Opportunities don’t often present themselves as bountifully for Georgia Tech as they did Saturday afternoon – an 11-point second-half lead, a supportive home crowd, a middling opponent not getting much boost from its leading scorer.
It turned, instead, into a deflating defeat, a 70-65 overtime loss to Virginia Tech at McCamish Pavilion.
“You have an opportunity to win a game in this league, you’ve got to take advantage of it,” coach Brian Gregory said.
Said guard Mfon Udofia, “I marked this as a guaranteed win for us.”
In a battle between two lower-level ACC teams trying to avoid an 0-3 start, Virginia Tech made plays down the stretch while the Yellow Jackets misfired and stumbled. Georgia Tech, 10-5 overall, is 0-3 in the ACC for the first time since the 2008-09 season. The Jackets have two bears next up on the schedule, road games at Duke and North Carolina.
“We’ve just got to bounce back, be ready to practice, keep fighting,” Udofia said.
After a scratch-and-claw first half in which the teams shot a combined 16-for-52 and the Jackets took a 25-22 halftime lead on a banked-in 3-pointer by forward Robert Carter, Tech expanded the lead to eight points in the first 2 ½ minutes of the second half and 11 at the 13:52 mark on a tip-in by forward Kammeon Holsey. The offense was efficient and a win seemed eminent. Virginia Tech guard Erick Green, the ACC’s leading scorer, had eight points.
From there on, Tech’s offensive lights began to dim, not entirely surprising for a team that had shot 35.2 percent from the field in its first two ACC games. The Jackets made just three baskets for the remainder of regulation. After Chris Bolden swished a 3-pointer to put Tech up 53-47 with 7:26 to go, they didn’t make any, missing their final nine shots.
“We’re going to have stretches, when you’re relying on some younger guys to make plays for you and make baskets, that you’re just going to struggle to score,” Gregory said.
Tech had one offensive rebound over that run, off a missed free throw. For the game, Virginia Tech outrebounded the Jackets 43-32, with 11 offensive rebounds to Tech’s nine.
“To be honest with you, I think our defensive rebounding isn’t very good,” Gregory said.
A break went against the Jackets when leading scorer Marcus Georges-Hunt, who only played 20 minutes because of foul trouble, appeared to have scored on a layup after getting fouled with 4:06 to go and Tech ahead 54-50. While the officials hit Virginia Tech’s Jarell Eddie with a flagrant foul – which gave Tech another possession after the free throw – the basket was waved off after officials ruled on video replay that it was offensive goaltending on guard Brandon Reed. (The NCAA rulebook permits officials to use video review to determine if a score was erroneously counted.) Then Georges-Hunt made one of two free throws and Carter missed a jumper off the ensuing inbounds play.
Instead of a potential six-point possession, Tech got one point. For the game, Tech shot 13-for-21 from the line. From the field, Carter shot 2-for-12, with both makes from 3-point range.
Gregory wouldn’t comment on the call but acknowledged the sequence was “pretty big. We had a layup, flagrant foul and the ball back and you only have one point, so critical play.”
Green, meanwhile, turned on the jets, scoring 16 points in the final 13:31 of regulation. Once in overtime, the Hokies scored the first seven points and withstood the Jackets’ final charge.
The game wasted a strong defensive game by center Daniel Miller – 11 rebounds, four blocks and a steal to go with six points – and an opportunity to score a needed win. Swingman Stacey Poole and guard Solomon Poole both gave sparks off the bench as Gregory chose to keep forward Julian Royal and guard Pierre Jordan on the bench for the entire game, the first time either has not played this season. Guard Jason Morris did not play for the second game in a row and may miss more upcoming games with plantar fasciitis.
Defensively, it wasn’t a bad game for Tech. The Hokies (10-6, 1-2) shot 36.5 percent in regulation, their second lowest percentage of the season for 40 minutes. Again, offensive shortcomings did in Tech, this time in a most painful manner.
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