Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner got on his soapbox Monday to stump for his offense. He was seeking to communicate the message that the offense was functioning the best that it has in his four seasons with the Yellow Jackets, save their ongoing turnover issues.
“If we can clean that up and clean up our defensive rebounding, I really believe we can get over the hump,” Pastner said. “We are better than our record.”
The latter assertion was one he made after the Jackets’ turned the ball over 18 times (but shot 50 percent from the field) in a home loss Saturday to Virginia to fall to 8-10. Turnovers played a role in Tech’s two home losses last week – Notre Dame and then Virginia – and also earlier in defeats to Duke and Florida State.
The Jackets now face the task of playing at No. 6 Louisville on Wednesday night possibly without leading scorer Michael Devoe (foot) and key backup Evan Cole (arm). Pastner said Wednesday that both are questionable for the game, though they’re likely to be back for Saturday’s home game against N.C. State.
“I know people say, ‘Well, you are what your record is,’” Pastner continued. “I get that. It’s a scoreboard game. You get determined on what you do in wins and losses. I’m not denying that. I just know we’re better and we’re really close, and if we can clean those two areas up, we will turn the corner.”
With 18 games played and 13 remaining in the regular season (including a Jan. 28 matchup with Division II Morehouse), it’s not the ideal time to be trying to turn the corner, and the losses to Notre Dame and Virginia may have rendered such a turn inconsequential for this season. For NCAA tournament consideration, Tech (8-10, 3-5 ACC) probably has to win at least nine of its remaining 12 ACC games -- and likely has to do better.
Regardless, the offense is playing better in Pastner’s fourth season, the turnover numbers aside, which is no small aside. Since the return of guard Jose Alvarado and a shift in offensive scheme, Tech’s offensive numbers are up. In the Jackets’ six ACC games starting New Year’s Eve, compared with the first 12 games of the season, the Jackets are scoring more (70.2 points to 66), shooting more accurately (47.7 percent to 43.4 percent) and moving the ball better (16 assists per game compared with 12).
Pastner’s prized indicator of offensive health – assists per field goal – is markedly up. It was 48.8 percent before the New Year’s Eve road loss to Florida State and 58.9 percent since then. In league games, Tech leads the ACC in that category at 62.2 percent (including two early-season league games against N.C. State and Syracuse). The Jackets, in fact, lead the ACC in assists per game in league games and rank second in field-goal percentage.
For a team that has labored to score since the end of the Paul Hewitt era, the Jackets’ play of late is marked improvement. Going into Tuesday’s games, Tech was eighth in offensive efficiency in league games (KenPom). In the 11 seasons before this one, Tech ranked last, second to last or third to last nine times.
Tech has shifted to using a lot of high ball screens with center James Banks and forward Moses Wright and relied much less on running the offense through Banks at the elbow. Alvarado is creating off the dribble on drives to the basket.
“We’ve made a lot of adjustments after the Ball State game,” Pastner said, referring to the low-point loss of the season, on Dec. 18. “Part of it’s having Jose back.”
However, while that has produced better shots and more points, the turnover rate has improved only slightly. The Jackets averaged 17.2 turnovers per game before the FSU game but are still at 16 per game since then.
To Wright, guards are turning the ball over in part because of indecisiveness created by having to think through a “checklist” of options, a condition that can only be remedied through experience. Wright has sympathy for his guard teammates, upon whom Pastner has placed responsibility for lowering their turnover numbers.
“Because I’ve been in positions where I had to go through the checklist, and it’s hard,” he said.
Pastner saw the turnovers as being self-inflicted and unforced mistakes.
“They know what to do with it,” he said. “You can’t throw it to the other team. At times, we might try to hit a home run instead of trying to hit a single. They’re all avoidable. You’re going to have some turnovers, but a lot of our turnovers are controllable.”
The objective is clear. However, counting on Tech to improve its ball security may require the sort of optimism that defines Pastner. In four seasons, Tech has ranked 13th, 12th, 15th and now 15th in the ACC in turnovers per game (16.8 this season). Pastner placed his faith in improvement in the attention being paid to it in practice and his hopeful outlook. It’s not beyond reason that, if the other elements of the offense can improve, then turnovers can also.
But, for the Jackets’ sake, it had better start soon.
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