Low-energy Jackets flattened

Lackluster effort bodes ill with ACC schedule looming.

Georgia Tech found out what happens when it doesn’t bring an energetic effort against a power-conference team. On Saturday at Thompson-Boling Arena, Tennessee gave the Yellow Jackets a worse defeat, 81-58, than it gave Division II Chaminade in November.

Coach Josh Pastner summarized the day as bad offense, bad defense and poor energy. Taking difficult shots and giving the ball away often, Tech (4-3) managed seven baskets in 36 first-half possessions and trailed Tennessee (3-3) by double digits for the final 25:38 and by 20 or more for the final 19:08.

“I think we were all looking for somebody else to make a play or do something, and it was just kind of a train wreck from the beginning,” guard Corey Heyward said.

Here are five observations from the game:

Short on energy: The Jackets, who have tried to make playing with energy a bedrock principle, were the Volunteers’ inferior in that (and other) departments. Players made weak passes, did not come to meet the ball, were swamped on the glass and did not drive the ball hard at the basket. Pastner was particularly disappointed in forward Quinton Stephens, who had six points, no rebounds and four turnovers in 12 firsthalf minutes. (He finished with a game-high 15 points.)

“I’m disappointed about (the energy) because we pride ourselves on being an energy team, and we didn’t do that,” Pastner said. “I thought we were really on our heels, and so I take responsibility. I’ve got to look at what could I have done better maybe in the preparation or whatever it may have been.”

Weak drives to the rim: Tech perimeter players such as Josh Heath, Josh Okogie and Heyward drove at the basket, but threw up contested shots that had little chance of going in. In the first half, the shot chart listed the Jackets as 1 for 10 on layups.

“We got to the paint, but we were very off-balance,” Pastner said. “I thought their athleticism bothered us in some areas. We would get to the paint, but we would just throw up a ‘hope’ shot. Hope’s a bad strategy.”

With such ineffectiveness on shots at the basket, the Jackets were horrendous inside the 3-point arc. Tech was 12 for 42 on 2-point shots (28.6 percent). To put that into context, according to sports-reference.com, there were only three games last season in which an ACC team shot worse.

Shorthanded: Freshman point guard Justin Moore did not make the trip, staying in Atlanta with a stomach virus. Pastner said it was at first feared he had appendicitis. Moore had started all six games to this point, averaging 27.8 minutes with a 29-15 assist-turnover ratio. He probably wouldn’t have made the difference, but he was missed, as Tech turned the ball over a season-high 19 times.

“He’s definitely an energy guy,” center Ben Lammers said. “I think he would have helped.”

Desperate measure: Pastner has relied on a seven-player rotation, but he used 10 players in the first half and ended up using all 11 available scholarship players in the game. Graduate transfers Kellen McCormick and Jodan Price, who before Saturday had played a combined 12 minutes, played a combined 16.

“Just trying to find energy,” Pastner said. “I usually don’t like playing a deep rotation, but you get in a situation like that, you’re just trying to find someone to give a boost.”

One player who did respond was forward Christian Matthews. The bespectacled freshman scored 14 — he had a total of six points through the first six games — although half were in the final 3:03 when the game was well in hand. Still, he may have earned himself more playing time in Wednesday’s game at VCU.

One for the road: The Jackets received a sobering reminder of what awaits them when ACC play begins Dec. 31 against North Carolina. Tennessee probably was the most athletic team the Jackets have faced and gave them trouble with its pressure and quickness to loose balls. And it bears mention that the Volunteers may not be that good. Tennessee was picked to finish 13th in the SEC in a preseason media poll.

“Any kind of shot you took was pretty much going to be contested,” said Lammers, who contributed his fifth double-double of the season, with 10 points and 14 rebounds.

After the game, multiple players noted the energy deficiency. “Sometimes you think that you let the game come to you, and the game comes to you in certain ways, but there’s other aspects of the game where you have to actually go out and get it,” Stephens said.