Their final games at Georgia Tech went nothing like they had hoped.
Hoping to make a deep run at the ACC Tournament as defending champions, Yellow Jackets seniors Michael Devoe and Jordan Usher saw their college careers reach the end Tuesday night with an 84-74 loss to Louisville in the first round of the tournament, held in New York at the Barclays Center. Tech fell behind by 27 points before staging a late rally.
Despite their disappointment, both gave thoughtful comments about the game and their time at Tech.
Devoe: “We wanted to go out with a fight. Seeing that we were down 27, we wanted to fight. We knew that this was going to be our last game if we didn’t fight back and try to compete. We looked at each other and we were like, we’ve got to fight back and we’ve got to compete. We did a really good job. I’ve got to give a lot of credit to all the young guys, too, as well. They got better over the season, and I am excited to see their future, as well.
“I’m proud to be a Georgia Tech guy, a guy that’ll be able to graduate from here and do big things. So I want to give a lot of thanks to the coaching staff for developing me all over these four years. It’s been a great four years of my life, one of the best (times) of my life. I’ve created brotherhoods that will last a lifetime, created relationships off the court as well, too, that will be lifetime relationships. So I’m grateful for all those. And it’s a true blessing to be here at Tech.”
Usher: “I can’t explain the feeling that is being able to wear the Tech jersey. I feel like I don’t want to take it off. I want to take it home, ride on the plane with it. When you’re down so much and it’s a definitive ending if you lose, it’s kind of like – I don’t know if you play Candy Crush, but when you run out of lives and it gives you a time limit before you can play again, that’s how I feel. Like, on my phone, I can just pay and get some more hearts and play again. I can give you $2.99 and play again, but you can’t do that in real life. You just know the time’s ticking down.
“And you kept looking up, and when (Louisville guard Jarrod West) – I felt like I was right there (to affect the shot) – hit the deep 3 (late in the game to help seal the game), I was just like, ‘Man, I feel like I got stabbed in the chest. I’m cool with taking an ‘L,’ come back and fight tomorrow.’ I like our attitude that we came out with. Obviously, I don’t ever want to lose. I want to win every game, but these are my brothers. Coach (Josh) Pastner took me in. Coach (Anthony) Wilkins, coach (Julian) Swartz, coach (Eric) Reveno, our managers. I wish I could say everybody’s name. Tech means so much to me. Like I tweeted the other day, like, I am Georgia Tech. Like, I wish I could turn into the actual institution, for real. It’s turned me into a man. It’s been some of my most fun times in my life, for real.”
Coach Josh Pastner: “You want to win every game. I want to win every possession. When you lose, you go home and you don’t sleep for days, and it eats at you. That all being said, the joy of seeing young men grow and develop is still a joy of coaching. And seeing a guy like Jordan Usher and Michael Devoe – seeing when Jordan came in, like, he’s so aware of not even using a curse word now, and I’m so proud of him for that. And I’m just proud of his development in that.
“Michael Devoe opening up. He came in, he was so quiet and wouldn’t talk and now he opens up and expresses himself. I’m just proud of these two young men. You can see their development, and that’s a real joy.
“And the way they treat people. One of our pillars of our program is how you treat people. I’m real big about that. I don’t care who it is. Whether it’s the president of the United States or it’s the janitor, you treat everyone with respect, you treat everyone the right way, and these two guys embody that. That’s important. Kids come, people come that can do nothing for them or us, but the way they treat ‘em and make ‘em feel like a million bucks is really powerful for our program. And to see these two guys, how they’ve grown as young men, I’m really, really proud of them. I’m really proud of them.”
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