Article Jackets head to Miami to take on St. John's

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Jackets head to Miami to take on St. John's

KNOXVILLE, TN – NOVEMBER 13: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets guard Michael Devoe (0) takes a shot over Tennessee Volunteers guard Jordan Bowden (23) during a college basketball game between the Tennessee Volunteers and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on November 13, 2018, at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, TN. (Photo by Bryan Lynn/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Coach Josh Pastner’s Jackets remain on the road this week. After dropping a game to Northwestern in the ACC/B1G challenge, they head down to Florida to play an undefeated St. John’s squad on Saturday. The contest is being called the Air Force Reserve Hoop Hall Miami Invitational and tips at noon EST on ESPNU.

St. John’s is one of 17 remaining undefeated teams in the NCAA and is currently ranked 46th by KenPom. This game will mark the first time St. John’s has played outside of the NY/NJ area this year. The Red Storm currently rank 245th in strength of schedule and their highest rated opponent, according to KenPom, is Rutgers. Despite the poor schedule and their ability to score in bulk (83 points per game), their average margin of victory is only 11.5 points.

The Red Storm are led by dynamic junior point guard Shamorie Ponds who averages 2o points, 5.2 assists, 3.3 assists per game. Going back to 1992-93, he is the only St. Johns player to have a season of 550 points, 100 assists, 65 steals and less than 10o turnovers. He has done it twice. He is joined this year by high scoring Auburn transfer Mustapha Heron, who was granted immediate eligibility by the NCAA. Heron is currently averaging 18.2 points and 6.2 rebounds. He is also shooting 43.5% (23 attempts) on the young season. As a team St. John’s shoots an impressive 38% from three. LJ Figueroa, a budding star for Coach Chris Mullin, shoots 54% from deep on the season.

As mentioned, St. John’s is coached by former Red Storm superstar Chris Mullin. As a player, Mullin appeared in 125 games, averaged 19.5 points and won the Big East Player of the Year award for three straight seasons. His coaching acumen thus far has been a bit underwhelming, having yet to lead his alma mater to an above .500 season in his first three tries. His record coming into the 2017-18 season was 38-60.

This is an interesting match-up for Georgia Tech. The Johnnies are a live by the three, die by the three team and the Jackets currently rank 14th in the nation in three point percentage against at 25.7%. The good guys only give up 59 points per game, good for 16th in the nation. The contrast in styles is one of the most intriguing parts of this contest. St. Johns is 56th in adjusted tempo (KenPom), while Georgia Tech is currently 190th.

The KenPom metric currently gives St. Johns a 73-70 edge. If Georgia Tech can maintain their defensive intensity and put together a complete game on the road they have a chance. The Red Storm have yet to really play anyone of consequence, while the Jackets have played two opponents inside the top 50 (Kenpom) and both on the road. The Jackets hold the edge as far as being battle tested.

Georgia Tech needs to defend and they need to shoot it. Stop me when this sounds familiar. It is always a grab bag when this program goes on the road. I guess we will just have to see what we see.

 
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GTbball2016

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lv20gt said:
You can say no more excuses but what do you suggest to do to stop rebuilding right now? We threw away 5 years with gregory and probably stuck with Hewitt several years too long. It wasn't going to be a quick rebuild following what gregory left no matter how you look at it.
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I think the biggest thing is that this program needed someone that could come in after Gregory and significantly enhance the talent level. Pastner was supposed to be a very good recruiter, but who knows what has happened there. It will be interesting to see how Capel does at Pitt, as they have had a very nice start to their season.
 

YlJacket

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lv20gt said:
You can say no more excuses but what do you suggest to do to stop rebuilding right now? We threw away 5 years with gregory and probably stuck with Hewitt several years too long. It wasn't going to be a quick rebuild following what gregory left no matter how you look at it.
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probably??

:eek: :banghead::banghead::banghead: :( :D
 
OG-T

OG-T

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Is Pastner on ambien? He had no pulse in this game. Lifeless. He always talks about energy givers and energy takers, he’s the worst type right now. This early in season and he seems comatose. Just a spectator. I’ve been a fan of Pastner’s, and still support him, but this loss, he has to own 100%. He should have made it mandatory to dump into Banks during the last 8 mins; Johnnies one big guy fouled out, and we held ball til last 7 secs of shot clock then a heave on multiple trips. We were in bonus last 4/5 mins. Pastner body language looks like a man who’s given up. Really weird for a guy that talks so much about self-motivation. C’mon coach, this team needs energy from the sideline, especially in the road. Pastner grades out as D-.
 

