WATCH: Damon Stoudamire Talks Georgia Tech's Win Over Howard
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00:00 a couple of brief comments and we'll go right to questions.
00:03 >> Yes, I thought it was a good comeback win for the fellas.
00:09 I thought they showed a lot of grit.
00:11 [COUGH]
00:14 And finally got stops.
00:17 [BLANK_AUDIO]
00:19 I thought offensively we were fine.
00:23 I'll say this, I've told anybody that would listen that
00:29 offensively we're way ahead of the defense.
00:33 And I've never been with a team that has been like that,
00:36 whether I was playing or whether I was a coach.
00:38 It's never been like that before.
00:40 But I was just happy more for
00:45 them because they took a stand.
00:49 And I think they didn't allow themselves to cave in.
00:55 They kept fighting, they kept fighting until the game turned.
00:59 And I think that that's a great sign.
01:01 We still have a ways to go.
01:03 But at the same time, I do always say this, it's always easier to critique,
01:10 excuse me, and teach winning rather than losing.
01:14 Hats off to Howard, really good team.
01:19 I've been away from college for a couple years, but coming back, I'm like,
01:22 it look like they gonna win that league again.
01:27 [LAUGH] Pretty good team, they play hard, they play together.
01:32 That was a great early season test for us.
01:37 >> Questions for Coach?
01:39 >> Rod, start here.
01:40 >> Seemed like in the last half of the second half,
01:46 the guys started to show a lot more energy on the defensive end.
01:49 And that seemed like the difference in the game.
01:52 >> Yeah, I thought it was.
01:54 I mean, I think we went down maybe 12 and it was a timeout, TV timeout.
02:01 Or maybe I called it.
02:02 And I think that the guys told themselves that it was time,
02:10 and it was time to play.
02:13 Play with more sense of urgency and toughness.
02:15 And truth be told, I mean, I don't know if any of them said it.
02:18 I actually said, let's play zone.
02:19 But here goes the problem.
02:23 I haven't played a possession of zone since I got here.
02:27 So I just wanted to see what they was gonna say, honestly.
02:30 >> [LAUGH] >> So when I said, so
02:33 y'all wanna play zone?
02:34 And then I'm not gonna say no name.
02:37 One person's like, yeah, yeah, they killing us.
02:38 >> [LAUGH] >> The other one was like, no, no, no.
02:43 Coach, we gonna, man, we gotta man up, gotta get a little tougher.
02:48 I promise you, I haven't played a possession of zone since I got here.
02:51 Only taught zone offense, zone, different things.
02:56 But I'm not a zone guy, for the most part, I'm not really a zone guy.
03:01 And they went out there and they did, they showed a lot of toughness.
03:04 Again, I was proud of them.
03:06 It's not an easy game to play.
03:07 Let me tell you something, I played enough basketball to know that if the teams
03:13 are really good, then you give them confidence, it becomes hard to stop.
03:16 You know what I mean?
03:18 For us to finally get stops, I thought us attacking the rim
03:25 helped because it really, really put fouls on their guys.
03:29 And I think that that was a big deciding factor in the game as well.
03:34 >> Kelly.
03:36 >> You mentioned it, but you kind of went into a lot of two man ball,
03:41 I saw ball with Miles, and let him drive to the basket, draw fouls,
03:46 get easy buckets there, and Claude got a couple of easy buckets too.
03:49 Just kind of went with it, it was very different than how you guys have played
03:52 the first two games with so much assist and everything.
03:55 I think you had 11th and I think, it was just a totally different style of
03:59 playing the second half.
04:00 Was that just going with the hot hand and letting it ride with Miles and
04:03 seeing what was going on?
04:05 >> No, I just kind of let the game, I just kind of tried to let the game dictate
04:09 what we did.
04:11 I'm not trying to trick the game.
04:14 We were scoring, doing the same thing, so I really didn't want to change it.
04:19 When you have a lot of success, I think that's me being an NBA guy.
04:22 Once you have a lot of success doing one thing, until they stop it,
04:25 you don't change.
04:26 So I thought Miles did a good job of getting downhill.
04:31 And we just stuck with it, made some good passes.
04:36 So again, we scored 88 points.
04:44 That's a lot of points, I mean, but we gotta do better on the defensive end.
04:50 But again, the last ten minutes of the game,
04:54 yeah, we found something, we stuck with it.
04:57 >> Go back.
05:00 >> If you just look at the basic stat line across the board,
05:03 they kind of shot better up the line, just in general.
05:06 They all got rebounded up, they brought turnovers.
05:08 Does it feel like for a game like this where you may not be perfect in all
05:11 passes, but you're still pulling out wins, does it feel good that you can pull out
05:15 a game like this?
05:16 >> Yeah, it does, it feels good.
05:20 Again, I always say this, you look at the stats,
05:26 if you didn't watch the game, you would have thought maybe it was a nip and
05:32 tug game.
05:34 But the reality of it is that I feel like we gotta get better,
05:40 we gotta get tougher, that for me is my issue.
05:46 I think we gotta have more sense of urgency, and
05:53 hopefully tonight's game helps us.
05:56 I'm not one, I come from a mid-major, I coached at a mid-major.
06:02 And what I tried to explain to those guys is that teams like Howard,
06:06 they went to the tournament, they got a couple guys that came back.
06:11 And they don't really fear coming in here, so
06:18 you gotta go out and you have to play.
06:21 I think that our guys didn't really understand that until we got down 12,
06:26 13 points.
06:27 And we can't afford to do that, not on a consistent basis.
06:34 You can't come from behind and do things like this all the time.
06:37 Again, what I will say though is it's always better to teach winning
06:43 than it is losing.
06:44 So I get proud of them, they really, really, really did a good job of coming
06:50 back, making shots when needed, getting stops when needed.
