March 3, 2018

Post-Game Notes (Game 31)

March 3, 2018

Recap | Final Stats | Quotes | GT Gallery | USATSI Gallery

–

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

Georgia Tech starting lineup: Jackson, Okogie, Cole, Wright, Lammers
First subs for Georgia Tech: Alston for Wright – 19:17, 1^st half
On the floor for Georgia Tech at the end: Alston, Jackson, Okogie, Cole, Gueye
Opening tap won by Wake Forest: Georgia Tech has won the opening tap 13 times in 31 games this season
Series record vs. Wake Forest: Georgia Tech is 42-40 overall, 29-9 at home, 41-38 as ACC members, 1-2 under Josh Pastner, 3-3 vs. Danny Manning
Current series streak: Tech has won three of the last five meetings
Georgia Tech is 12-7 at McCamish Pavilion this season, 72-37 in its sixth season in the building, 29-11 under Josh Pastner
Georgia Tech is 1-10 on the road this season, 1-11 away from McCamish Pavilion
Georgia Tech’s next game: March 6 vs. Boston College in New York Life ACC Tournament (Brooklyn, N.Y.), 12 p.m. [ACC Network/ESPN2, 680 AM, 93.7 FM]

TEAM NOTES

Georgia Tech earned the 13^th seed in next week’s New York Life ACC Tournament and will play its first-round game at 12 p.m. Tuesday against Boston College, which wound up with the No. 12 seed. The winner of that game will advance and play the No. 5 seed at 2 p.m. Wednesday. Tech’s No. 13 seed matches the lowest it has had (2015) in the tournament.
With Josh Okogie reaching 1,000 career points, Georgia Tech has three players on its roster with 1,000 points for the first time since 1989 (Tom Hammonds, Brian Oliver, Dennis Scott), and for just the third time in the ACC era (Mark Price, John Salley, Bruce Dalrymple in 1986).
Georgia Tech won its last two home games and finished the season 12-7 at home, is 72-37 in six full seasons in McCamish Pavilion, and 29-11 in two seasons under Josh Pastner.
For the last four games of the regular season, freshmen forwards Evan Cole and Moses Wright started alongside Ben Lammers on the front line, with Tadric Jackson and Josh Okogie in the backcourt. Cole started his sixth straight game, and Wright his fourth in a row, eighth overall this season. Georgia Tech has used eight different starting lineups this season.
Tech has had its full roster to practice only for seven games this season. Injuries or other absences have forced Tech players to miss 44 games cumulatively this season. Freshman Jose Alvarado and Curtis Haywood II both suffered season-ending injuries, Alvarado on Feb. 11 early in Tech’s game against Duke, and Haywood prior to the Jackets’ Jan. 31 game against Syracuse.
Ben Lammers is the only Tech player to start every game this season, and has started Tech’s last 69 consecutive games. Brandon Alston is the only other player not to have missed a game.
Tech’s playing rotation this season has featured four freshmen and a first-year graduate transfer who have combined to start 66 games and log 43 percent of the Yellow Jackets’ total minutes.
With Tech’s point guard and ballhandling duties settled in the wake of the loss of Jose Alvarado, the Yellow Jackets got back to playing better defense against Wake Forest, yielding its fewest points (56) since giving up just 51 to Syracuse on Jan. 31. Wake Forest had been averaging 71.1 points in ACC games. In between, the Jackets had given up an average of 75.8 points over eight games.
Tech yielded just 33.3 percent from the floor to Wake Forest, its lowest figure in conference play this season, and just 29.6 percent in the second half. It also was the lowest yield for Tech against an ACC team except Syracuse (30.0). The Demon Deacons made just two two-point field goals in 12 attempts in the second half.
Tech is 13-4 this season when it has a higher field goal percentage than its opponent, 0-13 when it has a lower percentage.
Tech also coaxed Wake Forest into 22 turnovers, the most the Yellow Jackets have gained defensively this season, and converted them into 19 points. Tech also committed 17 turnovers, however, second-most this season (20 vs. Louisville), and Wake turned them into 11 points.

PASTNER’S KEY METRICS

Assists to made field goals: Tech assisted on 14 of 21 made field goals (66.7 percent) against Wake Forest, exceeding its nightly goal of 60 percent, and had 48 assists on 76 field goals (63.2 pct.) in its last three games. The Jackets have assisted on 54.6 percent of their made field goals for the season (53.9 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 connected on 18-of-24 free throw attempts to Wake Forest’s 10-of-17 (nightly goal of making more than opponent tries accomplished). For the season, Tech has converted 425 free throws, while opponents have attempted 532. Tech is 30-10 under Josh Pastner when attempting more free throws than the opponent.
Turnovers: Tech has committed 12.8 turnovers per game this season, down from last season (13.4), and 12.7 in ACC games, down from 13.3 last season. Pastner’s threshold to win is nine or fewer, which the Jackets have accomplished six times this season, four times in conference play.
Guard rebounding: Tech’s guards combined for 12 of Tech’s 29 defensive rebounds against Clemson. Tadric Jackson, Jose Alvarado and Josh Okogie are all averaging 3.6 rebounds per game or higher this season.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

