Georgia Tech center Ben Lammers’ 40-minute games may be a thing of the past. Guard Josh Okogie’s toil on behalf of the Yellow Jackets may be abbreviated also.
Coach Josh Pastner said that he has been playing both players too much, which has limited their productivity.
“We need them to be better, but maybe I’m playing them too many minutes,” Pastner said Monday.
Lammers has played 40 minutes three times this season and 39 minutes three more times. He played 40 minutes in non-overtime games five times last season, when he was a second-team All-ACC selection and the league’s defensive player of the year.
Averaging 36:03 per game, Lammers ranked 35th nationally in minutes played per game through Sunday’s games, the only center in the top 120. He’s the only power-conference center in the top 250. Saturday, Lammers made his first five shots but was 1-for-6 after that. Against Virginia, he blocked six shots in the first 11:15 of the game but none after that.
Okogie has averaged 35.3 minutes played in Tech’s six ACC games, 17th in the ACC. His scoring average has dipped slightly in ACC play (18.8 points per game in non-conference play, 17.0 in ACC play) and his 25-game streak of scoring in double figures ended in the loss to Virginia.
Interestingly, Pastner said he does not intend to cut back the minutes of point guard Jose Alvarado, who is seventh in the ACC in minutes per game (38.5 per game). At 6-foot-0 and 178 pounds, Alvarado might be better suited to playing with little to no rest than Okogie or Lammers, though he is a freshman not used to the rigors of a college schedule.
“He’ll play the same minutes,” Pastner said. “Josh and Ben are playing too many minutes, not Jose.”
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