What Josh Pastner and Mark Gottfried said after Tech-N.C. State

February 11, 2017 Atlanta - Georgia Tech head coach Josh Pastner shouts instructions in a basketball game at McCamish Pavilion on Saturday, February 11, 2017. Georgia Tech won 65 - 54 over the Boston College. HYOSUB SHIN / HSHIN@AJC.COM

February 11, 2017 Atlanta - Georgia Tech head coach Josh Pastner shouts instructions in a basketball game at McCamish Pavilion on Saturday, February 11, 2017. Georgia Tech won 65 - 54 over the Boston College. HYOSUB SHIN / HSHIN@AJC.COM

Post-game comments from Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner and N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried following the Wolfpack’s 71-69 win over the Yellow Jackets Tuesday night at McCamish Pavilion.

“First off, besides the result, it was a good basketball game. Bottom line is we didn’t come up with some 50/50 balls in the first half. They beat us to some 50/50 balls, which we pride ourselves on that they got us on and, obviously, we missed some free throws and, man, thehy hit some tough late shot clock 3’s in that second half. Dennis Smith, that’s why he’s a projected top-five pick.”

“But I tell you, our late-game execution, I was so proud of our guys on the late-game execujtion. We’ve been really good on that. I tell you, this team has continued to never stop playing.”

“Look, we have a great win on Sunday (against Syracuse) and the tough loss today. It’s just a quick turnaround. Part of that’s guys are porbably a little tired, but that’s not an excuse.”

“Look, I believe for us to be in the NCAA tournament, we have to be 9-9 (in ACC play). If we get to nine wins, I truly believe we’re in. So we’re at seven (wins). And we’re going to have to get two more out of this (final) three. It’d be great if we got all three, and if we don’t get to 9-9, I still believe 8-10 should get you in the NCAA tournament in this league, but we’re probably going to ahve to do some damage in the ACC tournament, at least one or two games.”

On Ben Lammers:

“He’s carried us for so long, but tonight, he wasn’t real good and when he’s not real good, it just makes it really, really hard for us.”

Mark Gottfried

“I”m excited for our players. Really excited for our players. You know, it’s been a turbulent, tough week for them and I thoght they showed great resiliency. They came out, we had a great start to the game. I thogut they palyed with tremendous energy the entire night. Defensively, probably one of the better games we’ve played.”

“I thought we did a much better job of defending them tonight. They didn’t really get going from the 3-point line. Not that they’re a great 3-point shooting team, but they made 10 on us at home. Our matchups were better. Individual guys did a much better job, I think, with (Quinton) Stephens and, you know all those guys.”

On defending Ben Lammers:

“We tried to keep a fresh body on him. He’s a really good player. I don’t want our team to take all the credit for the defense - he went 1-for-9 from the field - but I did think our guys did a good job.