HOW PASTNER INSPIRED GUARD IN UPSET WIN

The seeds for a most unlikely victory were planted not long after Georgia Tech was thrashed at Tennessee on Saturday. Coach Josh Pastner gave guard Tadric Jackson a simple message after Jackson had given the Yellow Jackets 10 uninspiring minutes in their 23-point loss to the Volunteers.

“I won’t play you anymore if you won’t play hard,” Pastner said he told Jackson.

Tuesday night in Richmond, after Tech had flown in to play VCU the next night, Jackson came to Pastner’s hotel room with a message of his own. “He said, ‘My legs are exhausted, Coach,’” Pastner said.

Pastner asked why. Jackson’s response, according to the coach: “I’ve never practiced so hard in my life as I have the past three days.”

Weary of leg but tuned to his coach’s frequency, Jackson was the difference-maker for the Jackets in their 76-73 overtime shocker over VCU on Wednesday night. Playing with the intensity and energy that Pastner has sought to elicit from him since his hire, Jackson scored a career-high 24 points on 9-for-18 shooting from the field. Arguably the most talented player on the roster demonstrated it for the Jackets, who were 15-point underdogs to VCU.

“Tadric Jackson had his three best practices of his year, of his life,” Pastner said. “He played so hard. How he practiced is how he played (Wednesday).”

The Jackets (5-3) returned home with some pretty impressive cargo: a win over a team that has been to the NCAA Tournament six consecutive seasons and has made its home court a near-impregnable fortress. Wednesday’s game was the 87th consecutive sellout of the Siegel Center and the Rams (6-3) were 74-12 in the first 86. Make it 74-13.

It is without question the biggest win of Pastner’s eightgame tenure, and one that might prompt a reconsideration of the Jackets’ potential.

“To win on the road, in the early stages of the rebuilding process is a huge, huge win,” Pastner said.

Tech’s two games prior to VCU didn’t do much to lift anyone’s hopes. In their first two games against power-conference opponents, the Jackets lost to Penn State and then Tennessee by shooting 35 percent. After the debacle at UT, Pastner accepted responsibility, saying he backed off the practice intensity level to save players’ legs and the low-energy performance was the result. He said he would never do it again “as long as I’m head coach at Georgia Tech.”

Upon returning from Tennessee, “We came back after it,” Pastner said. “Sunday, Monday, Tuesday had high-energy practices like we had been, and that’s how we played.”

Despite starting two freshman guards ( Justin Moore and Josh Okogie) and a third guard who was only let off the bench for 22 minutes last season (Corey Heyward), the Jackets kept their mettle when VCU made a furious charge in the final seven minutes of regulation.

Turning up their defensive pressure and feeding off the raucous home crowd, the Rams revealed their superiority, but could not chase off the Jackets.

In overtime, the Jackets limited VCU to three points in 10 possessions, forcing three turnovers.