Jackets Fall to Irish in OT At Home
Tech Remains Winless in League Play With 72-68 Loss
Georgia Tech Coach Josh Pastner had said last week he wanted his team to take a fresh look at their still-young ACC slate and consider themselves as a team getting a fresh start, sporting a 0-0 mark. In reality, they were 0-3 in the ACC and riding a 2 game skid coming into the weekend. Alas, whether or not you buy Pastner’s sleight-of-hand psychology maneuver, Tech remains without a win in league play following a frustrating 72-68 overtime loss to Notre Dame at McCamish on Saturday night.
Tech came out with good energy and a near-palpable resolve to earn a league win and please an energetic home crowd. Unfortunately, they were also missing two important pieces of their team. Center Rodney Howard is still hobbled with an ankle issue. They also lacked senior guard Bubba Parham who is still making his way back into playing shape from.last years knee injury. The absence of these two players led directly to Tech’s signature problem with this team— namely, no significant presence down low, on offense or defense, and a corresponding lack of effective outside shooting to compensate for a weak unside game .
Without Howard down low, Notre Dame found the paint a friendly place to hang out, outscoring Tech 40-26 from close-in. And as Pastner pointed out post-game, many of those inside points resulted from a lack of effective defense beyond the missing big man. What’s more, his best potential sources of outside scoring, Devoe and Usher and Coleman , went a collective 4 of 18 from three-point land. That’s a 22% clip. At 22% shooting from distance , Tech will have a tough time beating even the mediocre members of the ACC.
On Saturday, and per usual this season, Tech was led by Devoe (20) and Usher (16). Guard Kyle Sturdivant added 10.points and Usher grabbed 14 rebounds as the Jackets’ most effective inside presence. Beyond that, though, the Jackets struggled to score over several chunks of time. Thus the Irish caught them at the wire and jumped out to an insurmountable lead a few minutes into OT.
Pastner noted wistfully that his team had good looks and that having the ball in the hands of Usher or Devoe when you need a hoop is not in itself a bad situation– but on Saturday the shots did not fall. As good as Mike Devoe is, he has a big challenge when his team needs a bucket and the opponent knows that he is their preferred option to take the shot. Pastner will continue to seek another source as a viable outside option as Tech moves deeper into the schedule.
Now 0-4 in the ACC, last year’s league Tournament Champs find themselves alone at the bottom of the league. They travel for a game vs Boston College on Wednesday. Once again Pastner and troops will look for enough scoring from enough sources to make it difficult for the Eagles to succeed by clamping down on Devoe and Usher alone.
As for their take in the situation, both Jordan Usher and Mike Devoe sounded like the team statesmen that they are. ” That’s life” said Usher of the frustrating loss. But both men know– from as recently as a year ago– that a season and a team can take a quick turn for the better. And they almost expect it. Josh Pastner agrees. Sounding like a football coach, he repeatedly said the Jackets were ” close” but that they had a narrow margin of error. Time will tell. Tech goes for league win #1 on Wednesday at Chestnut Hill. That won’t really even their record at 1-1, despite Josh Pastner’s preferred math. But it would feel good.
“We need a win, ” said Jordan Usher. His teammates– and Tech fans– agree.
Patrick Conarro
RamblinSports