January 13, 2018

Post-Game Notes (Game 17)

Jan. 13, 2018

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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

Georgia Tech starting lineup: Alston, Alvarado, Okogie, Gueye, Lammers
First subs for Georgia Tech: Haywood, Jackson for Alston, Gueye at 12:26 – 1^st half
On the floor for Georgia Tech at the end: Cole, Jester, Okogie, Rice, Schafer
Opening tap won by Pittsburgh. Georgia Tech has won the opening tap six times in 17 games this season
Series record vs. Pittsburgh: Georgia Tech is 8-4 overall, 2-2 on the road, 2-1 under Josh Pastner, 5-4 vs. Kevin Stallings
Current series streak: Tech won the last meeting
Georgia Tech is 9-3 at McCamish Pavilion this season, 69-33 in its sixth season in the building, 26-7 under Josh Pastner
Georgia Tech is 1-3 on the road this season, 1-4 away from McCamish Pavilion
Georgia Tech’s next game: Jan. 18, 8 p.m., vs. Virginia, McCamish Pavilion

TEAM NOTES

Georgia Tech has won three straight ACC games for the first time since late in the 2015-16 season (four straight wins over Florida State, Notre Dame, Clemson, Boston College).
Georgia Tech’s current four-game winning streak matches its longest under head coach Josh Pastner.
Tech is off to its first 3-1 start in ACC play since its Final Four season of 2003-04. Like this year’s team, the Yellow Jackets opened with a road loss (at North Carolina) and then won three straight over Virginia, Maryland and Wake Forest.
Tech’s 69-54 win over Pittsburgh was its biggest road win in terms of margin of victory since an 80-54 victory at Wake Forest on March 3, 2011.
Tech led wire-to-wire in a game for only the second time this season (Florida A&M on Dec. 17).
Tech’s latest road win in the ACC came almost a year to the day since its last one, an 86-76 win last Jan. 15 at NC State.
Saturday’s win over Pitt leaves Josh Pastner two wins shy of 200 for his head coaching career (198-96).
Tech has had its full roster to practice only for the last three games and played a solid 7-man rotation for the first time in ACC play against Notre Dame Jan. 10. Injuries or other absences have forced Tech players to miss 33 games cumulatively this season, and the Jackets had not played a game with all 11 scholarship players healthy and available until the Yale game on Jan. 6.
Alvarado and Lammers have started every game this season. Lammers has started Tech’s last 54 consecutive games.
Georgia Tech’s playing rotation this season features four freshmen and a first-year graduate transfer who have combined to start 35 games and log 49 percent of the Yellow Jackets’ total minutes.
Tech played its entire available roster (13 players) for the first time since its 79-54 win over Florida A&M on Dec. 17. Seven players scored for the second game in a row, and five Jackets scored in double figures for the first time since Tech’s 86-76 win at NC State last Jan. 15.
Tech has averaged 67.0 points and allowed just 58.5 per game in its six games since the Christmas break (5-1 record). Opponents have shot 39.0 percent overall, 33.0 percent from three-point range. The Jackets have outscored the five opponents from the free throw line 14.0 to 9.2 per game, and outrebounded them 37.5-30.7. Tech also has averaged 5.7 blocks and 6.8 steals per game.
ACC opponents have connected on just 37.8 percent from the floor, 29.6 percent from three-point range, and averaged 57.2 points per game against the Yellow Jackets.
Tech has held its last three ACC opponents to 54, 53 and 54 points. Tech came into the game ranked No. 21 in the nation in scoring defense, and held Pittsburgh, who had averaged 66.6 points per game, to just 54.
The Jackets came into the Pittsburgh game ranked No. 13 nationally according to Kenpom.com (now yielding 42.8 percent) in lowest two-point field goal percentage yield, and held Pittsburgh to 39.2 percent (11-for-28) from two-point range.
Pitt’s 42 field goal attempts were easily the fewest attempted in a game against Georgia Tech this season. The previous low was 49 from Yale, and the Jackets’ previous three ACC foes attempted 60, 56 and 59 shots from the floor.
During its four-game winning streak, Tech has outscored its opponents 106-96 in the paint, 68-40 off turnovers, 54-30 on second-chance points and 49-36 in transition. The Jackets are also plus-10 on turnovers and plus-35 on the boards.
Tech has committed just 10.8 turnovers per game against the ACC and forced 13.3. For the season, Tech has committed 12.5 turnovers per game this season, down from 14.3 at the same point last season. Tech has just 59 in its last six games.
After netting no second-chance points at Notre Dame on Dec. 30, the Yellow Jackets snared 48 offensive rebounds and scored 54 points from them in their last four games.
Tech enjoyed a healthy advantage on the boards for the fourth time in six games, outrebounding Pittsburgh, 39-20.
Tech has rebounded from a poor game at the free throw line Dec. 30 against Notre Dame (7-of-18) to hit 57-of-76 (75.0 percent) in its last four games, improving its season conversion rate to 71.3 percent.
Georgia Tech is 9-2 against the ACC at McCamish Pavilion under head coach Josh Pastner, 26-7 overall.
Georgia Tech has won its first two ACC home games for the first time since the 2010-11 season. That year, the Jackets lost twice on the road to open conference play before coming home to defeat North Carolina and Wake Forest in succession. That team actually won its first three ACC home games.
Georgia Tech has won five games (5-1 record) against top-25 opponents at McCamish Pavilion under Josh Pastner.
Pastner meter 1 (assists to made field goals): Tech assisted on 15 of 26 made field goals and has assisted on 28 of 51 (54.9 percent), snapping a six-game streak of less than 50 percent. Tech’s nightly goal is 60 percent. The Jackets have assisted on 53.5 percent of their made field goals for the season (47.4 vs. the ACC), after finishing last season at 62.7 percent (63.2 percent rate in ACC games).
Pastner meter 2 (free throws made to opponents’ attempts): Tech made 14-of-19 free throws to Pitt’s 14-of-22 (goal of making more than opponent tries not accomplished). For the season, Tech has converted 261 free throws, while opponents have attempted 268. Tech is 28-7 under Josh Pastner when attempting more free throws than the opponent.
Pastner meter 3 (guard rebounding): Tech’s guards combined for nine of Tech’s 24 defensive reboundsTadric Jackson, Jose Alvarado and Josh Okogie are all averaging well above four rebounds per game this season.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

