Post-Game Notes (Game 18)

Jan. 19, 2018

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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

• Georgia Tech starting lineup: Alston, Alvarado, Okogie, Gueye, Lammers
• First subs for Georgia Tech: Jackson for Alston at 14:53 – 1^st half
• On the floor for Georgia Tech at the end: Alston, Alvarado, Gueye, Haywood II, Jackson
• Opening tap won by Virginia. Georgia Tech has won the opening tap six times in 18 games this season
• Series record vs. Virginia: Georgia Tech is 40-40 overall, 24-13 at home, 0-2 under Josh Pastner, 2-10 vs. Tony Bennett
• Current series streak: Virginia won the last three meetings
• Georgia Tech is 9-4 at McCamish Pavilion this season, 69-34 in its sixth season in the building, 26-8 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. 20, 2 p.m., at North Carolina

TEAM NOTES

• Georgia Tech is 9-3 at home against ACC teams under head coach Josh Pastner.
• Josh Pastner’s Georgia Tech teams are 5-2 against top-25 teams at home (5-5 overall), including a 2-1 mark this season (2-2 overall).
• In the last two seasons (since Pastner arrived), no team has more wins at home over AP Top 15 teams as an unranked opponent than Georgia Tech (Tech and Colorado with four each, Syracuse with three).
• Tech is in a stretch of four games against teams either ranked in the top 25 or just outside – No. 2/2 Virginia, No. 15/14 North Carolina, Florida State (receiving votes) and No. 20/18 Clemson. If Florida State were to return to the top 25 in next week’s rankings, the Yellow Jackets would play a stretch of four consecutive games against top-25 teams for the first time since the 2000-01 season (No. 13/14 North Carolina, No. 17/17/ Maryland, No. 10/9 Virginia, No. 6/6 Wake Forest). Tech went 2-2 against that gauntlet in its first season under head coach Paul Hewitt, on the way to an NCAA Tournament berth.
• Head coach Josh Pastner remains two wins shy of 200 for his head coaching career (198-97).
• Head coach Josh Pastner has started the same lineup for the past seven games, with Abdoulaye Gueye playing the “4” position. Pastner has used six different starting lineups this season.
• Tech has had its full roster to practice only for the last four 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 35 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 55 consecutive games.
• Georgia Tech’s playing rotation this season features four freshmen and a first-year graduate transfer who have combined to start 37 games and log 45 percent of the Yellow Jackets’ total minutes.
• Tech has averaged 64.3 points and allowed just 59.3 per game in its seven games since the Christmas break (5-2 record). Opponents have shot 40.1 percent overall, 32.8 percent from three-point range. The Jackets have outscored the five opponents from the free throw line 13.3 to 8.9 per game, and outrebounded them 36.1-30.4. Tech also has averaged 5.9 blocks and 6.6 steals per game.
• ACC opponents have connected on just 39.6 percent from the floor, 28.6 percent from three-point range, and averaged 58.6 points per game against the Yellow Jackets.
• Tech had committed just 10.8 turnovers per game against the ACC and forced 13.3 before Virginia, which forced 18 Tech turnovers and scored 16 points off them. For the season, Tech has committed 12.8 turnovers per game this season, down from 14.3 at the same point last season. Tech has just 77 in its last seven games.
• After netting no second-chance points at Notre Dame on Dec. 30, the Yellow Jackets snared 55 offensive rebounds and scored 62 points from them in their last five games.

