Georgia Tech got a breather Tuesday night, a chance for the Yellow Jackets to find their groove, play the backups and build up some momentum going into the final seven games of their ACC schedule.
The Jackets (14-10) hit all those marks and, if not for an ankle injury suffered by guard Josh Heath (severity unknown), their 96-58 win over Division II Tusculum at McCamish Pavilion would have made for an entirely successful evening. Tech coach Josh Pastner said he was about 30 seconds away from giving Heath the remainder of the night off when he tweaked his ankle with 7:45 to play in the game with Tech ahead 83-49.
“But it’s just one of those things and you just hope that he can maybe just miss practice (Wednesday) and get back,” Pastner said.
Five observations from the game:
Where the game was won:
From the start, Tech was the superior team and left little doubt. Playing nervous, the Pioneers didn’t help themselves by missing a number of open 3-pointers early, but Tech used its physical superiority to win rebounds at both ends, its quickness to drive to the basket and draw fouls, its speed to win in the open court and its offensive execution to score uncontested baskets.
The Jackets led 17-6 at the 15:05 mark and 41-20 at the 6:08 mark. Tusculum, one of the better 3-point shooting teams in Division II, heated up and finished the first half 9-for-20 from 3-point range but shot 1-for-12 in the second half.
It was just as well for Tusculum, which has an important league game Wednesday night and took on the Tech game for the experience of playing in an ACC arena. The team, which played Tuesday’s game as an exhibition, bused back to its northeast Tennessee campus after the game and then had a nearly two-hour bus trip Wednesday to play Lincoln Memorial.
“I wish we had a day between but it’s a pretty good tune-up to get us ready for a big basketball game (Wednesday),” Tusculum coach Michael Jones said.
Back in rhythm
Following his 35-point game against Florida State two weeks ago, guard Josh Okogie was off his standards against Notre Dame (save the game-winning layup), Clemson and Wake Forest. Likewise, Heath had faltered last week against the Tigers and Demon Deacons as he was struggling with an illness.
“I really felt we needed Josh ‘O’ and Josh Heath to get back in rhythm,” Pastner said.
Okogie scored his team-high 15 points efficiently, making five of eight field-goal attempts and driving effectively to the basket and also hitting two of three 3-point attempts. He also used his quickness and leaping ability to overpower Tusculum for a game-high nine rebounds. Before the injury, Heath likewise played better than he did last week (albeit against inferior competition) with six points, five assists, three rebounds, three steals and no turnovers.
“This was a good confidence builder going back into ACC play,” Okogie said.
More time for Ogbonda
Forward Sylvester Ogbonda played 14 minutes, trying to grow more comfortable in his new role as center Ben Lammers’ backup after Abdoulaye Gueye fractured his wrist in the Clemson game. It’s a big adjustment, as the offense is designed to run through the post position, a role that Lammers has handled so well, but that doesn’t fit Gueye’s skillset nearly the same. Further, Ogbonda, who redshirted last year, has played sparingly this season.
“He’s going to have to play all of (Gueye’s) minutes, so I think this was a good game just for him to start getting used to the flow of everything, get used to playing offense in an actual game situation, not just practice,” Lammers said. “I think he did pretty well.”
Ogbonda scored eight on 4-for-7 shooting and also had five rebounds. He scored off a post move and also fed guard Christian Matthews with a deft pass. Perhaps most notably, he only had one foul in his 14 minutes. Against Wake Forest, he fouled out in 14 minutes.
Cheers for the walk-ons
With the game well under control, Pastner sent in senior forward Rand Rowland with 7:45 to play. Rowland, who made the team as a walk-on in 2014, had never scored in his career until he took an entry pass from forward Kellen McCormick and, after a pump fake, laid the ball in for two. Rowland’s teammates stood to cheer, appreciative of his contributions to the team.
“He’s one of the most hardworking athletes in the school,” Okogie said. “Rand’s the type of guy, he’ll pull me to the side and just say, ‘Josh, come shoot some free throws.’ He’ll rebound for me while I’m shooting free throws and jump shots. This game was well-deserved for him, seeing him score those points.”
Walk-on guards Shaheed Medlock and Norman Harris got in the game and also scored. All 13 players who were available to play got in the game and all scored at least one basket. Graduate transfer guard Jodan Price also scored his first points as a Jacket.
Trying to stay healthy
Pastner was hopeful that a sick bug that had made its way through the team had passed. Heath and Ogbonda were both ill enough to have vomited last week. Pastner himself said he was hit pretty hard over the weekend. During his post-game news conference Tuesday, he spoke with a raspy cough that indicated that perhaps he hadn’t quite gotten over it.
“So I’m hoping it’s moving out through the system, and then hopefully we’re healthy the rest of the season, but we were not healthy last week, that is for sure,” Pastner said.
Pastner is trying to enforce healthy habits, such as not touching your face, bumping fists instead of shaking hands, get proper rest, eat healthy and scrub with soap for as long as it takes to sing “Happy Birthday.”
“I saw that on ’60 Minutes,’” he said.
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