Georgia Tech head coach Josh Pastner talks about the 82-78 loss to Georgia on Wednesday night in Athens at Stegeman Coliseum, the Yellow Jackets fifth in a row in the series, and what his team has to do to get ready for Arkansas on Monday.
Josh Pastner’s thoughts on the game:
“First off, I give full credit to Georgia and Coach Crean and their staff. They’ve done a great job and have a really good basketball team. I think, watching them in their games, they continue to get better each game they play.”
“I thought [Rayshaun] Hammonds was a stud tonight. Obviously, we recruited him hard, too. He’s a really good basketball player, and he really had a great game and is a big difference-maker for them, especially in that first half.”
“I thought a big possession was when we were up 20-12. We had just hit a three, and we were up 20-12 in the first half. When you make a three, you’ve got to have a bigger sense of urgency to not give up another three on the other end, and they came down and hit a three hands down for [Tyree] Crump, No. 4, and the kid made a three, and the score went to 20-15, and then they kind of went on a little run.”
“We just got stuck offensively. We missed a lot of free throws. We were looking at 12-26, if you’re including the front ends of the 1-for-1, and that really bites you in the rear. I’m proud of our guys. Every game, they’ve fought and competed. It doesn’t matter the score- they’ve always played hard to the very, very end. I’m proud of our young men. They’re a good group of guys. We’ll continue to get better. I’ve said this before- I’m proud of this team, and I think we have a chance to be a really good team, just like Georgia. I think Georgia will be good, but I really like our team.”
On Jose Alvarado’s performance tonight with his nagging injury:
“He’s been out for over two weeks. Yesterday was the first day he practiced. He did a little practice, and he really wasn’t good at practice yesterday, but he wanted to play. He was cleared by the doctors, so it was more of a pain-tolerance thing. There was no risk of injury or anything. It was more of his own pain tolerance. He wanted to play more than anything. He’s our heart and soul, so we started him, but he struggled out there. He wasn’t himself. I just pulled him, and we didn’t put him back in. It wasn’t re-aggravated, but I just thought he was playing a lot of time on the floor. That’s not anything on Jose, it’s just defending at that speed. He was just limping a lot.”
On if Alvarado is playing 100 percent:
“Yesterday was his first day at practice. I probably wouldn’t have played him, but he was begging to play. I was also reassured by our medical staff that he was fine, so there’s nothing there. We were all debating, ‘Do we play him? Do we sit him?’ He’s done so much for us, and he was cleared by the medical team. Even if he’s limping, we’re willing to give him a chance. I think it’s going to take another week or two for him to be where he’s not limping as much. We’re going to continue to be aggressive rehabbing it. We’re going to look at him. Do we just completely shut him down? I don’t think we should do that. Hopefully, by Saturday or Sunday, he’ll be better. Hopefully, he’s about 70 to 80 percent better.”