PASTNER’S KEY METRICS

• Assists to made field goals: Tech assisted on 11 of 17 made field goals against Virginia and has assisted on 39 of 68 (57.4 percent) in its last three games, snapping a six-game streak of less than 50 percent. Tech’s nightly goal is 60 percent. The Jackets have assisted on 54.0 percent of their made field goals for the season (50 percent vs. the ACC), after finishing last season at 62.7 percent (63.2 percent rate in ACC games).
• Free throws made to opponents’ attempts: Tech made 9-of-14 free throws to Virginia’s 7-of-9 (goal of making more than opponent tries not accomplished). For the season, Tech has converted 270 free throws, while opponents have attempted 270. Tech is 28-7 under Josh Pastner when attempting more free throws than the opponent.
• Turnovers: Tech has committed 12.8 turnovers per game this season, down more than two from last season and just 12.2 in ACC games, the third-best figure in the league. Tech has just 77 turnovers in its last seven games.
• Guard rebounding: Tech’s guards combined for 14 of Tech’s 21 defensive rebounds against Virginia. Tadric Jackson, Jose Alvarado and Josh Okogie are all averaging well above four rebounds per game this season.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• After a two-game drought against Miami and Yale, Tadric Jackson has scored 11, 13 and 14 points in Tech’s last three games, hitting 18-of-40 shots from the floor. The 6-2 senior has had 35 double-digit scoring games off the bench as a Yellow Jacket, 26 of those since the beginning of last season. He has reached double figures 22 times in his last 26 games and 36 times since the beginning of last season.
• Jackson is hitting 56.8 percent of his shots (75-of-132) from inside the three-point arc this season, and a career-best 48.6 percent overall.
• Ben Lammers blocked six shots against Virginia, two off his season high of eight vs. Bethune-Cookman and the Tech record for an ACC game of eight, shared by Lammers last season vs. Virginia Tech (1/18/17) and Alvin Jones vs. Maryland (1/6/01). He improved his career total to 231 blocks, good for sole possession of fourth place in Tech history and needing 12 to catch John Salley (243 from 1982-86) for third place.
• Abdoulaye Gueye has averaged 8.7 points (22-of-37 FG) and 6.3 rebounds in five games since sitting out the Coppin State game with an ankle injury. Making his sixth straight start and 14^th of the season against Virginia, he scored seven points against Virginia (2-3 FG, 3-4 FT) but his two rebounds were his lowest total over the six-game stretch.
• Gueye has scored 52 points in the six games since sitting out Coppin State on Dec. 27. He had scored 70 points in 39 career games prior to Coppin State.
• Josh Okogie snapped a string of 25 consecutive games scoring in double figures against Virginia, scoring nine points in 36 minutes.
• Okogie has averaged 17.8 points per game in his 10 games back on the court, including 16.8 in ACC games so far. He averaged 16.1 points as a freshman, 17.1 against the ACC. The 6-4 sophomore has hit 43.4 percent of his shots from three-point range and 80.6 percent from the free throw line. The sophomore guard has scored in double figures 41 times in 47 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 seven games against top-25 opponents Georgia Tech has hosted at McCamish Pavilion, Okogie has averaged 20 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. He has shot 46.7 (43-of-92) percent from the floor, 6-of-17 from three-point range and 78.6 percent (48-of-61) from the free throw line.
• In eight fewer games, Okogie has pulled ahead of Jose Alvarado for the team lead in free throw attempts, 72 to 65. Okogie is averaging an ACC-leading 7.2 free throw attempts per game, nearly well above his average of 6.5 as a freshman, which ranked third in the ACC.
• Jose Alvarado played 40 minutes for the fourth time this season. He ranks 10^th in the ACC averaging 34.7 minutes per game, eighth in the ACC in average minutes per conference game (38.8). After missing nearly the entire second half of the Coppin State game with a head injury, Alvarado has played 232 minutes in Tech’s last six games, sitting out just eight minutes.
• Lammers has creeped into Georgia Tech’s top 20 all-time leading rebounders, currently standing 17^th with 679. He needs seven to catch Michael Maddox (687 from 1994-98) for 16^th place.
• Lammers is averaging 36.0 minutes this season, sixth-most in the ACC (38.2 mpg vs. the ACC), while Alvarado averages 34.7, 10^th in the ACC (38.8 mpg in ACC games). Okogie averages 35.1 (37.0 in ACC games), but has not played enough games to qualify for the league rankings.
• Tadric Jackson continues to close in on the 1,000-career-point-mark, currently at 974. At his current career-best average of 13.7 points per game, it will take the senior guard two more games to become the 44^th Georgia Tech player to reach 1,000. Lammers has 890 career points, and would need 10 games at his current 11.7 per game rate to reach 1,000.