Abdoulaye Gueye has averaged 9.0 points (20-of-34 FG) and 7.2 rebounds in five games since sitting out the Coppin State game with an ankle injury. Making his fifth straight start and 13^th of the season at Pittsburgh, scored in double figures for the first time in an ACC game and for the second time in Tech’s last three games, finishing the game with a career-best 16 points with eight rebounds. The 6-9 junior hit his first seven shots from the floor and went 7-of-8, hit both his free throws and had a block and an assist in 29 minutes.
Josh Okogie has scored 10 or more points in 25 consecutive games, dating back to last Jan. 28, when he scored just eight points against No. 15 Notre Dame but scored the game-winning layup at the final buzzer in a 62-60 victory. It is the longest streak of double digit games by a Tech player since Matt Harpring scored 10 or more in 39 consecutive games spanning the 1996-97 (last seven games) and 1997-98 (32 games) seasons.
Okogie has averaged 18.8 points per game in his nine games back on the court, including 18.0 in ACC games so far. The 6-4 sophomore has hit 43.3 percent of his shots from three-point range and 80 percent from the free throw line. The sophomore guard has scored in double figures 41 times in 46 career games. He has scored 30 or more three times (two vs. ACC), 20 or more 13 times, six times in an ACC game.
In half the number of games, Okogie has pulled ahead of Jose Alvarado for the team lead in free throw attempts, 70 to 63. Okogie is averaging an ACC-leading 7.8 free throw attempts per game, nearly well above his average of 6.5 as a freshman, which ranked third in the ACC.
Okogie has nine assists in his last two games, more than half his season total (16).
Jose Alvarado reached double figures for the 11^th time this season and for the third time in four ACC games, scoring all 10 of his points in the first half. The freshman point guard had no turnovers in 35 minutes, the third time this season with zero.
After a two-game drought against Miami and Yale, Tadric Jackson has scored 11 and 13 points in Tech’s last two games, hitting 11-of-25 shots from the floor. The 6-2 senior has had 34 double-digit scoring games off the bench as a Yellow Jacket, 25 of those since the beginning of last season. He has reached double figures 21 times in his last 25 games and 35 times since the beginning of last season.
Jackson is hitting 56.6 percent of his shots (68-of-120) from inside the three-point arc this season, and a career-best 48.7 percent overall.
Ben Lammers posted his seventh double-double this season against Notre Dame, getting 11 points and 16 rebounds (one shy of his career high), his fourth double-double in his last six games and the 23^rd of his career, all since the beginning of last season.
Lammers blocked two shots against Notre Dame to give him 225 blocks for his career, sitting in sole possession of fourth place in Tech history and needing 18 to catch John Salley (243 from 1982-86) for third place. The senior center is third in the ACC and 16^th nationally in blocked shots per game (3.0).
Lammers has creeped into Georgia Tech’s top 20 all-time leading rebounders, currently standing 18^th with 671. He needs seven to catch Duane Ferrell (680 from 1984-88) for 17^th place, 16 to reach Michael Maddox (687 from 1994-98) for 16^th place.
Lammers is averaging 36.1 minutes this season, fifth-most in the ACC (39.0 mpg vs. the ACC), while Alvarado averages 34.4, 11^th in the ACC (38.5 mg in ACC games). Okogie averages 35.0 (37.2 in ACC games), but has not played enough games to qualify for the league rankings. After missing nearly the entire second half of the Coppin State game with a head injury, Alvarado has played 192 minutes in Tech’s last five games.
Tadric Jackson surpassed 900 career points with his performance against Coppin State and has 960 currently. At his current career-best average of 13.6 points per game, it will take the senior guard four three games to become the 44^th Georgia Tech player to reach 1,000. Lammers has 886 career points, and would need 10 games at his current 12.1 per game rate to reach 1,000.