Everything From Head Coach Damon Stoudamire After The Loss vs California

Georgia Tech head basketball coach talked to the media after a tough defeat to California. Here is everything the had to say.

Opening Statement….

“Good game. We came up short. We played well enough to stay in the game. We didn't win the margins to win the game, and they were different than today than what they usually were. You know, Cal gets him credit. They really shot the ball well from three. We didn't do a great job in the first half. I thought of closing out, especially on (John) Camden. You know, he only took five shots, but you know, he made some big threes in the runs that they had. So that hurt us. I thought (Chris) Bell hit a couple big shots in the runs that they had, but you know, rarely would I say a guy scores 29 points, but you know I felt like it didn't impact the game. I thought, you know, we did a good job. You know, I know it doesn't look like it, 9-13, but he had five turnovers. I thought we did some good things on them. We all know there are some points that, you know, that impact the game totally and then sometimes they don't. Not to take nothing away from him because he's a really good player, but I just didn't think that 29 impacted why we lost the game.”

On how much the foul trouble impacted the game…

“We talked about guarding them without fouling. They have a really good free-throw shooting team. You know, I thought our guards, you know, aside from Davi (Remagen), you know, our guards didn't do a great job of, you know, we can talk about Ames, but the ones that started and ignited it were Camden putting the ball on the ground. We couldn't stay in front of him.I thought that, you know, Cal did a good job of when, you know, when we were making our runs and when we were making buckets, the biggest thing they did was put fouls on us. And now they're living at the free throw line. We just didn't do a good job. We're getting hung up on screens, different things, and we're just getting unnecessary fouls. That hurt us. Uh, 39 to 14. That's a big discrepancy. At the same time, too, you know, we got to do a little better job in that area of guarding without fouling.”

On if California is looking like an NCAA Tournament team….

“They're right there in the mix for sure. You know, Cal is, you know, me being a West Coast guy, you know, I played against Cal obviously, it was the heyday. I would call it the heyday. Had really good players, and you know things of that nature. Mark (Madsen) has done a great job. He's put them in position. They'll have some opportunities to keep winning and improve their resume, but you know they'll be right there in the mix.”

On the message to the team that ignited the turnaround in the second level, and if the focus was more on John Camden…

“I wouldn't say we were necessarily focusing on him, but you know, you've got to have an awareness of a guy like him. I thought he was critical. And watching Cal, I thought he was critical to their team. You know, he keeps the court space. He allows Ames and (Justin) Pippen, you know, to play free and in space. I thought the second half, we really came out and we just played harder. You know, we played harder. We shared the ball, we did different things, and you know, to go from you know, scoring 29 points in the first half to 56 in the second half.

To start turning them over, and Cal is not a turnover team, you know, we turned them. We did a lot of good things, but you know, the guys came out. I thought we just played harder in that second half.

On the 48 points in the paint….

“I thought we should have had more, actually. I thought we missed a lot of shots at the rim. As crazy as it sounds, we're a bad two-point shooting team, you know, we've got to be better in that area. But, you know, the 48 points that we did get, you know, in the paint is obviously a big number. I don't think it had anything to do with who was there, who wasn't. We do have Baye (Ndongo), and he was really good for us today. Although he didn't take a lot of shots, he created a lot of offense for us, and so guys were cutting and doing different things.”

Injury Update on Kowacie Reeves and Davi Remagen …

“Wacie had been down pretty much since this morning, so he didn't even come to shoot around. He tried to give us what he had, you can just kind of see he didn't have it and didn't want to chance it. We still have one more game on this trip. So, I just decided to go in another direction. I think he went back to the hotel. might have gone back to the hotel, lay down. I thought Davi was really good defensively. You know, I thought he did some good things. I thought he made Ames work. So I was happy for him to see that. I'm looking at our plus-minus for the game, and he had the highest plus-minus of any player in the game. That's an indictment of him. He has been working. So, um, you know, it was good to see him do the things he did.

On whether Mouhamed Sylla or Peyton Marshall will be back on the road trip…

“I really can't check on injuries. It's not that I'm frustrated with it, but it's like it just taints your thinking as a coach. I just want to coach the guys that I know are going to be there every day, because it makes it hard with the maybes, and you don't know. So, for me, I've just tried to focus on coaching the guys that I have because it just makes it easier on me. You know what I mean? So, there's already a lot of things going on, and you're trying to, you know, get ready for the game, manage the game. We'll see moving forward. I'm not really for sure, though.”

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