Hokies Deliver A Narrow Verdict Over Georgia Tech
Jackets Hang In….But Hokies Hang On For 52-49 Win
9th-ranked Virginia Tech came calling to McCamish Pavilion Wednesday night, sporting a glossy 13-1 record including a 2-0 ACC start and an 8 game win streak. A sharpshooting offense has been the hallmark of that success, launching their best start in decades. On this cold January night in Atlanta, though, the Hokie offense was cold too. It was their defense that bailed them out in a hard-fought 52-49 win.
Urged on by their raucous home crowd, Georgia Tech’s tough defenders came out in full force, holding the Hokies to a very uncharacteristic 30% field goal percentage, including an abysmal 5 of 27 from 3 point range–this from a team that came in averaging 51% overall and 44% from long distance. Cold shooting to that degree doesn’t often deliver a win, but as Hokie coach Buzz Williams pointed out, the Hokies ended up with 19 more field goal tries than did Georgia Tech. That rather impressive statistic was born of the Hokies’ ability to gather 13 offensive rebounds and to take advantage of 18 Georgia Tech turnovers. Thus each team scored 17 field goals, though Virginia Tech needed 57 shots to get there as compared to 38 for the Yellow Jackets. And though the Yellow Jackets themselves hit 45% from the floor, with 38% from the arc, the Hokie defense showed its effect in other ways, forcing turnovers and earning second and third shots, producing 26 points in the process. The visitors also gladly accepted the gift of Georgia Tech’s rather pedestrian 56% free throw shooting.
The final minutes of the game told the larger story of missed chances for the home team. After Georgia Tech finally clawed back to take a thin lead at 49-47, they failed to score on their next 3 possessions –yielding instead a missed layup, a missed front end of a 1 and 1 free throw opportunity, and with 3 seconds left, an errant pass that sailed out of bounds. Their very last gasp ended prematurely when forward Abdoulaye Gueye stepped over the line as he inbounded the ball with 1.8 seconds left.
“All you can really ask is to have a chance at the end ” said Yellow Jacket Coach Josh Pastner “We had chances, we just didn’t capitalize”. Pastner praised his team’s effort and then bemoaned the lack of offense. He pointed out the ineffective play from his big man James Banks, who scored only 2 points after scorching Wake Forest for 20 only 4 days earlier.”We need James every night”, Pastner said.
Pastner praised his team’s effort-and lamented the lack of offense.
Michael Devoe hit a layup for Georgia Tech for a 2-0 lead inside the first minute of play. The Yellow Jackets then endured an 8 minute drought to go down 11–2. From there, Jose Alvarado kept his team in the game with 17 first-half points, including 3 of 3 from distance. The first half was marked by decent Georgia Tech shooting (9-17) coupled with typically tight defense, holding the Hokies to 9 of 28 from the field. The free- throw line was quite productive for the visitors, however. They hit 9 of 10 to forge a 29-24 lead. As the half ended, Georgia Tech had 2 players in foul trouble, with 3 fouls each for Alston and Khalid Moore. The Jackets were already missing guard Curtis Haywood who was out with an illness.
Moore was tagged for his 4th foul just 2 minures into the 2nd half, making Pastner!s manpower problem a little worse. But the Yellow Jacket’s tenacious defense would not let Virginia Tech get away, and the game was finally tied at 47 when Abdoulaye Gueye hit a 3 from the corner at the 4 minute mark. Following a Hokie turnover, Brandon Alston hit a layup to give his team its first lead since the opening moments of the game. Virginia Tech’s Justin Robinson then banked in a 3, and following Devoe’s missed free throws, the Hokies added 2 free throws of their own to account for the final score. Alston passed the ball out of bounds with 3 seconds left, ending any realistic chance of an upset.
Jose Alvarado led the Yellow Jackets with 20 points
Hokies’ Coach Buzz Williams cited his team’s intensity and concentration in comparing this narrow win to his team’s only loss, 63-62 to Penn State.
“It wasn’t pretty but our guys hung in there” said Virginia Tech Coach Buzz Williams.
Post-game, Yellow Jacket point guard Alvarado was philosophical and a bit defiant. “We showed we can play with the #9 team. We came in here to give them a dogfight. We play defense-that’s us” said the point guard from Brooklyn.
Pastner struck a similar tone.”We had our chances”, he said “…..I don’t believe in moral victories.” He cited the disparities in offensive rebounds and turnovers, along with free-throws as the main culprits for his team. Of the close loss Pastner added ” That’s life in the ACC.”
Georgia Tech takes on Syracuse at the Carrier Dome on Saturday in another attempt to gain their 2nd ACC win on the season. There they will encounter what Buzz Williams called ” the thin thin line on the road inppthe ACC.”
Patrick Conarrop