Georgia Tech basketball looking for answers to inconsistency as it heads to Hawaii tournament
For a basketball team trying to find answers for an inconsistent season, what better place to search than Hawaii.
That’s where the Georgia Tech club will go to find some answers, when the Yellow Jackets compete in the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu this weekend.
Georgia Tech will open the tournament on Sunday against Boise State and play again on Monday against either Houston or Portland. It is Georgia Tech’s sixth visit to Hawaii and first since the 2006 Maui Invitational.
Georgia Tech (4-5) has lost three in a row and is coming off a loss to Ball State on Wednesday that may have been the worst in Josh Pastner’s four seasons. The Yellow Jackets have been beaten by larger margins, but showed very little of the energy that has been a hallmark of Pastner’s teams.
“It’s on us,” senior center James Banks said. “We’ve got to fix it.”
The three-game skid began with a 97-63 drubbing by Syracuse, but that night the Orange opened the game by shooting lights out and Tech never recovered. The Yellow Jackets hung tough in a road game against No. 8 Kentucky before losing 67-53. But the effort that was so evident in Lexington was missing when the team returned home and lost 65-47 to Ball State.
“I don’t have an explanation on why we played like we did,” Pastner said. “I thought we played very selfish. I thought we were lethargic. In my four years here it was the most time the ball has stopped and we didn’t play ‘the open man is the go-to man.’ We played ‘my shot,’ not the open man’s shot.”
The arrival of promising junior Jordan Usher did little to help. The Southern Cal transfer scored four points, was 1-for-7 from the field, had six turnovers and four personal fouls.
“The Jordan Usher you saw is not the Jordan Usher that has been in practice,” Pastner said. “I haven’t seen that Jordan Usher that played (against Ball State). There’s going to be some nerves, him being rusty because he hasn’t played in a year. Again, I’ve got to do a better job on the lineup. Maybe that hurt us.”
Ball State coach James Whitford provided Pastner some cover after the loss. He spoke of the difficulty of adding new pieces, like Usher, and playing without point guard Jose Alvarado. The Alvarado absence — he missed his sixth straight game — is most telling.
“We’ve got to get Jose back,” Pastner said. “Not having him is like a football team losing their quarterback or a hockey team losing their goal.”
Alvarado will make the trip to Hawaii, but isn’t expected to play until the team returns to ACC play on Dec. 31 at Florida State.
Georgia Tech has never played Boise State. The Broncos (6-4) are led by guard Derrick Alston, who averages 21.2 points and 6.2 rebounds. Alston went for 31 against Alabama State in his last game.