What Josh Pastner Said After Georgia Tech's 73-64 Loss To Pitt
Opening Statement:
First off, I want to give a lot of credit to Pittsburgh. I thought they played really well. They got a really good basketball team. Coach [Jeff] Capel and his staff have done a great job. They're really young, and they're going to be really good next year too. Bottom line is 22 turnovers. You're not going to win any game in this league with 22 turnovers. We've had an issue with turnovers. We've made some really good improvements, and then today it bit us in the butt unfortunately. Just too many possessions we gave away. That's just not going to win the game. They had 20 points off of our turnovers, and that's the difference right there.
On if the turnovers were due to Georgia Tech or Pitt’s play:
You've got to give Pittsburgh credit on that. I also think that we had some unforced errors. James Banks had a couple right at the rim. Michael Devoe had a couple that were unforced. But I say all that to say it's a credit to Pittsburgh and their defense as well too.
On Pitt’s effectiveness vs. Georgia Tech’s zone:
They did a nice job. But that really didn't affect this as much as the turnovers did. There was a period where they really struggled to score. [Trey] McGowens hit a couple big threes, [Justin] Champagnie hit a couple corner threes. The middle shot wasn't as much of an issue. It’s just the turnovers. You're giving them more opportunities of extra possessions to keep getting extra shots. We were fouling as well too at times, got them in the bonus early in the first half. But we had turnover after turnover that allowed them to hang around it and they were able to tie the game and take the lead.
On Justin Champagnie:
One thing is he can really shoot the ball because he spaces the floor. You've got to know where he is on the floor. And that middle shot is a hard shot. It's not an easy shot because your back is to the basket. He made some tough ones, and he's a good basketball player. He had some big offensive rebounds too.
On losses to teams they are close to in the ACC standings:
This was a big game for both teams. We're kind of clustered in the standings, we're jumbled right there. This was a big game. Now we get them back at our place. But this was a big game, and they won the big game. For us to be able to take the next step, what we're trying to do with our program, is to win these type of games. 22 turnovers isn't going to make it happen.
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