Just over a week ago, Georgia Tech saw a second-half lead evaporate at home against Duke, at the time the No. 2 team in the country. On Wednesday night at McCamish Pavilion, as the final minutes ticked away against Notre Dame, the Yellow Jackets let another opportunity for a close ACC home win slip through their outstretched hands.
In both games Tech (8-9, 3-4 ACC) held the lead at the halfway point of the second half. In both games, the Jackets executed well on offense, shooting 44 percent from deep in the second half against Duke and 68 percent from the field in the second half Wednesday. In both games, Tech made one too many mistakes down the stretch, ultimately costing them two important wins.
“(Notre Dame) had five more offensive rebounds, and they had five less turnovers,” Pastner said. “That created seven more shots for them, and that’s the game right there. Nothing else matters. That’s the basketball game.”
Pastner and crew haven’t found themselves in many single-digit games this season, but when they have, the Jackets have shown an inability to close teams out. On Jan. 8, Tech missed their final 11 shots from the field against Duke, allowing the Blue Devils to close the game on an 12-3 run, leading to a 64-73 loss by Tech.
Jose Alvarado struggled to run the offense at the end of the matchup the previous Wednesday and did so once again against Notre Dame. After a Moses Wright fast-break dunk with 3:57 left in the game, the Jackets made one field goal over the next three minutes and 31 seconds, allowing Notre Dame to stretch its lead to six points with just over a minute to go.
Alvarado was the first to admit fault Wednesday, regretting his three turnovers, two of which came at a crucial stretch in the second half.
“The fact is, I personally think I lost this game for my team,” Alvarado said. “I had three turnovers and wasn’t executing at a high level like a guard should do in the ACC at the end.”
Pastner also harped on Alvarado’s mistakes and pointed to a two-minute sequence in the second half, with the Jackets leading 49-44. Notre Dame scored on a T.J Gibbs floater at the 9:33 mark to cut the deficit to three. Alvarado turned the ball over 21 seconds later before giving up another bucket to Gibbs. The junior point guard came back down and made an errant pass that lead to an easy lay-up for the Fighting Irish, giving them their first lead in over five minutes.
The final mistake for Alvarado came in the last two minutes of the game, with the Jackets trailing by three. Alvarado found an open Wright for a corner 3, which Wright rattled out. After a Notre Dame timeout and subsequent deep ball, Tech trailed by six with 1:04 to go.
Despite finding the open man, Pastner called out Alvarado for making the wrong read and not executing the designed play.
“That was the wrong decision by Jose to pass to Moses. He had James (Banks) on the drop-down,” Pastner said. “We don’t ever throw to ball-side corner, we don’t do that. Moses was open, (Jose) threw it, but that wasn’t the play. Moses was open for 3, his feet were set, but that wasn’t the right decision at the time by Jose to make that read.”
Despite his play in the past two end-game situations, Alvarado’s return to the floor from an ankle injury has given Tech a much-needed offensive boost. The Jackets’ floor general has averaged 12.1 points and five assists per game, while the team has averaged over 70 points per game and shot 45.8 percent from the floor over the past seven games.
“I wouldn’t trade Jose for anybody in the country,” Pastner said. “He’s our guy.”
Even with Tech’s improvement as of late, the Jackets have struggled to differentiate themselves in a tightly packed ACC. A lack of execution in two close conference games has been the difference between being a top four team in the conference, instead of ninth place where the Jackets currently find themselves.
Pastner, Alvarado and Tech face a huge opportunity to elevate their tournament resume Saturday night when they welcome defensive-minded Virginia to McCamish Pavilion.
“I’m going to be hard on myself,” Alvarado said. “I’m going to look over the film, and I’m going to try and do better against Virginia on Saturday.”