THWG16

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BigDaddyBuzz said:
Pastner's luster from year 1 has worn off. This team has no identity except for defense. Offense is a joke. But the main issue is TALENT. Our roster lacks it. We have 3 acc caliber players. The worst part is we have nothing coming in. Our one commit doesn't even start for his juco team.
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I’m concerned , idk why we even hired Pastner
 
OG-T

OG-T

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Haywood/Alvarado/Devoe: 1 for 15 from 3.
Banks 5 for 5 FG, 4 for 6 FT. Relative to Banks effectiveness, CJP froze him out last 8 mins. Really poor coaching awareness and urgency. His passive, in-game coaching was perplexing.
 

stingem103

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lv20gt said:
You can say no more excuses but what do you suggest to do to stop rebuilding right now? We threw away 5 years with gregory and probably stuck with Hewitt several years too long. It wasn't going to be a quick rebuild following what gregory left no matter how you look at it.
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There is nothing we can do but hope it works out at this point. It’s embarrassing that this is where we are. Other programs find a way....why are we different?
 

stingem103

Georgia Tech Fan
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lv20gt said:
What teams?
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What football schools in particular do you care me to list? Tons of schools that don’t even care about the sport seem to make it every once in a while. Alabama and Auburn have passed us. We can’t even get close to making the tournament.
 

lv20gt

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stingem103 said:
What football schools in particular do you care me to list? Tons of schools that don’t even care about the sport seem to make it every once in a while. Alabama and Auburn have passed us. We can’t even get close to making the tournament.
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If you are talking about the program for the past 15 years then sure. The gregory hire was a complete and utter failure and it was terrible at the time and his practice of building entirely around transfers is a huge reason why we are where we are. I'm talking about in the current situation from where Pastner took over. IMO if Okogie was on this team we have no more than 1 loss and possibly be undefeated, and either way be in a decent spot to make the NCAAT. He'd be the go to guy as we've seen both Tenn and St. Johns' have and rely on. But we don't and that difference has probably been the difference in at least two of our losses, probably 3.
 

lv20gt

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Also, I want to point out that Drew who everyone wanted and inherited a better position went worse last year than we did.
 
Peacone36

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THWG16 said:
I’m concerned , idk why we even hired Pastner
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This is unwarranted. He was in my Hell No list but he is a better coach than BG. He is a better promoter than BG. He was also one of the few guys that actually WANTED to be here. This isn’t a desirable job guys. Coaches aren’t clamoring to be at Georgia Tech. Our administrations unwillingness to protect DLab only makes the job less desirable. Plus we finally get our form under TWO contracts in the next 12 months.
 

MiracleWhips

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BigDaddyBuzz said:
Pastner's luster from year 1 has worn off. This team has no identity except for defense. Offense is a joke. But the main issue is TALENT. Our roster lacks it. We have 3 acc caliber players. The worst part is we have nothing coming in. Our one commit doesn't even start for his juco team.
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We didn’t lose this game off talent though. We got our coached
 
slugboy

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I think we had enough talent to win at Tennessee, Northwestern, and today at St Johns. At the first two, we had horrendously slow starts, but played good defense.

Today, we got unexpected good play out of our front court. Banks continues to develop, and had a great game. Wright and Moore both contributed and played well. I’m not used to our front court standing out, but they did.

The first half looked energized and well coached, into the second half. We were great from the paint, and meh from outside the arc.

Around the time that Alvarado got a technical, we got away from two point plays and started going for 3s. We got into an awful dry spell, and St Johns started playing more aggressive defense, and they started hitting 3s.

When Jose was out, we turned the ball over and couldn’t bring the ball up the court.

We had a 16 point lead, and tried to trade 3s with St Johns. If we had kept playing under the basket and trading 2s for their 3s, we would have won going away. Instead, we bled away what should have been a solid lead.

The second half looked very poorly coached. Pastner used his timeouts, but we spent the second half playing as a bunch of individuals instead of team ball. We had the advantage in the front court, and you’d see shots with no jackets near the basket. That should have been addressed. I looked at the box score, and we had very few assists. We should be putting our teammates in a position to score.

Jose is a baller, and wants the clutch shot, but he needs to dish the ball out to players in a better position than him. We saw a 5 point swing at the end of the first where a forward could have just had a layup and time would have expired. Sometimes, he’s not even looking for another player.


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GTbball2016

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lv20gt said:
Amazing what having a recent history of NCAAT can do to help recruiting.
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I will say it's a sad day when a recruit chooses Northwestern over Georgia Tech because of their more recent success. As someone that's followed the NW program for decades, that's something you would never think you'd hear.
 
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