Everything From Head Coach Damon Stoudamire After ACC Win Over Boston College In Home Opener

Head coach Damon Stoudamire talked to the media after a gritty win at hime over Boston College. Here is everything he had to say.

Opening Statement….

“That was a really good win. Proud of the fellas. They showed a lot of grit, especially coming down the stretch. It was about seven minutes to go. I think it was. We were down by four. We came into the huddle, and we finally settled in offensively. We were able to make shots, but I was just really proud of them. I've been saying, feel like I say something like this once I come up to this podium, every game is we couldn't have won games like this last year. The way I look at everything that's happening, I think sometimes people get bent out of shape by it. When you play teams, you don't beat them by how many points they want you to win by or different things of that nature. But I've been saying, we went to Duke, and we lost by six. We come back, and it was kind of like a grimy game, you know what I mean? But we've been playing close games, so we're seasoned in these games. Doesn't matter who you play, you're seasoned in them. I think that's what you're seeing. You didn't see any panic with our guys coming down the stretch. Kowacie, you know, he made huge plays. You know, I thought Lamar made huge plays. Like, you know, they did a really good job, and we went back small, and I thought Jaeden and Akai defensively were really good down the stretch. Can't say enough about Cole. Cole gets, you know, happy for him because one, I think everybody got a chance to see him play extended minutes. And now you see what he does when nobody's looking. He does a good job, and he works. He's gonna be a really good player. The reality of it is, the only thing that holds him back right now is strength. It's just that there's moments where he might get a little overpowered or not, but that was a heck of a dunk he had, and that ignited us, ignited the crowd. I'm proud of him and happy for him. It was a good team effort this afternoon.”

On the defensive effort and if it was the most physical the defense has played this season…

“Sometimes you can't tell sitting from the sideline, but I knew we were playing great defense. But the game felt like a lot of games this year. Like, man, we just gotta get going offensively. If we get going offensively, then we'll be fine. BC is a different type team, and I watched BC, and I told that guy I was actually disappointed in the last three minutes of the first half. BC played a lot of games where I call it just they rock you to sleep. You know what I mean? You'll feel like you're in control of the game, and then all of a sudden you lose a rhythm offensively, and then they start scoring some buckets, and hit a bank shot three, and you just have all kinds of things start happening. That's when the game turned. The momentum of the game shifted, and we couldn't get it back offensively. Defensively, we were still doing a good job. To me, it felt the same, and I'm with you. When I looked at the numbers, I was like, I don't think I've ever had a team hold an opponent to 27 from the field, 13 from the three. It was amazing defense, it was a collective effort. It was physical, like I said, we played small down the stretch of the game. So, no, it was a good team effort. From a physicality standpoint, it was great to see.”

On how much Cole Kirouac’s dunk energized the team and crowd.

“Well, it ignited us now. When Cole comes in the game, now Cole is a crowd favorite. You can kind of tell, but he does a lot of great things out there. He gave the little fake DHO, and he went down there and ducked, and it definitely got us going. I think Wasey came back, excuse me, got a layup, and then he came back, but yeah, it ignited us. It was great to see. And it's always great to see, especially a young fellow like him, have a defining moment. I think that's something that can carry him for the rest of the season."

Injury update on Mouhamed Sylla…

“It's a sprained ankle, know, and we're shooting for uh Miami. So he's gonna get X-rays, make sure everything is clean, know, the usual, per usual, and we'll get him back. Like I said, we're shooting for Miami."

Injury update on Peyton Marshall..

“We'll know more about him probably this evening. But it was just, a guy came down on his knee, hyperextension, it's kind of the norm of it. I think he'll be fine. We'll wait and just make sure everything is cool with the bill of health, and then just kind of go from there.”

On Kowacie Reeves and Lamar Washington…

“It was really big. Wacie sat out most of the first half. Didn't want him to get his third foul. I told him in the locker room that we needed him the most, and he was there. And I think that's the growth of this game, that is what we see, the leadership that he gives us every day. Just proud of him to see his growth. Then Lamar, he's tough as they come, man. I say it again, cuz y'all like that football. People forget, man, he played linebacker. Honestly, probably would have been a U of O had he stuck with football. He just didn't like football like that. Tough as nails going up in there, getting rebounds, know, make big shots, make big plays. I always say because it doesn't look perfect, but it's effective, and that's the only thing that matters.”

