Florida State Rolls Over Yellow Jackets
17th-ranked Seminoles Stroll Past Tech 69-47 In Front Of Divided McCamish Crowd
It was a familiar script, with a few new twists. Georgia Tech takes on a more talented opponent, hangs tough early, thanks to an incredibly tenacious defense, but sags steadily due to a continued inability to score, resulting in another double digit loss. The 22 point margin felt larger than that.
The twists this day were the re-emergence of Jose Alvarado (6 of 11 for 17 points) as a scoring source for Tech , albeit countered by a backslide from fellow guard Michael Devoe (2 of 11 for 6 points) Likewise, freshman forward Kristian Sjolund made the most of a rare start with 3 of 7 from distance for 11 points. But James Banks had a down day offensively, hitting only 1 of 9 for 4 points.
FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said Tech’s zone defense is the best he’s seen in his career.
Overall, Tech had a rough day offensively, even by their modest standards, hitting only 27% overall, and even worse, going only 8 for 36 on 2-point shots. That type of shooting generates lots of rebounds, but Tech lost that battle too, 50-38.
Jose Alvarado led Tech scoring with 17 points, including 3 of 7 from behind the arc.
The visitors came in with a 6 game ACC win streak. Tech hung tough early, taking a one point lead at 15:45 when Alvarado hit his first 3 to go up 6-5. But 6 minutes later, the Seminoles were up 25-12 on the strength of a 12 point run.
FSU coach Leonard Hamilton would later praise Tech’s zone defense, calling it the best he has seen in his career. That defense left the Seminoles hitting only 41% from the field in the first half while producing 7 turnovers. But Tech’s offense was even less productive at 29%, caused in large part by the work of the Seminoles’ 7’4″ center, Chris Koumadje. He blocked 2 first-half shots and he clearly bothered James Banks, who struggled with his inside game. Several big plays by Koumadje brought robust cheers from an unexpectedly large contingent of Seminole fans at McCamish.
Tech’s Kristian Sjolund grabbed 5 rebounds to go with his 11 points
The 11 point halftime deficit would only grow in the 2nd half. Tech’s tepid offense never really posed any threat to FSU. An early sequence in the 2nd half was illustrative. Alvarado had an open jumpshot rim out, but he was able to steal the rebound, only to throw it out of bounds trying to get it to an open teammate. On their very next possession, Tech ended up calling a timeout as the shot clock dwindled down to 3 seconds, and the ensuing inbounds play was predictably unproductive. A little bad luck, some good hustle, a hurried pass, ineffectual ball movement on a set play, all resulting in….no points.
Tech coach Josh Pastner spoke of the big picture in his post-game remarks.”Losing’s no fun..nobody hates losing more than I do.” said Pastner . He went on to describe his team’s frustration with their struggles on offense. He noted with obvious pride thst their defense has been stellar, and that there has been no splintering on the team despite the now 7-game losing streak.
“We struggled offensively at times”, said Pastner, understating the obvious. He noted that Josh Okogie’s unexpected early departure had hurt Tech’s offense, but also created some recruiting opportunities. The trick, of course, is to have those opportunities bear fruit. Thus far, he’s not had great success in recruiting offensive talent.
The next chance to show otherwise comes Wednesday night agsinst Pittsburgh, another team living near the bottom of the ACC standings.
Patrick Conarro