Everything Boston College Coach Earl Grant Had to Say After Beating Georgia Tech

Following Boston College’s 69-54 victory against Georgia Tech on Saturday, Eagles’ coach Earl Grant held his regular press conference to talk about the Eagles’ performance.

Here’s everything Grant had to say:

Grant on holding onto the lead in the second half:

Yeah, you know, sometimes it's hard to play with a lead. The team, the opponent usually get pretty free and just put their head down and start driving it. Thought we found them in that cluster, you know, two or three times, got them to the free throw line and that was a big part of um them making that run. Then their point guard hit two crucial threes. And we wanted to go under some of that handoffs, did a good job and our coverage all night. And then late he just made a couple threes so, you know, we weathered the storm. Um, the guys were poised enough to continue to execute and get the stops that we needed at the end.

Grant on team’s rim protectors and their impact on the defense:

Well, typically him and Jaden Hayes, both are great rim protectors, great goalies, you know, they they're big, they're long, got a good wingspan, pretty athletic. But I thought Chad Venning in particular tonight, I mean he was he was a junkyard dog. I mean he cleaned up a lot of mistakes from our guards when the ball was getting downhill and he had some crucial blocks at the rim.

Grant on Chad Venning:

Well, they (Georgia Tech) were driving it from the from the wing towards the basket. So, I mean obviously we work on that every day our weak side help. And it could be a different guy rotating, could be a guard, could be a wing. They had their big man underneath the basket on the opposite short corner. So, he was always the help guy. And he was free to go attempt the blocks and then his teammates were helping him by sinking in. We were forcing the skip. I thought together as a team we just did a great job. We were very connected. And we just got to try to build on it.

Grant on offense not committing turnovers:

Well, it's been an emphasis all year. You know, we try to defend and rebound and take care of the ball. And that's really like the formula for us to have success. In the NC State game, we had four in the first three minutes. I mean so that game was over, but very uncharacteristic. But in the second half, you know, we held them to 25 points. So again, we've been building on that ever since then and the guys just keep showing up every day working. So, we got to try to do it again. We got to get back to work, figure out how we can continue to improve.

Grant on the Eagles’ defensive improvements since playing Virginia Tech:

You know, combination, a little bit of strategy, a little bit more belief from the guys. Our team was fragile in the middle of the year because again, they’re just a lot of these guys haven't been together. They wanted to believe, but you know, they didn't have anything to draw from, right? So now that belief is growing. They've been through everything. They've been in triple overtime, double overtime, single overtime, you know, down 10 but they've been through everything now. So, it's almost like if they haven't been together, now this year has sped up their growth. So now we're starting to believe and but it's late in the year, still some season left. But, you know, they're just starting to believe and they're buying into the scheme and the system, they're talking more, listening to each other's voice, but schematically we did change a little bit. I think as a staff we've learned a lot about our team over the last three weeks as well.

Grant on his team’s identity after two solid defensive peformances:

From day one, my message was we wanted to be gritty, not pretty. Boston College is a hard-working place, a fighter’s place, a blue-collar mentality. People like to win. People like to be tough. We've been pursuing that since day one, and that was over a thousand days ago. We've shown it, but this year, it's been fleeting from us. We've been fighting for it. Now, recently, we are starting to see the fruits of our labor. The guys have to stay humble. We can't put the carriage in front of the horse and act like we've figured it out because it takes a lot of hard work to do what we're doing—to hold opponents down and rebound the first miss. I'm proud of their efforts. But from day one, we’ve been trying to be gritty and tough and match the identity of the place we’re working at.

Grant on Boston College’s senior players:

Your seniors who were honored today weren’t here from the beginning or for more than a year. What does that bring to your team? It’s the shortest tenure senior class I’ve ever had. Usually, it's a guy who’s been here four years, and everybody's crying. But those guys did a good job for us. They’re high-character people. The thing I’ve enjoyed most about them—not only do they play hard on the court, but Roger McFall’s professor invited him to Thanksgiving at her house. Chad Venning has a 3.3 GPA and is getting his master’s. They show up every day with a good attitude. They haven't changed since they've been here. We hit it right on character. They are good players, but they are better people, and that’s been the joy of working with them. They have helped us stabilize our program in a year with a lot of new guys. Their character has helped us overcome adversity.

Grant on Elijah Strong:

He was out with mono, so he missed six or seven games. The team found a new rhythm while he was out, so it took him time to adjust and regain conditioning. He had a great game tonight—10 points in 14 minutes. We’re going to need him coming down the stretch. I think he and Roger McFarland will share minutes at the four.

Grant on Eagles making 18 three-pointers against Georgia Tech:

We wanted to touch the paint first. We didn’t plan to launch threes, but analytically, 18 threes are 24 points, which is a high points-per-possession rate. That shot was available after we drove inside. They were doubling our big guy, so we knew we had to kick it out and swing it to the weak side. We have five guys shooting over 37 percent from three, so we have to embrace that.

Grant on lineup adjustments when playing smaller opponents:

It’s a challenge. They beat us up in the first game with their two bigs. Roger is really a small forward, but when Elijah was out, he was our only power forward, so we had to play four guards. We found a new identity by working together as a committee on the glass. With Elijah back, he gives us more legitimate size at the four. It’s a challenge, but our guys fight hard and figure it out.