On Jaeden Mustaf…

“The thing about Jayden I give him credit on is he's really embraced coming off the bench. I think that sometimes we look at that as if it could be a demotion or whatnot. But the reality of it is, he still played the same amount of minutes. His minutes haven't went down. I think that it gives him more opportunities to attack the rim when he comes in. Some of the things that I actually envisioned with our small ball unit, he's been able to do. You could put him on a four, and he can guard fours, especially picking pop guys. But he did a great job, got five big rebounds. Made his free throws and so I'm proud of him because you know a lot of guys would pout or do different things, but he hasn’t man. He's consistent, he works, and I think that's the biggest thing. He comes to work, and you know, he clocks in each and every day.”

On the message after the loss to Duke....

“Well, the messaging was that, you know, let's, you know, we went to Duke and we played well, but we lost, you know, so it doesn't do us any good to be happy with a moral victory if we don't come back against BC, a home game, and take care of business. We need to understand every game for us to be our Duke. We don't have the same wiggle room. We don't have the same margin of error on a lot of things. So that was just my messaging. How are we gonna respond? Are we gonna keep building? It wasn't really even about the Duke game. It's just about, we felt we got better in some things, and we gotta keep getting better.

On the rebounding from his guards….

Then, with the guard rebounding, I was extremely satisfied, because I've been on them a lot. Collectively as a group, they had 22, 25, 27, 28 rebounds. Lamar and Jaeden did a really good job. Again, I'm really proud of Jaden. He's been sticking his nose up, and they got some big rebounds against Duke as well. So, you know, just really proud of him and his growth.”

On what attracted him to recruit Cole Kirouac…

“Well, I just came from Boston, so he reminded me of Luke Kornet. So that was the whole thing. That's the reason I took him. Because I thought I could teach him everything that we were talking about. I could teach him how to play out of corners. He was good in the short role, I've seen that. The only thing he needed was strength, you know what I mean? So when you put him with good guards and people who can make him better, he would be even better. And so that was like my projection for him. With Cole, it's been a process. He went to Brewster, then we reclassified him. He went to OTE. Then he came here. So it's been a whole build-up to where we at. And so he's bought into the process, his family's bought into the process. So it's just been a beautiful thing to see. That's, again, what I've seen. Had I not been in Boston, I can't say that I felt the same way. You gotta have a vision, you gotta know what you wanna do with them. I think that we had that here, and I think that's why he'll be successful."

On the fastbreak points….

“We got some payback, 29 free throws tonight. They doubled it from the last game, so I'll take it. I would like to see us make some more, but yeah, I did. I thought we attacked the bucket. I thought all our guys attacked the bucket really well. A lot of this stuff, when I'm watching, seeing again, just the growth of the team, but some of the individuals. They won't settle for as many jumpers. We shoot the ball well from three; we didn't shoot it well from three tonight. In the past, guys, you know, when jumpers weren't falling, we just kept shooting jumpers. We didn't have nobody who can get a foul. Then you look at guys like Wasey, you look at Lamar, and then Mustaf had seven tonight, but you look at Akai (Fleming), he gets to the rim and gets fouled as much as any freshman I've ever seen. So we got a group of guys that can get to the line, and then we gotta get Baye (Ndongo) he got to knock down a couple more free throws. But no, we did a good job, I thought, of attacking the rim

More Georgia Tech News:

•Report: Georgia Tech Hires George Godsey as Its New Offensive Coordinator

•Georgia Tech Wide Receiver Zion Taylor Enters The Transfer Portal

•Report: Texas Is Targeting Georgia Tech DC Blake Gideon For A High-Ranking Defensive Role

•Georgia Tech Will Reportedly Get A Visit From Former FSU Offensive Lineman Lucas Simmons