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What Josh Pastner Said After Georgia Tech's 67-53 Loss To Kentucky

Tech drops to 4-4 on the season.

Opening Statement

“First of all, obviously Kentucky is a great basketball team. I think Ashton Hagans has just gotten better and better and better. He’s really good, and from where he was in a junior, senior in high school, because we recruited him, he’s just continued to get better and better. Which is a great credit to Coach Calipari and his staff on the development of Ashton Hagans. I thought he was a big difference today. The biggest part of the game was 44-41 and we left 11 points on the board. That’s just the game. Michael Devoe, who’s been great all season for us for the most part, one of the leading three-point shooters in the country, had two wide open threes and he missed both. Khalid Moore had one that went in and out. Literally went down and out. Asanti Price had a layup that we missed. That’s 11 points, and you’re playing a really good team on the road. We’re missing two of our better players with Jose Alvarado and Jordan Usher. You just don’t have any margin for error not to score in those type of situations when you get those type of looks. That was the game right there. I thought our guys executed our game plan. We put ourselves in the position to win the game defensively. We are who we are defensively. We are a very good defensive team, and we do a good job with what we do defensively. We did a good job on the glass limiting our goals to keep them under nine offensive rebounds, which we did. We missed some threes in the second half, we missed some free throws and Kentucky made their free throws. That was the difference right there.”

On Ashton Hagans

“He was a pro tonight. He was a first-round draft pick the way he played tonight. He’s gotten better and continued to improve. He’s phenomenal young man and he’s just a good person. He’s got a good spirit about him. I’m really high on Ashton, I think he’s really, really good and he continues to get better each game. As each game has gone by, he’s shooting the ball better. So, credit to him. I told Coach Calipari when we were at Memphis, Georgia Tech shooting free throws like we did at Memphis. They’re shooting free throws like… as much as you won at Memphis, you might have won 100 percent of his games the way they’re shooting the free throws. I think they’re one of the two or three best in the country. That’s a big difference in games when it’s a possession by possession game, being able to make those free throws. That’s a big deal. But, Hagans is a stud and I think he’s a first-round draft pick.”

On going from being Coach Cal’s assistant to being his opponent

“The only reason I got the job at Memphis is because nobody wanted the job at Memphis because nobody wanted to follow Coach Calipari at Memphis because he had the most wins in a four-year period his last four years. He won close to 95 percent of his games. So, when he left, I just happened to be the last man standing. They had to hire somebody and eventually they just asked me if I wanted to job. But, I was all set to come to Kentucky with Coach Cal. I was very fortunate. I got really lucky a door opened up. I was at the right place at the right time. I don’t forget that. I understand an opportunity was there and allowed that need to be an opportunity to be able to coach at an incredible institution like Memphis and then an incredible institution like Georgia Tech and to be able to coach in the ACC. I’m very fortunate and thankful and extremely grateful to Coach Cal for allowing me to come to his staff which allowed me to get the job at Memphis.”

On what Keion Brooks provides

“Yeah, Keion Brooks was solid. But my whole thing is, when we followed the game plan, there was no issue. Ashton Hagans was—the biggest difference in the game today was them making their free throws, but also the 11 points we left on the board when we were 44-41 late in the second half, or middle of the second. That’s the game. And Keion—they’ve got a bunch of good players. The eight that play are all high-level guys. They’re all going to play in the NBA. But obviously, the guy that’s a sure-fire first round pick, I assume, is Ashton Hagans. And he was really, really good today. But, we followed our game plan, we did our job and we put ourselves in a position to win; we just—there was that segment, there was 11 points left on the board and we don’t have that margin for error against a really good team like Kentucky. You’re just not in a position to do that.”

On his very first meeting with Kentucky Head Coach John Calipari

“Yeah, I mean, I knew Coach Calipari during recruiting and all that. And, I really mean this: A couple people, Mr. (Jerry) Tipton called me and John—there you are, okay—and (Calipari will) deny it but when he retires, he will not go into TV. He will go for politics and I really believe he’s going to run—he was going to possibly run for the President of the United States. And if not that, he’s going to go for governor or senator. He’s going to come up here and deny it, but mark my words. And he just—you know, he has that charisma, he has that energy to do it, and he’s always been interested in it. And so, I’m telling you, when he does it—and he can deny it now—he will end up running for it. And I don’t know which part or anything like that, but he’s got that ability. He’s a genius marketer. He’s obviously a genius of a basketball coach—one of the greatest to ever do it. Regardless of sport, he’s one of the greatest coaches ever. It wouldn’t matter if he was running a slice-by-slice pizza place down the street. It would become a multimillion-dollar company. He just has something about that, that, you know, the ability to be very successful and he happened to choose basketball. And he would’ve been successful no matter what he does.

On the issue with translating turnovers into points

“The whole game was that second half where we left 11 points on the board. Michael Devoe was wide open. Incredible look. If he gets a hundred of those, he’s got to shoot a hundred of them. And Khalid Moore was wide open and the ball went in the hoop and literally rolled out, and then we missed the layup. So that’s the basketball game. You know, if you make—just, and your best shooter and one of the best shooters in the country has that open of a shot, that segment was the entire basketball game. We make a shot here or there, it could be a different outcome in the end.

On whether he’d take a job offer from Kentucky after John Calipari finishes coaching

“I just hope to beat Ball State on Wednesday. That’s my only thought process is to beat Ball State. But I will tell you—look, Coach Calipari is going to be here for a while obviously. I mean, I think if he goes for another 10, 15 years, he could end up being the winningest coach. But whoever follows him at UMass, whoever follows him at Memphis like I did, whoever follows him at Kentucky is going to have a hard job. Not only has he won games, but stuff he’s done with the community and everything else—he’s just elite to do what he’s done. I just really hope we beat Ball State on Wednesday. That’s my only focus.”

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