, you know, things are different than they were... this is nothing about Georgia Tech, this is just college basketball in general... that things are different than they were in the 80s, 90s, early 2000s. I can think back at Arizona, even when I was at Arizona in that time period and you know there is such power teams and such a significant gap compared to everybody else and anyone that has covered Georgia Tech remembers if you played a team like Georgia State, the gap was so high based on player, it has totally changed in this day and age in 2022."

"It is no longer like that. One because of TV, two because of you can go to the NBA from anywhere now, back then it used to be you had to be at a main school and had to be on TV, you had to be at one of those schools, you can to go to the final four from any school now. The portal, the ability to guys that want to play right away so things just change and because of that, there are a lot of good players that are no longer just at the power five level so teams even at different levels that are maybe not in the power five have good players and that's why you see what it is. You know, yeah I get it, maybe a Gonzaga, you know, one or two other teams that are just different, but you look at everybody else I mean the parity is what the parity is and you know... look at the last two games of (North) Carolina and Carolina is the preseason pick to win by everyone. They struggled to beat College of Charleston and (Head Coach Pat) Kelsey does a great job over there, they struggled last night against Garnder-Webb, coach does a really good job there."

"But the point is, it's not that Carolina isn't really good, its the gap between even the really good to just anyone else, the gap just isn't there anymore, there is just not that gap. I think fans have to understand, people have to understand, that is the reality of college basketball, that is what makes college basketball college basketball right now, so fun and exciting and its just... anything can happen on any given night."

2. On the opportunity to start 3-0...

"What I would tell you is, I honestly did not know that until you said it but more than the 3-0, it is more about starting well, we need to do better earlier and I have tried to do the best I can to set that up and what I mean by set that up, is the stuff that we did in the summer and the fall and the preseason and all of the work that we did to put us in position to be better early. One of the great things about our program here is that every year, our program has gotten better as the year has gone on, but we have not started well so I have tried to do some things, you know play two Division One private scrimmages instead of having one and one and try to do that and the things that we focus on, even within the weight room to try to help us be better earlier so hopefully that can continue tomorrow but like I said, we are going to have to play well against a really well coached basketball team."

3. On if someone has earned more minutes in the rotation...

"The only way to do that is to play less guys but right now we are playing nine and I think that is a benefit of our team and Jordan Meka can play too, we just haven't had the availability and there's been... you know he has been injured a little bit but one of our strengths is that we are deeper. That is a great thing and it gives us great balance and so it is just going to be different guys that are going to be... different groups that are gonna step up in that individual game at different times and that has kind of happened so far and that is why the star of the team is the team, not the individual and only through the unity of the team can the individual flourish and I have told my team that 100 times, only through the unity of the team can the individual flourish."

4. On Miles Kelly...

"We have multiple guys that we can put the ball into, but Miles I felt in that game and I did it in not just the last possession there but the possession before too where it just rolled out. Miles is a talented young man and he has continued to get better, he can really score and I am holding him to a high standard and high accountability to be a better defender and guard rebounder and you can see his progression from the end of last year look from where he was at the beginning of last year, you guys remember for a while he could not make a shot and he looked out of place and then he started and I knew he was going to get going because I knew he was really talented and then he started flowing towards the end of the year and he became really good and I think he has been pretty good to this point. Miles Kelly is a really good player, really good player."

5. On the depth allowing him to practice harder...

"We are able to practice longer and in shoot around because of our depth, where in years past where we were a little more conscience of that when you are only playing six or seven, you gotta be careful of wearing them out because you need them especially when you play three games in seven days and four in nine days just to make sure you keep them fresh."

6. On Deebo Coleman...

"Yeah, Deebo was just a freshman last year and it is hard to win games having a really young group in this league but he has made a big jump and has improved and everyone can see that, he is just not a standstill three point shooter anymore and part of our program has been getting guys better and he is one of the guys that has shown he is getting better and his body looks different too."

7. On what he takes out of the game moving forward...

"There are things we need to make some adjustments with and tinker with, look we can't make wholesale changes you know... Sunday we had a short thing and then Monday we were off. But there are some things that maybe we can adjust and tinker and help us and keep gradually getting bett, but that game allowed us to see some things that we needed to see to help us get better in the areas that we could see some issues down the road as well."

8. On Northern Illinois...

"They have really good guard play. They have three guards... and not everyone is going to know their names but zero, two, and 11 are their starting one's, two's, and three's, they can play, they can fill it up. Number 11, he was a big time scorer in his previous spot and he can really shoot the ball. Zero can get downhill and score all over the floor and two is a relly good player and play all over the floor. They have really good frontcourt players and they play a lot of guys to, good guys coming off the bench, so it is a good team and like I said, they run good actions, they are well coached and we will have to play really well to have a chance to win."

9. On if he is happy with where the defense is...

"Points per possessions has been 0.85, which is outstanding, so hopefully if we can keep it in that area, I will be more than pleased."

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