Effort not enough for Georgia Tech against Georgia

For most of the season, Georgia Tech has survived on effort. But sometimes, as was the case Tuesday against Georgia, playing hard isn’t always enough.

Georgia Tech’s offensive limitations were evident throughout its 60-43 loss to rival Georgia at McCamish Pavilion before the team’s first sellout of the season. The Yellow Jackets shot only 34.6 percent from the field, including 1-for-10 on 3-pointers, and were never able to get its offense in gear. It was the fewest points scored by the Yellow Jackets this season.

“I’ve got no issue with our effort,” Georgia Tech head coach Josh Pastner said. “They give me every ounce of energy they can give you. We just struggle scoring and when you struggle scoring like that, it makes it really tough. Give Georgia credit but for us that’s been one of the things for the season and we’ve got to find solutions to help us on that.”

The scoring line was horrible from top to bottom. The worst offenders were forward Quinton Stephens, who was 0-for-9 overall and 0-for-4 on 3-pointers, and guard Tadric Jackson, who was 2-for-5 and hit the game’s only 3.

“It’s hard for us when Tadric (Jackson) and Quinton (Stephens) are a combined 2-for-15,” Pastner said. “We’re limited. We don’t have a lot of options on that, and it makes it tough. We need Quinton and Tadric to step up and put the ball in the basket, and when they’re not it makes it hard.”

Georgia dominated the game on the offensive boards, getting 13 to Georgia Tech’s five. That led to the Bulldogs logging 19 second-chance points.

“They kicked our butts on the offensive glass,” Pastner said. “I told the kids if we hold them to 50, we’ll win the game, and we literally did, until we were fouling at the end. I just didn’t think we were going to score 43, so that’s a credit to Georgia and their defense.”

Georgia prevented the Yellow Jackets from getting much on transition; they scored only six fastbreak points. That allowed the Bulldogs to get back on defense, set up and force Georgia Tech to beat them in a half-court game — something the Yellow Jackets are ill-equipped to do.

“I don’t know if we need to overanalyze it,” Pastner said. “Based on our roster, when guys like Quinton are 0-for-9 and Tadrick is 2-for-5, it’s going to be hard for us unless we have an awful opponent, and we don’t have any of those.”

The rivalry might have played a role in the team’s slow start, but Georgia Tech players didn’t use it as an excuse.

Center Ben Lammers said, “Any time you have a sold-out crowd for a game like this, you’ll have a little bit of jitters. We just have to calm down a little bit quicker.”

This story was originally published December 20, 2016 at 10:38 PM with the headline "Effort not enough for Georgia Tech against Georgia."