Tech Sinks Lakers In A Blowout
Not THOSE Lakers! ….The Clayton State Lakers, A DII Neighbor From South Atlanta
The hope is that overwhelming a far inferior opponent will be a confidence builder from here on out. That was Josh Pastner’s take on his Jackets’ dominating win over Clayton State. The final score was 103-53. It could have been even worse. But the actual margin was not important, so long as it was comfortable. The goal was to play hard but loose, to have fun ..and to further learn themselves as a team. Their coach is optimistic that it worked.
The next week or so should tell that story, when Tech jumps back into Big Boy Basketball against Florida State and Miami later this week. Those two teams happen to be sitting atop the ACC standings. So Pastner and his troops will quickly learn how much carry-over they get from this blowout.
Having said that, this win was a welcome change in a number of ways. First of all, it was a win, bringing Tech’s record to 6-8 on the year. That doesn’t sound too impressive for the defending ACC tournament champions. But Pastner is holding out hope that his charges will find their mesh, like his crew did last year. And speaking of last year, mid-February was about the point at which that team found itself and began to win regularly in the conference toward a final ACC record of 11-6. And of course, they went on to win the ACC tournament.
To get near that level, this group will have to find some reliable sources of scoring other than Devoe and Usher. So far this season, Tech’s opponents have learned that the key to beating the Jackets was to hold either of Tech’s two best scorers to a sub-par day. And if that happens, Tech’s chance to win grows quite small.
Much better to have a balanced attack, as was seen in this win over Clayton State. On this night, Tech had 4 players in double figures. As usual, they were led by Michael Devoe with 20 points and Jordan Usher with 16. But Jaylen Moore and Deebo Coleman each also hit double figures and Khalid Moore added 9. Moreover, 11 different Yellow Jackets scored and 12 got significant minutes.
When asked which of his young charges might be most likely to become a dependable nightly scoring threat, Pastner demurred. He named several players as possibles, but declined to name one or two specically. Instead he reiterated his belief that Tech’s offense will always run through its defense and so it will be based on hustle and scrap and energy– all factors that he sees on the upswing with this team.
For new scorers, consider Tristan Maxwell, who emerged last week with a 22 point outburst in a win at BC. He did not play in this game because of a thumb injury, per his coach. But after that big game last week on the road, Maxwell fell back to llimited minutes and points in the loss to Wake.
So who will it be? Pastner laments this team’s tendency to have scoring “droughts” within a given ballgame, and he believes that these episodes in turn dent his players confidence. Which makes sense. But it’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg thing, since confidence is borne, and sustained, by good play. And when Devoe goes cold– and he occasionally does, like all scorers— Tech’s offense then depends largely on Usher’s hyper-energetic offensive creativity. Which is usually somewhat effective, but can be a perilous way to overcome a drought.
Wednesday night Tech takes on Florida State (13-5) at McCamish. We will see how this team has progressed in a week. There is time for a turnaround and it’s accurate to say that a few of Tech’s league losses could have been wins. But those games are in the books. There are 13 ACC games left. Now is the time for Tech to take flight.
Patrick Conarro
RamblinSports