While Pastner has won the graces of Tech fans by winning the ACC title, he is still 0-4 against the hated Bulldogs. It will be a resumption of the rivalry, which took a one-year hiatus when the two teams were unable to schedule each other in the compacted 2020-21 season. Tech will play archrival Georgia in Athens on Friday. “When they get it to me, I know my job is to shoot it, especially when I have a wide-open look or a good look.” “My teammates, they’re constantly telling me to shoot the ball,” Coleman said. Pastner trusted him with 30 minutes, third most on the team. “They responded when we closed the gap and made some plays.”Ĭoming off the bench, Coleman finished with a game-high 19 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the field, including 5-for-7 from 3-point range, and was turnover-free. “I thought they kept their poise and they do what really good veteran teams do,” Brooks said. Devoe added seven rebounds and six assists against one turnover in 36 minutes. On Tech’s next possession, when Usher found Coleman cutting to the basket for a back-door layup and a 72-61 lead with 1:13 to play, the Jackets were finally home free. With just under two minutes left and Tech ahead 68-61, he drew a double team in the lane and slipped a bounce pass to Usher under the basket for a dunk.
When the lead was four with just under six minutes remaining, he drove from the right wing to the free-throw line, drawing the Lamar defense into the paint, before reversing the ball back to the wing to guard Deivon Smith, who made his only 3-pointer of the game. He stopped a 7-0 Lamar run that cut the lead to six by stepping out for a 3-pointer at the 13:02 mark in the second half. He was not as prolific in scoring, finishing with 11, but put his imprint on the game. It’s got to be an all-time thing.”ĭevoe delivered the Jackets on Monday. “Can’t just be when things are going well. “We’ve just got to learn to keep not losing our energy,” Pastner said. It was not costly Monday as it was the previous Tuesday against Miami, whom Tech led by six points at the two-minute mark before losing 72-69. So for Lamar to have made things interesting against the defending ACC champions on their home court is not ideal, but perhaps an early-season growing pain to be endured for Pastner’s team. Miami is more experienced and plays in a more competitive conference. Lamar would not seem to be nearly the team that Miami is, and not only because the RedHawks crushed the Cardinals 104-75 on Saturday night. “Once it gets close, then let’s see how good we are. “If we can get a little closer, cut the gap two or three points each segment, it could get interesting now,” Brooks said. Lamar coach Alvin Brooks said he told his team at halftime to concentrate on chipping away at the 39-22 halftime lead through each four-minute segment. But the Jackets squeezed five of them into an 8:20 stretch in the second half that helped the Cardinals climb back in the game. Playing before an announced crowd of 3,625, Tech turned the ball over 10 times – an improvement on the 14 in the loss to Miami (Ohio) and 16 in the win over Stetson. “If we’re playing a Division III team, a Division II team, if we’re playing Lamar, if we’re playing North Carolina or we’re playing Gonzaga or we’re playing the Atlanta Hawks – if we don’t have energy, it can be a recipe for disaster.” “It doesn’t matter who we’re playing,” Pastner said. operations management test that he described as “super hard.”) (For Usher, it also was the challenge of playing 12 hours after taking an 8 a.m. It was, perhaps, the challenge of a team trying to meld its returnees and newcomers – figuring out roles and one another, finding a rhythm together, playing with the energy that coach Josh Pastner requires and, not least, forming a new team without linchpins Moses Wright and Jose Alvarado.