Two days before Georgia Tech played Wake Forest on Feb. 10, with his team stuck in a three-game losing streak, coach Brian Gregory preached a practical message.
“We need to play a little better,” he said. “When you’re close, it’s not a 50 percent increase, it’s a 5 percent increase. And if you do that, things are a lot different.”
Since then, the Yellow Jackets have won four of five, including the past three. It’s unfamiliar territory. Tech hadn’t won three ACC regular-season games in a row since the 2007-08 season. The Jackets had acquired the previous four wins in ACC play over a span of 18 games. To Gregory, though, the change hasn’t been profound.
“You don’t watch us and say, ‘Man, that team is doing something significantly different than they were before,’” Gregory said Friday. “I think we’re a good team that has played pretty well throughout the whole league (schedule), and we’ve made some plays.”
The Jackets had been beset by inconsistency, receiving production from one facet of their operations and lapsing in another. However, Tech, which plays at Boston College on Saturday for its fourth consecutive win, has made its late-season run with play that has been sufficiently effective and timely to transform single-digit defeats into narrow victories.
“I feel like guys are locked in,” guard Josh Heath said. “I think we’re just playing better in all aspects of the game. Just improved marginally in each and every area.”
For a team that won two of its first 10 ACC games despite being outscored by just 34 points, the difference has been as slight as one or two more effective possessions per game. Against Wake Forest, Gregory called timeout with 2:03 remaining. His team was up four, but had stumbled through two ungainly possessions.
Gregory subbed in guard Adam Smith and drew up a play to give him a 3-point try, even though he was 0-for-7 from the field and 0-for-3 from 3-point range. With guard Marcus Georges-Hunt drawing attention on the dribble, Smith was wide open and his aim was true, giving the Jackets a seven-point cushion. Georges-Hunt closed the deal by going 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in the final 26 seconds to hold off the Demon Deacons.
“We’ve all been around it,” Gregory said. “One play can change it. One play can change a season.”
Tech followed the Wake Forest game with a dreadful loss at Clemson, but responded by upsetting Florida State on the road, a game in which forward Quinton Stephens came through with 11 points, seven rebounds and strong defense on FSU guard Dwayne Bacon, who was 3-for-14 for 10 points.
Last Saturday’s defeat of Notre Dame is remembered for Georges-Hunt’s buzzer-beating game-winner, but the play was made possible after Tech forced stops on four of Notre Dame’s final five possessions, not counting the final desperation heave.
Three nights later, Tech beat Clemson by making 14 of 15 free throws to Clemson’s 3-for-5.
Before the Wake Forest game, Gregory lamented his team’s inability to force crucial stops and make timely free throws. In past five games, they’ve done enough of both, as well as get contributions from role players such as Stephens and center Ben Lammers, to win four of them.
“We’re doing stuff that we normally didn’t do at the beginning of conference play,” forward Nick Jacobs said.
The schedule probably has at least a little to do with the rally. Tech is 4-1 in the past five games, with a schedule that included four teams rated behind the Jackets in RPI. In the first 10, the Jackets played eight teams now ranked in front of them. Not surprisingly, Tech was 2-8 in those games.
Still, the Jackets ended a 10-game losing streak to Florida State, a four-game losing streak to Notre Dame and beat Clemson for only the second time in the past 14 games.
The Jackets still have three more regular-season games, against Boston College, Louisville and Pittsburgh, to fill out the portrait of who they are. The final week of the season should provide an answer on how real the improvement of the past five games has been.
“Once you start doing that, then that kind of becomes who you are, and you’re a lot more confident in doing it,” Gregory said. “There’s a certain level of confidence you can get to (by) talking, but then when you do it, it adds to it. I think that’s what you’re seeing.”
About the Author
