The Yellow Jackets prevailed and have their first 3-0 start of the season since 2022. It was a dominant second half that the Yellow Jackets controlled through their defense, and how they rebounded the basketball. Head coach Scott talked to the media afterwards about what stood out. Here are the most important quotes he said.

On the win over Eastern Kentucky 

“I'm proud of our guys. We experienced a little bit of adversity in the first half, definitely was not our best performance. And second half, we kind of came together, took better care of the basketball and really did a great job on the boards and did a great job taking care of it. It was one of our better second halves that we've had. I think it's good for our guys to experience that adversity because it's going to happen throughout the season. Responding and finding a way to win because that game easily could have went the other direction. So I'm proud of them for that,” said Cross. 

On Tylis Jordan Improvement and why he is breaking out 

“We have our defensive grading chart that we do. And the first inter-squad scrimmages, he graded out very poorly, just being honest. He saw that it was really important to me and our staff. And all of a sudden, the light switch came on. Once he focuses on defending and rebounding, he is special, I think. You know, he could play at the very, very highest level. You know, he's 6-9, seven plus wingspan. He can defend one through five. He's great in transition. He's got a pretty shot. I mean, there's not much that he can't do. When he focuses on those two things, I think that's when you get the best version of him,” said Corss. 

On the in-game adjustment that helped the Yellow Jackets pull off the win 

“We had a size advantage, but they were able to drive us and spread us out. And, you know, it hurt, especially when we were going with our bigger lineups. You know, some of their smaller guys were able to drive it. So we just tried to shrink the floor, get in the gaps, make it a little bit tougher for them to drive it. We forced them to take a little bit tougher shots. They did hit some of them. I mean, they hit some really tough shots. And then they did make us pay the open shots that they got. They buried them. And so, you know, credit to them for hitting those shots. But I felt like our guys, like it mattered to them to get stops, which is what you want to see as a coach,” said Cross. 

On a concern and area Coach Cross wants to improve 

“Yeah, I would say probably the thing that we need to improve on is defensive rebounding. I still think that could be an issue, and we have to get better. I think our guys are understanding the importance and we saw in the Georgia Southern game how it could potentially keep the game really, really close and you could lose a game that you're not supposed to lose. So I would say defensive rebounding,” said Cross. 

On what he has been impressed with through three games 

“I would say probably the versatility, the number of different guys that can step up and make plays and score on our team. I think that's the positive. I don't think a team can just key on one guy for us. One night it's Colby, one night it's Nas, one night it's Ty, Vic, you know, we got different guys that can step up, and then we got guys coming off the bench that can, you know, chip in and give us five to 10 points. So I think, you know, the fact that we got a number of different guys that are capable, you know, and again, we didn't even shoot the ball that well, you know, in this game. So, you know, we've had two games where we hadn't shot it very well, but we still found ways to win. One game that we did shoot it well, but we didn't defend or rebound the way we want. I probably, as a defensive minded guy, would prefer the first and the third game where we defend and rebound at a high level. At least you feel like you're going to win the basketball game if you do those two things,” said Cross.