Offense again a problem as Georgia Tech falls at home
The lack of offensive options killed the Georgia Tech basketball team again on Saturday.
This time, the only two players capable of scoring were center Ben Lammers and guard Josh Okogie, who produced 39 of the Yellow Jackets’ points in a 65-50 loss to No. 9 Louisville at McCamish Pavilion
The lack of offense issue has surfaced over and over for the Yellow Jackets, who have struggled to find a third and fourth option. Against Louisville, it was Tadric Jackson and Quentin Stephens who came up short; Jackson was 1-for-10 from the field and scored five points, and Stephens as 0-for-3 with five turnovers and one point.
Louisville won the game by turning a weakness into a strength. The Cardinals had shot just 9-for-41 on 3-pointers in losing their first two ACC games. But on Saturday, they were 9-for-16 on 3s, 24 percentage points higher than their season average.
Three who mattered
Lammers: The junior was called “the most improved player in the league” by a Louisville assistant coach after the game. He wasn’t exaggerating. Lammers was 9-for-14 from the field, 6-for-6 from the line, and scored a career-high 24 points. He also had nine rebounds and three blocked shots.
Okogie: The freshman still makes some head-scratching mistakes and is not always strong at finishing at the basket, but he is a points creator on a team that lacks in that department. Okogie scored 15 points and added seven rebounds and three assists.
Louisville’s Donovan Mitchell: The guard sparked the 3-point revival by making 5-of-7 and leading the Cardinals with 20 points. Two of his 3s helped halt a Georgia Tech comeback late in the game. He also had four assists.
Turning point
Georgia Tech had cut the lead to 43-40 with 9:21 left. At that point, Louisville came back with a dunk from Ray Spalding and two more 3-pointers — one from Quentin Snider and another from Mitchell — to help the Cardinals regain the momentum. The 12-4 run helped Louisville re-establish its double-digit lead
Observations
They do play very hard: There can be no question about the determination with which the Yellow Jackets play. But Pastner is correct when he says there is no margin for effort on offense. Any missed opportunity is magnified because of the team’s lack of offensive options.
Lammination: Lammers nearly brought the Yellow Jackets back by himself. He scored 14 of the team’s 16 points during a second-half comeback that got them to within three points. Lammers had a couple of slam dunks during that streak and provided matchup issues for the Cardinals.
Giving A.G. a chance: Pastner shook up the rotation a bit and gave Abdoulaye Gueye 17 minutes, the most he’s played since the Dec. 18 game against Alcorn State. Pastner was hoping the 6-foot-9 sophomore could help at the power forward spot and allow him to move Stephens to the shooting forward position. Gueye had four rebounds and two blocks, but Stephens scored just one point.
Nothing from Heath: Senior Josh Heath started and failed to score for the second straight game. He has played 46 minutes in the past two games without scoring. Heath was 0-for-4 on Saturday with two assists.
Worth mentioning
The point threshold: Pastner said he team needs to score 80 points to have a chance to win, which is what happened against North Carolina. The Yellow Jackets had only 52 against Duke and just 50 against Louisville.
A late start: The game started 15 minutes late because crews had to replace the 30-second shot clock affixed to one of the baskets.
A different lineup: Pastner started Heath instead of Jackson. It was the second start of the season for Heath and the broke a streak of four straight starts for Jackson.
They said it
Pastner on Louisville’s 13-0 run early in the game that put Georgia Tech in a hole: “For us, that first 4-5 minutes, it was like the movie ‘Jaws’ or something You’re on the ocean and all of a sudden ‘Jaws’ comes up and eats you. Other than that, we played great. We played hard. We gave every ounce of effort and energy and tried as hard as we could.”
Pastner on the team’s effort: “We’re fighting like crazy. We’re just very limited offensively, so it’s hard for us to win. We need to find some other scorers.”
Louisville assistant David Padgett, subbing in the postgame media conference for head coach Rick Pitino, on the 3-point success: “We knew they were going to come out playing zone. We expected that. I thought our guys did a great job getting in the lane, and when you get the ball in the lane, the defense has to collapse, and then we did a great job kicking it out. They stuck with the game plan. Took good shots.”
What’s next?
Georgia Tech hosts Clemson on Thursday.
This story was originally published January 7, 2017 at 6:59 PM with the headline "Offense again a problem as Georgia Tech falls at home."