After earning its first 3-0 record in coach Josh Pastner’s tenure, now in its seventh year, Georgia Tech can achieve its first 4-0 record since the 2008-09 season Monday night in a neutral-site game against Utah.
The Yellow Jackets will play the Utes in the first-ever meeting between the teams. Tech is competing in the Fort Myers (Fla.) Tip-Off, a four-team event with Marquette and Mississippi State on the other half of the bracket.
Tech’s first three opponents haven’t probably given the Jackets the clearest picture of what they’ll face in ACC play or even Monday night. Clayton State is a Division II school that played the game as an exhibition and has since started its season 0-5. Georgia State is 4-2, although one win was over a Division II team and another a team that just moved up from Division I. Northern Illinois is 1-3 with a loss to another Division II opponent.
As the Jackets move forward into December, the level of difficulty will rise considerably. Out of the Jackets’ next seven games, the Jackets will play four or possibly five power-conference schools – Utah, possibly Mississippi State (Marquette would be similarly challenging), Iowa, Georgia and No. 1 North Carolina. Utah is 3-1 after finishing 11-20 last season. The Utes were picked to finish 10th in the Pac-12.
The Jackets have had wobbly moments in each win – they were tied at the half with Clayton State, trailed by seven with 12 minutes to play against Georgia State and shot 43.1% on 2-point field-goal attempts against Northern Illinois, a dreadful rate.
However, Tech has nevertheless won all three while ACC colleagues have dropped multiple games to mid-major opponents. The Jackets have defended well – they were 14th in Division I in field goal percentage defense through the weekend. Guards Deebo Coleman and Miles Kelly have scored efficiently, fellow guard Deivon Smith has shown glimpses of a breakout season and forward Ja’Von Franklin has been an active and productive backup behind Rodney Howard.
“One awesome thing about our program since I’ve been here is we’ve really gotten better as the year has gone on, but we have not started well,” Pastner said after the team’s win over Northern Illinois on Thursday. “So it’d be nice if we continue to get better, but include that with a good start. To start off 3-0 is a good way.”
That said, defensive rebounding and interior scoring need to be much better. The Jackets ranked 324th in Division I in two-point field-goal percentage (41.8%) as of Monday (KenPom) and 314th in defensive rebounding percentage (64.2%).
After Northern Illinois pounded the glass for 20 offensive rebounds (against 35 defensive rebounds for Tech), Pastner acknowledged that rebounding on the defensive end was a concern.
“Now, a couple of them, they had a bad bounce that they got, but there was a few of them where we just didn’t do a good enough job,” Pastner said. “They just beat us to the ball, they just beat us to the 50/50 ball. We’ve spent so much time on that.”
In the past two games, Howard has scored a total of two points with three rebounds in 33 minutes, well below his capacity.
Pastner said that Howard was a factor defensively against Georgia State and that “he just didn’t get himself in rhythm (against Northern Illinois), and that happens.” He’ll have a challenging matchup Monday against Utes center Brandon Carlson, a 7-footer who earned second-team All-Pac 12 honors last year. He’s averaging 17 points and eight rebounds this season.
Tech will play either Marquette or Mississippi State on Wednesday.
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