Through 15 games, Georgia Tech’s offense has been so potent as to be nearly unrecognizable. For instance, in the Yellow Jackets’ 89-84 loss to No. 24 Pittsburgh on Wednesday, guard Adam Smith lit up the Panthers with eight 3-pointers, the most a Tech player has scored in a game since 1994. In fact, it was more 3-pointers than Tech had scored as a team in all but three of its games last season.
Smith, a graduate transfer from Virginia Tech, scored a career-high 30 points, becoming the first player in coach Brian Gregory’s tenure to reach that plateau. He and forward Charles Mitchell combined for 50 points.
“They’re a really great team with good players who can score,” Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon said.
The trouble for the Jackets, who play No. 4 Virginia on Saturday at McCamish Pavilion in their ACC home opener, is that the way they’re playing defense doesn’t call to mind Gregory’s first four teams, either. Under Gregory, the offense-challenged Jackets have typically stayed in games with dogged defensive effort. Last season, they finished No. 29 nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to kenpom.com.
Identity flip
Tech’s offensive efficiency rating has soared from No. 210 last season to No. 40 following Thursday’s games. Among the 50 highest-rated offenses this season, only three teams have made larger jumps than the Jackets. The defense has simultaneously plummeted. This year, Tech is No. 128. Of the 50 teams rated highest in defensive efficiency last season, only seven have fallen farther, and just two are from power conferences.
It has been a peculiar reversal of identity for a team that has consistently played hard-nosed defense in Gregory’s tenure but, lacking skilled shot-makers such as Smith, often committed crimes against basketball at the other end. Unfailingly optimistic, Gregory sees this as a problem with a fix.
“I always say, if you need to increase something and get better at something, it is going to be easier to get better defensively because, you’ve seen it (with Tech), you can create all the good shots you want, if you aren’t making shots, it doesn’t matter,” Gregory said.
“We’ve proven we can do that. Now, the defensive end, we need to have a little more focus, a little more concentration and make it a little more important, because it’s something that can really catapult us to becoming a much better team.”
The loss to Pitt revealed plenty of the Jackets’ defensive shortcomings. At various times, they didn’t stop Pitt point guard James Robinson on the dribble, didn’t challenge jump shots and made ill-advised attempts at steals. When one player was beaten on the dribble, they didn’t rotate to help. And that was just the first half. In the second half, they were unable to defend without fouling, sending Pitt to the free-throw line 24 times.
In Pitt’s first 13 games, the Panthers had one half in which they attempted that many free throws. Pitt was 25-for-30 from the free-throw line compared with Tech’s 8-for-15, a significant factor in a five-point loss. Fittingly, it was the most points that Tech has scored in a loss in Gregory’s tenure. It was similar to Tech’s loss to North Carolina on Jan. 2 — the Tar Heels were 24-for-29 from the line while Tech was 15-for-19 in the Jackets’ eight-point defeat.
New players adjusting
Part of the problem is the influx of new pieces. Two starters, Smith and forward Nick Jacobs, are transfers playing their first season with Tech. So is the top big man off the bench, James White. Gregory’s defensive system relies on players talking with each other, knowing their teammates’ jobs and trusting them to do them.
“Defense, it’s definitely a team effort because everybody has to have each other’s back, especially when you’re rotating,” forward Marcus Georges-Hunt said.
He suggested it may also be a matter of simple will.
“We have to basically go in and instill it in everybody’s head that it starts on the defensive end,” he said.
Virginia will demand a most exacting effort. The Cavaliers are ranked No. 4 in offensive efficiency, shooting 50.4 percent from the field (eighth in the country through Thursday’s games) and 41.5 percent from 3-point range (11th in the country). Virginia hasn’t played since Monday, a 70-68 loss to Virginia Tech. The Cavaliers haven’t lost back-to-back ACC games since the 2012-13 season.
About the Author
