Everything From Head Coach Damon Stoudamire After A 74-45 Win Over Bryant

Opening Statement:

“It was a good effort by our guys tonight. I thought we had a lot of carryover from practice the last couple of days, and, you know, a lot of things that we did were just more of the attention to detail piece to it. Trying to still get comfortable playing with two bigs and all the different things, you know. So, I was really proud of the carryover we got. Really proud of the first two games of our defense as well. I think we're doing a great job defensively with turning guys over. We haven't had it in the past as much obviously, but you know, just having another guy out there, Mo (Sylla), and then having Peyton (Marshall) as well, along with Baye (Ndongo), who, you know, obviously played tonight. You got a lot of size on that backside and you know when when you're playing against certain teams they can probably feel it a little bit more and you know they did a good job our bigs I thought Mo had four block shots tonight and you know he just did a good job coming weak side but you know it was a collective effort and I was just proud of the guys and you know I always say this is a make or miss game. Made five threes last game, we made 10 in this game, and so it just changed the complexion of it. I was just proud, you know, I was proud. Akai Fleming really played well. He played well. He really ignited us when he came in. I was happy for Kam Craft. You know, I thought Kam played well. You know, the minutes weren't there obviously based on the game, but you know, Kam did a lot of good things, and you know, he's coming. Kowacie, he's always been solid. I think that Jaeden's done a good job at point guard. I do believe he's just going to continue to get better. He plays the speed limit, you know, and I think that sometimes you've got to understand how the game is, and you know, he's a different type of point guard.”

“It's not his natural position, but at the same time too, he's more than capable. With Baye coming back tonight, you know, you just kind of see the difference in our team. You know, you see the difference in him. You know, when you're looking at him, you see a guy that's been in college three years, and there's a maturity to his game, you know, and he's worked all summer on his game. He stepped out and he hit a three. You know, he was really excited for him, and as he continues to practice and get a little better flow, we can take you know, trying to take the minutes up a little bit, you know, we wanted to keep him at around 20. To kind of rev him up and you know, now we'll have a couple of practice rev him up more than we got Monday's game, so you know we'll see how he responds moving forward, you know, from playing. But I was really glad to have him back out there. He gives me he he gives me a calmness, you know, because he's been with me for three years.”

On Akai Fleming, Kam Craft, and Kowacie Reeves….

“What I've had to tell our guys is you have to go out there and play the game. Those bigs are going to get theirs anyway because that's just the way, you know, that's kind of the way we play. You know, but we got to get the guards going, and they got to know where their shots are coming from. The biggest thing tonight is, you know, we made threes in half court, but we got out in transition early, and we did some really good things. I thought Kowacie really got going, and he really responded. After hitting the big shot you know in the game on Monday, He came right back and you know he had a good game from start to finish. I thought he really guarded number 99 (Timofei Rudovskii) really well. He came into the game, he's a pretty good player, you know, but Kowacie did a good job. He made him work contested shots and did really good things. So you know, Kam, Wacie, and Akai did ignite us. I thought all three of them did a really good job.”

On the depth of the team…

“Oh, man. Trust me, as a coach, it makes you feel good when you got depth cuz can't nobody can hold you hostage. You know what I mean? You don't have to give out free minutes, you know, that's what I like to say, you know? First of all, we got a deep team, we got a competitive team, but they like each other. And so what I think, you know, we have is a good spirit in competition, you know, amongst the guys, cuz they're all going to play anyway. It's the way I want to play. It's the style I want to play. You know, you're seeing multiple guys coming in and out. I think that, especially early on, it's big for us to know what we have. You know, because, you know, some situations are going to call for specialty situations. You might need a guy who can shoot. We might have to come off the bench with a Chatfield or somebody, but I mean, I just think that everybody has a presence and a role with this squad, and I love the depth that we have.”

