Georgia Tech forward Quinton Stephens’ emotions diverged after the Yellow Jackets nearly defeated Virginia Tech on Wednesday night on the Hokies’ home floor.
It was something of an accomplishment to hang in against the Hokies, particularly after trailing 49-40 with 11 minutes to play, and yet it also wasn’t. Following Georgia Tech’s 62-61 defeat, Stephens rued missed opportunities, such as his team’s slew of errant layups.
“That’s what I’m saying,” Stephens said. “I feel like we’re good, like it’s obvious we can play. The fact that it was that close with us making those kind of mistakes — man, we should have won that game.”
The assessment of the Jackets’ potential for the remainder seems to tick higher with every game, from a team destined for the bottom of the ACC to, now, something quite different. Even coach Josh Pastner, who shines attention on his team’s shortcomings and low expectations whenever the opportunity arises, can acknowledge it.
“We’re not going to be an easy out for any team that plays us,” he told the AJC on Thursday. “We’re becoming a good team.”
Before Tech’s game against Clemson on Jan. 12, Pastner said he looked at the next four games — at home against the Tigers and then road games against N.C. State, Virginia Tech and Virginia. All four were considered NCAA tournament material, though the temperature is cooling with at least Clemson and N.C. State.
“You win one of those four, it’s good,” he said, recalling his thinking. “You win two, it’s great, and anything other than that, it’s just an extra bonus. So you win one, you get two and it’s great, and then what happens is you get kind of greedy. You want to keep winning.”
On Wednesday night, with wins over Clemson and N.C. State in their pocket, the Jackets were in position for a third. In the final 15 seconds, Georgia Tech had two possessions to take the lead but failed to execute. Guard Tadric Jackson and center Ben Lammers couldn’t connect on a lob to the rim on an inbounds pass on the first, resulting in a turnover. After Virginia Tech guard Justin Robinson missed the front end of a one-and-one, Stephens had a fadeaway jumper from the free-throw line that hit the front of the rim and bounced away as time expired.
It is a measure of Georgia Tech’s improvement that it lost by one in an ACC road game in which it wasn’t at its best. Pastner had a ready list of sins after the game, starting with the missed layups (Tech was 10-for-23 on shots at the rim), free throws (9-for-15) and Lammers’ failure to be more assertive on offense (he took just three shots in the first half). On Thursday, Pastner said he would give the team a “B” for its play against the Hokies.
Consider the recipients of that grade. Wednesday, Tech’s starting five included four players who received an average of 2.5 stars as prospects and whose average national ranking for their respective position was 60th (ESPN) and a fifth (guard Josh Okogie) who wasn’t even rated. The team was picked to finish 14th in the ACC. Pastner noted again Thursday that the Jackets needed overtime to beat Division II Shorter in their exhibition opener. (Pastner, who likes his talking points, brought that up three separate times in his eight-minute postgame news conference Wednesday.)
And that team’s performance was one bounce away from beating a Hokies team that was in the Top 25 two weeks ago, that ran Duke off its floor on the same afternoon that the Jackets upset North Carolina and that could be reasonably considered an NCAA bubble team.
Backstopped by Lammers, the Jackets are among the better defensive teams in the conference. The offense, particularly its ball movement, has shown distinct improvement. Pastner raved about Stephens on Thursday. Stephens dropped a game-high 18 points against Virginia Tech, his third game in a row with 16 or more. That equaled the number of 16-point games he had in the previous 113 games of his career.
“I’m just so proud of him, his effort, his improvement, how hard he plays,” Pastner said.
Pastner freely acknowledges that he didn’t see this team standing 3-3 after six ACC games. He is delighted by the growing excitement and interest that he perceives as his team improves.
From the start of the season to this point, he said, “we have done a 180.”
Pastner is quite aware that the schedule remains brutal, and that the bottom could drop out. Indeed, he spoke by phone on Thursday from Charlottesville, Va., where his team will play No. 16 Virginia on Saturday. Still, he even allowed himself a thought that three weeks ago would have been laughable, but now isn’t so unreasonable.
“I think if we can keep plugging along, who knows where it could lead?” he asked. “I’m not trying to say we’re going to the (NCAA) tournament, but maybe we’re not playing Tuesday on the first day of the ACC tournament.”
That would mean a finish of ninth place or better, and perhaps even an NIT bid. Before the season, Pastner wanted the team to be judged more on its improvement from the start of the season to the end more than wins and losses. The scales may need to be adjusted.
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