Pastner not making a big deal out of rivalry game

First-year Georgia Tech head coach Josh Pastner is trying to take a low-key approach to Tuesday night’s game against rival Georgia. There’s no white-out or similar emphatic event planned.

It’s just another game, another chance for his young team to play a quality opponent.

“To me, based on our team, every game we play is a big game,” Pastner said. “To me Alcorn State, was as big as any game we play. Why? Because you never go into a game and say, ‘Aw, if we lose, it doesn’t matter.’ I look at it like it’s the next game on the schedule.”

But Pastner will learn that most Georgia Tech fans will put this one on a different level because the other team wears red and black. There likely will be more fans at McCamish Pavilion for the 7 p.m. game than at any other time this year. Georgia Tech averages 4,739 fans, with a high of 6,016 for the season opener against Tennessee Tech when Pastner made his debut.

McCamish seats 8,600.

Georgia Tech (6-3) leads the series 105-87. The Yellow Jackets were routed 75-61 by the Bulldogs in Athens last season, breaking a four-game Georgia Tech winning streak in the rivalry.

Senior forward Quinton Stephens, who grew up in Atlanta and attended Marist, has known about the rivalry his entire life. He has friends on the Georgia team, including former high school teammate Brandon Young. But Stephens has bought into Pastner’s approach to the game.

“I’m real excited to play with this team we have,” he said. “Whether it’s Alcorn State or Georgia, we’re going to prepare, and we’ll be ready.”

Pastner has emphasized — and Stephens subscribes — to the attitude that a team must worry about taking care of its own business and not focus outside of that.

“I’m a big believer in you’ve got to do your job,” Pastner said. “I’m not a big rah-rah speech guy. I don’t care who’s in front of us; it’s about Georgia Tech. It’s about execution and great effort, and we’ve got to play the right way. If we do that, then we’ll put ourselves in an opportunity to hopefully have a chance to win the game.”

Georgia Tech will need to play stellar perimeter defense against Georgia (7-3) in order to slow down guard J.J. Frazier, who made six 3-pointers in last year’s meeting and scored a career-high 35 points. Frazier averages 14.4 points this season. Opponents are shooting 34.8 percent on 3-point shots against the Yellow Jackets this season.

Georgia’s big offensive gun has been forward Yante Maten, who averages 21.5 points and 8.7 rebounds. Maten scored 17 points against the Yellow Jackets last year and likely will get plenty of attention from center Ben Lammers.

This is the second game the Yellow Jackets will have in a five-day span. They host Wofford on Thursday before breaking for Christmas. Georgia Tech is expected to get guard Christian Matthews back Tuesday. The freshman missed the Alcorn State game with a stomach virus that prevented him from being in the arena. Matthews has seen his role increase recently and earned double-digit minutes against Tennessee and VCU.

This story was originally published December 19, 2016 at 3:05 PM with the headline "Pastner not making a big deal out of rivalry game."