UGA men’s basketball head coach Tom Crean talks about the 82-78 win over Georgia Tech on Wednesday night at the Stegeman Coliseum and the preparation for traveling to Hawaii for the Maui Jim Maui Invitational where the Dawgs will face Dayton on Monday.

Coach Crean’s thoughts on the game:

“We didn’t score for five minutes, but we never panicked. That’s important because sometimes, when you’re not scoring, you’re not as locked in, and you’re giving up baskets. We weren’t down very many [points]. I think what happens in these situations is we try to correct what we were doing wrong, especially defensively. The bottom line is we kept coming. We were turning it over some, but we weren’t trying to hit home runs, which is really important. When you’re trying to get back in it by hitting home runs [and] plays that aren’t there, you’ve got something to worry about. When you’re playing good, efficient offensive basketball, you know at some point it’s going to go for you, and that’s what happened.”

On Rayshaun Hammonds:

“Rayshaun has had a breakthrough. You never know when breakthroughs are going to come. You never know how the breakthroughs are going to come, and you can’t plan them. They have to be natural. He’s doing a good job. He’s letting things come to him. He’s playing with aggressiveness. He was getting down in the lane [and] all those types of things. He had a little bit of foul trouble, or who knows how many points he would have had tonight. He’s really working and improving. When he lets the game come to him, and when he’s on the attack and not trying to force it, you see a really good Rayshaun Hammonds.”