After the Georgia men’s basketball team downs Tech 82-78 in front of a packed Stegeman Coliseum crowd on Wednesday night, Andrew Edwards and Rayshaun Hammonds talk about the game and the win.

ANTHONY EDWARDS

On his first big rivalry game:

“To be honest, I did not know it was a big rivalry game until the senior guard Tyree Crump came into the gym and was talking about how much he wanted to win this game and how many times they have beat Georgia Tech. I can’t be the freshman that comes in, and we lose. I just wanted to help my team. Rayshaun [Hammonds] did a great job by leading us. Everybody else just followed through.”

On Georgia Tech’s zone coverage:

“It was hard. I am pretty sure, when they watched film, they decided they wanted to press Tyree [Crump] and I hard. When we’d catch the ball, we couldn’t get our shots off. The main goal when we called a time out was to feed Rayshaun. If they were pressing on Tyree and I, we have the best forward in the country. He can eat, so we [fed the ball to Rayshaun].”

On how important it was to make a statement during this game:

“Before the game, Coach Crean said that we want to be ‘the Georgia team.’ We just wanted to come out that we are the team for Georgia.”

RAYSHAUN HAMMONDS

On what it means to be undefeated versus Georgia Tech:

“It’s a big win for us. As a team, I have never lost to them and don’t want to lose to them. That’s the main focus. We know it’s going to be a rivalry game, a hard-fought game, but you have to have the mindset to be ready for battle with a great team.”

On whether he expected this type of start for himself after suffering a foot injury last season:

“The main focus was being in the gym 24/7. [I focused on] getting in shape and being a better player than I was last year. The freshmen help a lot and take a lot of stress off of me because they can play ball. When you have other players that can help you play, it makes the game way easier for you.”

On Michael Devoe’s 34-point performance:

“He’s a great player. He came out hot, and we tried to put different players on him. Once a player gets hot in college, it is kind of hard to stop him. We have to find ways to cool him down. He had a great game, and you can’t do anything about that. We got the win.”