Post-game comments from Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner following the Yellow Jackets’ NIT championship game loss to TCU Thursday night at Madison Square Garden in New York.
JOSH PASTNER
“From where we started to where we are now, these guys to my left (Josh Okogie and Quinton Stephens) and the guys in the locker room have been just unbelievable, and I promise you, if you’ve seen us in the beginning, and to be playing in this final game, it’s miraculous. And I’m so happy for these guys. Obviously, this is not the ending we wanted. But I’m not going to allow it to steal the joy in the type of season we had and the amount of overachievement we’ve had. These guys have just been crazy good, and these seniors have been phenomenal. They have left a lasting legacy.”
On the start
“This game, we just did not start well. We dug ourselves in a hole and we totally were trying to climb out of it the entire evening. It just made it hard on us and we just could never really get over that hump or get it close enough. We would maybe get it to eight or seven and we didn’t come up with a big loose ball or an offensive rebound.”
On TCU scoring 21 second-chance points
“They did a nice job on second shots. And that really hurt us, the second shots there, they hurt us in the paint there. We just weren’t as effective. TCU deserves all the credit, but we were not good today on both sides of the floor, and both ends of the ball, and just one of those nights that we had and obviously, when we’re having that and the other team is playing really well, it’s a bad combination.”
On Ben Lammers’ play
“Ben has done such a good job this year defending without fouling and he had those early couple fouls. I don’t think he was in as rhythm as he’s usually been, and we just weren’t in rhythm. Like that, we were down 14-1, I think. We missed a couple layups. We had some missed free throws. And then they would come down and score and it just kind of avalanched a little bit there.”
