Georgia Tech men’s basketball still ‘tinkering’ as it struggles with making most of rebounds

The Georgia Tech basketball team has taken to heart the message from coach Josh Pastner about hitting the offensive glass. Right now, they’re just struggling when it comes to converting those second chances into points.

The Yellow Jackets had a season-high 20 offensive boards against Notre Dame on Saturday. That’s nearly seven more than they average. However, the Yellow Jackets weren’t able to salvage enough of those opportunities to make a difference in the loss.

Georgia Tech (10-12, 4-7) returns home on Tuesday to play Virginia Tech (14-8, 5-6) at 7 p.m. at McCamish Pavilion. The Yellow Jackets are currently 12th in the ACC, but a win would move them into a tie for sixth place in the league.

“The offensive rebounding is an important part of us being better offensively,” Pastner said. “We’ve done a good job on the glass, a good job in the red zone and we’re taking care of the basketball, continuing to make improvement there.

“But (against Notre Dame) there were a lot of short shots we did not finish, including some fast-break opportunities. You can’t miss those short shots. We had 44 points (in the paint) but we could have had 64 if we’d made more layups.”

The improvement is apparent when looking at center James Banks and forward Moses Wright. They were a combined 13-for-25 from the floor, with nearly all those shots coming from the paint. But Jordan Usher, Khalid Moore and Evan Cole, the three others who play close to the basket, combined to go 9-for-26 and Moore was 0-for-6.

The problem has been magnified by the absence of guard Michael Devoe, the team’s best perimeter shooter. Devoe has missed three games with a foot injury and is questionable for the Virginia Tech game, Pastner said. He is more likely to be back for Saturday’s game at Pitt.

Without the threat of having Devoe on the floor, the opposition has essentially been able to get away with leaving one of the Georgia Tech forwards unguarded. That isn’t likely to change until they start producing more points from the perimeter and forcing the opposition to alter their philosophy.

“It happened earlier when Jose (Alvarado) wasn’t playing,” Pastner said. “We’ve got to keep staying after it. Part of it is us getting on the glass when guys aren’t being guarded.”

Devoe is averaging 16.2 points and shooting 40.7 percent on 3-pointers. His absence is amplified by Georgia Tech’s poor shooting from the outside; the Yellow Jackets are making only 28.9 percent of their 3s, which is next-to-last in the ACC, and have taken the fewest 3-point shots in the league.

“Not having Mike hurts because it takes away a shooter,” Pastner said. “We’ve got to keep tinkering.”

Alvarado has picked up the offensive slack in Devoe’s absence. He scored 26 in the win over NC State and scored 25, including three 3-pointers, while playing 40 minutes against Notre Dame.

The team might expect more offense from Bubba Parham, who has played extensively since Devoe’s injury. He played 30 minutes against NC State, but scored only four points. He played nearly 36 minutes against Notre Dame and scored three points. But Pastner has been pleased with the way the junior transfer has performed.

“Bubba’s playing the right way,” Pastner said. “Offense wasn’t the problem (against Notre Dame). We missed a lot of short shots. There’s not much you can draw up when you miss those layups. We missed a lot of points — point-blank, right at the rim.”