On Mouhamed Sylla and comparison to Derrick Favors…

“They all count. You know when they go in the left-hand column and it count, trust me cuz if this was in the right-hand column, we wouldn't be having the same conversation. They all count you know it's just stacking days for me with Mo, you know, ever since practice you know, the scrimmages. I'll say this, I don't think he's played a game yet, so what does a game look like? I don't know, but I haven't seen it yet, you know. But I think what happens with him is he becomes better with Baye, you know. So I'm excited to see them, you know, playing together. To have Baye out there talking to Mo and being able to get him to do some different things, and just I call it buddy ball, you know, just the whole buddy ball aspect of it on the offensive end and then on defensive end as well. So you know, Mo and Mo have become Mo. We expect nothing less than 10 rebounds a game and the points in terms of that, that's just going to come, you know, and the blocked shots, you know, he's getting better with that. You know, early on in a couple of the scrimmages that we had, he wasn't getting off the ball. He didn't see it as fast, but now you can tell he's releasing. He's going, he's getting shots, he's blocking shots at the top., I'm excited about him, you know, as we do move forward.”

On the rebounding from the guards and if he got what he was asking for…

“ I didn't get enough. I want Wacie to get more than one rebound. Um, Cam, more than one rebound. You can't play 20 plus minutes and get two rebounds between your wings. You know, I want to see them rebound a little bit more. I want an Akai to rebound a little more, especially with his athleticism. I thought Jaeden did a really good job. He got five rebounds, four defensive. So, you know, I was always taught as a guard that if you get the rebound, you can push the break. We got to help those bigs. We just can't watch them get all the rebounds. That's one thing I'm going to keep on preaching. You know, because between Mo, between, and between P, we can't just watch them the whole game and just, you know, expect them to get every rebound. When we get guard rebounding, then that just makes us even better.”

On of he envisioned this from Peyton Marshall or had any expectation…

“I didn't have any expectation for Payton. I recruited him out of high school. But the biggest thing for me is weight managing, and then we'll go from there. I would say for me, number one, he's a good kid. He has an infectious personality, but in his game, he's exceeded expectations, and I think that he's only going to get better. You know, he reminds me a lot. This is what drew me to him initially. I played with Oliver Miller, and he really reminds me of Big O. You know, his arms aren't as long as Big O, but Big O could pass that ball, and he could set a mean screen, and, you know, I think Peyton has a lot of those attributes. You've seen the way he can pass the ball, you know, and that's an art, you know, we can play through him, you know, if we're struggling offensively, we could play through him, and he can make plays, and you don't really have that a lot. I just think he's going to keep getting better, and I'm glad we have him.”

On if he taught Peyton Marshall the spin move…

“I didn't teach him that. That was really nimble of him. You know, I'm telling you, P is light on his feet for a big guy now. P he does a he does a really good job. But no, I'm telling you, he's exceeded expectations up to this point. I told him when he came through that I was going to keep my foot on him. You know what I mean? Because I don't want him, I don't want him to ever think that it's good enough because he has a lot of talent.”

On Baye Ndongo performance….

“I thought Baye was good for a first game. He's been doing a lot of different things, but you know, to get out there on the floor and move the way he did, I thought he moved really well. When I looked at his game, being with him from day one is just the seasoning of it. You know, the body looks good. He made really strong moves to the rim. He hit a three. I just thought that he gave us a common influence all game long.”

On the freshmen lineup…

“Then the freshman, it was good to get them out there. They've been getting better each and every day, and I wanted to put them on the court just to get some real game action. Down the road, you know, some of them might not get the same playing time, but it was good to get them out there together. They had the last two days, they've had some good days of practice, and you know, it was good to get their feet wet a little bit more. As we're getting you know now, to game three and game four coming up next week. So it was good for them to get out there.”

On if he sees Cole Kirouac having a natural instinct for rebounding….

“I think that the biggest thing with Cole is just strength. Once he continues to get stronger and things like that, Cole's going to be a really good player. I'm excited about him. He was the first player who committed to me when I came to Georgia Tech, and um, he's done a really good job. He just has to keep working, and he's going to get a lot of payback because in practice he plays against some of the best bigs in the country. So, that's going to do him really well as he moves forward in his career and his trajectory.”

More Georgia Tech Basketball News:

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•Everything From Mouhamed Sylla and Kowacie Reeves After Win Over MD Eastern Shore

•Everything From Head Coach Damon Stoudamire After A 56-52 Win Over MD Eastern

•Biggest Takeaways From Georgia Tech's 56-52 Win Over MD Eastern Shore

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