Josh Okogie became the 46^th player in Georgia Tech history to reach 1,000 career points, and third on Tech’s current roster this season. He scored his 1,000^th point from the free throw line with 7:45 to go in the first half. With 1,019, Okogie has scored more points in his first two seasons at Tech since Matt Harpring accumulated 1,021 by the end of his sophomore season (1996-98). He is the sixth Tech player to reach 1,000 career points by the end of his sophomore season.
Virginia is the only team to hold Josh Okogie under 10 points this season, limiting the sophomore guard to nine points in the first meeting on Jan. 18, and seven in the second on Feb. 21. The first game snapped a 25-game streak of double-digit games. Each time he has rebounded with a big scoring game – 18 at North Carolina and 22 at Clemson.
Okogie has scored in double figures 53 times in 60 career games. He has scored 30 or more three times (two vs. ACC), 20 or more 20 times (12 times in an ACC game).
Okogie has averaged 18.4 points per game after missing the first eight games of the season, including 18.3 in ACC games (fifth-best in league rankings). He averaged 16.1 points as a freshman, 17.1 against the ACC.
Okogie went 11-of-12 from the free throw line against Wake Forest, matching his season high for free throws made and one off his season high for attempts, and improves his season free throw rate to 82.4 percent (82.8 in ACC games). He remains the ACC leader in free throw attempts per game (6.9). He averaged 6.5 attempts as a freshman, which ranked third in the ACC, and connected on 74.7 percent.
Okogie is averaging 6.7 rebounds per game in ACC play, third best among league guards, and 6.3 for the season. Okogie has snared 93 rebounds in his last 13 games (7.2), including a pair of double-digit games.
Okogie has 51 assists in his last 16 games, a 3.2 average, dishing a career-high six at Clemson and getting five twice (second meeting vs. Notre Dame and at Florida State) in that stretch.
Okogie played the full 40 minutes for the fifth time this season, and for the third time in the last four games. Jose Alvarado logged eight complete games before he was injured, Lammers has gone start-to-finish five times, and Tadric Jackson had his first at Clemson.
Brandon Alston (12 points against Wake Forest) notched his first double-figure scoring game since getting 13 at Boston College, his only two double-figure games in ACC play and his sixth of the season. He went 4-of-6 from the floor, including a pair of threes, in 38 minutes, matching his season high.
Tadric Jackson has started and played the point guard position for the majority of the Jackets’ last four games, the first time he has played extensive minutes in that role, and has logged the three highest-minute games of his career (38 at Virginia, 40 at Clemson, 39 vs. NC State). The 6-2 senior has averaged 15.5 points and shot 39.7 percent from the floor in those three games (15 points at Virginia, 13 at Clemson, 22 points against NC State, 12 vs. Wake Forest).
Jackson reached double figures for the fifth straight game against Wake Forest following a three-game drought, and for the 20^th time in 28 games this season.
Jackson, who became the 44^th player in Tech history to reach 1,000 career points on Jan. 31 vs. Syracuse, now has 1,107 points over his four seasons and is in 36^th place all-time.
Jackson had connected on 12-of-33 shots from three-point range (36.4 percent) in his last five games.
Jackson matched his career high with five assists against NC State.
Freshman Evan Cole recorded his first career double-double against Wake Forest, scoring 10 points with a season-best 10 rebounds. The points matched his season best of 10 against Duke. The 6-9 forward has averaged 27.7 minutes, 6.9 points and 5.3 rebounds in his last seven games, six of which he has started. The 6-9 rookie has hit 52.9 percent of his shots from the floor, 5-of-13 from three-point range, with 10 assists.
Ben Lammers scored just six points with four rebounds and played just 25 minutes against Wake Forest due to foul trouble. Lammers had averaged 17.7 points over the previous three games with 22 points at Virginia and 20 against NC State. Lammers has 22 double-digit scoring games this season, 43 over the last two seasons.
Lammers, who became the 45^th player in Tech history to reach 1,000, now has 1,037 career points and holds 42^nd place.
Lammers has converted 36-of-69 shots from the floor (52.2 percent) in his last six games.
Lammers added three assists, two blocks and a steal (one turnover) against the Demon Deacons despite playing only 25 minutes.
Lammers has moved into 10th place on Tech’s career rebounding list with a career total of 770, and needs 28 to catch ninth-place John Salley (798 from 1982-86).
Lammers blocked two shots against Wake Forest, giving him 250 blocks for his career and third place in Tech history. He surpassed Salley (243 from 1982-86) in Tech’s game at Virginia. Daniel Miller (286 from 2011-14) holds second place.
Lammers is averaging 35.8 minutes this season, sixth-most in the ACC (36.3 mpg vs. the ACC), and ranks No. 1 among centers nationally in average minutes played and percentage of possible minutes. Okogie is averaging 37.2 minutes in ACC games. Both players rank among the ACC’s top 10 in minutes per conference game.
Moses Wright, another 6-9 freshman, has averaged 23 minutes over his last seven games, averaging 4.9 points (12-of-43 FG, 9-of-17 FT) and 4.7 rebounds with seven assists, five blocks and six steals.