06:53 [BLANK_AUDIO]
06:57 >> You went from the exhibition game where you were a little concerned about
07:01 the rebounding of the team to this game where you had 22 offensive rebounds.
07:07 Is there anything you've noticed that's going into that transformation?
07:10 >> Ty, I think he sets the tone.
07:15 I think that tonight, I think that what happened was the game,
07:20 it got a little grimy.
07:22 I think everybody went to the class.
07:25 I think that it helped us.
07:27 And I always say this, we gotta be scrappy.
07:32 We gotta compete at a high, high level each and every night.
07:38 And I think that offensive rebounds are a reflection of that.
07:42 And so to see that we got 22 offensive rebounds, it makes me happy.
07:47 But at the same time too, we gotta do a better job of converting free throws.
07:54 So we're getting offensive rebounds, and we're getting pounded.
07:57 We're getting extra possessions, man, we gotta make them pay.
07:59 >> So how do you make a team tougher?
08:03 How does your team get tougher?
08:04 >> I mean, here's the thing about toughness.
08:11 We got a couple guys, and I think the phrase is overrated.
08:18 Because there's a mental toughness and there's a physical toughness for sure.
08:22 But the mental toughness to me is more important.
08:27 And so when I say toughness, I'm talking about the mental toughness.
08:30 It's the mental aspect of the game.
08:32 It's the attention to detail.
08:33 It's listening to the coaches.
08:35 It's listening to the coaches,
08:36 understanding that what he's saying quite frankly is not bullshit.
08:40 You know what I mean?
08:41 Like at the end of the day, like Howard, those guys put on their shorts the same
08:46 way they put on their jerseys the same way.
08:48 You gotta respect them.
08:49 And just because we're here at Tech and they're there,
08:56 doesn't mean that they can't play.
08:57 And so that's what I mean.
08:58 We gotta respect the game.
09:01 I've been fortunate, man.
09:04 I played on all levels.
09:06 And the one thing that I understood early on is you gotta respect the game.
09:09 Yeah, I remember I lost, I was a two seed and lost to a 15 seed.
09:14 I see it every year, I can't forget it.
09:17 Every year, every March Madness, they show that.
09:19 And I missed the shot to tie the game.
09:21 So I see that every year.
09:23 So my thing is that you gotta respect the game, and you gotta honor the game, and
09:28 you gotta come to practice, and you gotta work hard.
09:31 Because if you work hard in practice, it prepares you for the game.
09:34 Practice doesn't make perfect.
09:36 Practice creates good habits.
09:39 And good habits carry you through.
09:41 That's a part of mental toughness.
09:42 That's the toughness part of it.
09:44 So those are things that have to be created.
09:49 Like if we're in practice and you're running from contact,
09:52 when you get in the game, you're not gonna like contact.
09:55 That's just what it is.
09:57 And so that's more so what I mean.
10:00 I'm proud of my guys.
10:03 We got a collective toughness, but we just need a little bit more.
10:08 I want a little bit more.
10:09 I need everybody to be on the same page with that.
10:12 >> A little couple more for Coach Kelly.
10:13 Both you and your buddy Steve Smith, who's in the building,
10:18 were tremendous free throw shooters.
10:19 You guys were sub 60 today.
10:22 How frustrating is that as a coach?
10:23 I know that's not you coaching them up in the game, or
10:27 that's more mental and physical, I guess, exhaustion.
10:31 What do you put that up to, the free throws?
10:34 >> We just, a little fatigue.
10:37 I think everybody gotta get game legs.
10:41 And we just gotta keep working on the fact that we went to the foul line 27 times.
10:47 I can accept that.
10:49 But making 16 of them, it's a mental thing.
10:54 Again, when we're practicing them,
10:57 you gotta imagine you're getting game reps.
11:02 Game reps, whichever rhythm, you're not just going up there throwing the ball up.
11:07 But at the same time, too, again, 27 free throws,
11:12 that's pretty good to show we were attacking the rim.
11:17 >> Rob, wanna wrap this up?
11:20 >> You've had one exhibition, two regular season games as you move forward.
11:26 Are you able to get a better idea of how you wanna fine tune your rotation?
11:30 >> No, I'm playing, I'm playing, I'm playing, what did I play tonight?
11:36 I played ten guys.
11:38 I got Lance Terry and Biden Dongle.
11:42 They'll be back here probably at least by the mid, well, it is.
11:47 It's pretty much the middle of the month to the end of the month.
11:49 And let me tell you something.
11:51 I didn't watch college basketball the first year I was away,
11:57 cuz I had to get acclimated again to the NBA.
12:00 And I watched college basketball last year a little bit more.
12:07 And what I would say about tightening up the rotation is, man,
12:12 I love the fact that I got ten guys that can play and
12:16 I got two more guys that's coming because you know what?
12:19 There's no worse feeling in the world than a coach that gets held hostage.
12:24 You can't hold me hostage.
12:25 We got a lot of good players on this team, so
12:27 there's gonna be a lot of people playing.
12:29 And you just gotta be prepared and you gotta be ready to play.
12:33 That's point blank, period.
12:35 If it's not your night, we got guys that can pick you up.
12:38 And I think that the fellas understand that.
12:40 I preached that from day one.
12:42 I told them just go out and play as hard as you can cuz nobody's gonna
12:46 play, I know tonight we had a couple guys that play heavy minutes in the 30s.
12:54 But for the most part, I mean, guys not gonna play in 30s like that.
12:58 I think that you gotta be able to play hard and then come sit down and
13:02 then go back, Ty's a great example of that.
13:06 Ty's a great example.
13:07 And when Ty's tired, he raise his hand and come out, get his blow,
13:11 and then he go back in.
13:12 >> All right, thank you coach.