What Josh Pastner Said After Georgia Tech's 65-47 Loss To Ball State

Tech has lost their last two home games by a combined 52 points

Opening statement:

“First of all, give Ball State full credit, they did a great job, played really well. Coach [James] Whitford is a great coach and Ball State deserves all credit. Secondly, you know when you lose games it falls directly on the head coach. I don’t have an explanation on why we played like the way we did. I thought we played very selfish, I thought we were very lethargic. In my four years here it was the most times the ball has stopped, and we didn’t play ‘the open man is the go-to man’. We played ‘my shot’, not ‘the open man’s shot’. We had a great shoot around this morning, guys had great energy. We had a good practice yesterday and the day before with great energy. So, I don’t know why we were so lethargic and played so selfish. But again, that falls on me. That’s not on the players. I’ve got to do a better job with that. Our last three games, two of the three we just have been poor and that falls on me, so I’ve got to do a better job.”

On Jordan Usher struggling in his Georgia Tech debut:

“The Jordan Usher today is not the Jordan Usher that has been in practice. I haven’t seen that Jordan Usher that played today. The Jordan Usher I’ve seen in practice has been really good. The Jordan Usher today obviously didn’t play well. There’s going to be some nerves, him being rusty because he hasn’t played in a year. Again I’ve got to do a better job on that, kind of figuring that out. I put him in the [starting] lineup, maybe that hurt our flow a little bit. However, he’s going to be in the rotation, or be in the lineup, eventually so we need him to play well.”

On having more turnovers than points scored in the first half:

“Of my four years this is the worst game, maybe my 11 years as head coach, my worst game I’ve been around in terms of energy, and not able to explain it. I can’t explain on this one. Like I said, we had a very good shoot around and guys have practiced well, and we just played well on Saturday versus Kentucky. So, I don’t know why we played, ‘my shot, my shot, my shot’. We never played, ‘the open man is the go-to man’. Again that falls on me. It was very disappointing.”

On trying a different lineup in the second half:

“We just went smaller to try to mix some things up. We started pressing to try to change the tempo. Again, to start the game we got stops and we just couldn’t score again. We’d just turn it over. We’re not taking advantage early in the game. We’re getting some stops, we just get stuck not being able to score.”

On Michael Devoe’s play tonight:

“Obviously he didn’t play well, and we need Michael to play well. And he’s just got to learn that he can’t do it all on his shoulders. He’s got to be in the same boat that the open man is the go-to man. It can’t be, ‘my shot’. However again, this falls on me, not on the players. We’ve just got to figure it out and re-group and try to win some games in Hawaii.”

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