It may be that Georgia Tech’s 81-78 overtime win over Boston College Sunday night before a supportive McCamish Pavilion crowd may not mean much.
It was a senior-night win at home over another bottom-tier team, the sort of result that any team in the ACC should be able to secure. Further, victory necessitated that the Yellow Jackets to play an extra five minutes to get past the Eagles, and they also needed four players near the tops of their games and just the second single-digit turnover game of the season.
But it was, at the least, better than a loss. And those four players – guards Jose Alvarado and Michael Devoe, center James Banks and forward Moses Wright – did play well. And the single-digit turnover game (nine) was the second in a row. Tech (13-17 overall, 5-12 ACC) will take wins however it can acquire them. Boston College (14-14, 5-11) concluded its ACC road schedule at 1-8.
“I still believe we’re getting better,” coach Josh Pastner said. “It’s not where we want to be. Our young guys are getting great opportunities and time and improving and we’ve just got to keep getting better.”
Pastner has said that he believes that Alvarado and Devoe will in time form one of the best backcourts in the ACC. Sunday was perhaps the most persuasive demonstration of his vision. They combined for 41 points (21 by Alvarado, 20 by Devoe), eight assists, eight rebounds and just one turnover in playing 89 out of 90 minutes.
“Me and Jose, we wanted to come in there and play as top ACC guards,” Devoe said. “That’s what we came out and did.”
They scored eight of Tech’s 11 points in overtime, each assisting the other. Devoe used his length to challenge Boston College guard Ky Bowman on the final shot of the game, an in-and-out 3-point try in the final seconds that would have sent the game to double overtime had it gone through.
“I want to do anything possible for us to win, so doing everything possible was scoring at that point (in overtime) or rebounding or anything like that,” Devoe said. “I really emphasized having no turnovers in this game and just playing with high energy.”
Among other things, it ended Tech’s 11-game losing streak in overtime regular-season ACC games, a rather specific category of losses but one that nonetheless weighed heavily on at least some Jackets fans and would seem highly improbable.
Of late, the two seemed to be taking turns having strong games. They were both on their games Sunday night, answering Pastner’s wish to have the two play well together. Alvarado scored from 3-point range (3-for-6), got to the free-throw line (6-for-10) and came up with big plays throughout the game.
When Tech was down 21-13 early and in danger of falling behind by double digits, Alvarado poked the ball away from Bowman, triggering a fast break that Devoe finished with a putback after his initial shot was blocked.
In three successive possessions later in the half, he penetrated to break down the defense, leading to a putback by forward Abdoulaye Gueye, then hit back-to-back 3-pointers that put the Jackets in the lead.
With a little more than a minute to play in regulation, Boston College had the ball down 70-68. Eagles guard Jordan Chatman tried to penetrate a gap in Tech’s zone, but Alvarado stuck his hand in for a deflection and was successful, preventing a possible game-tying basket.
“He did everything that a point guard should do,” Devoe said. “He came up huge for us (Sunday).”
Banks played perhaps his best game in ACC play, scoring 18 on 8-for-9 shooting with nine rebounds. Banks, a player with the potential to average a double-double, had been up and down in scoring lately and had a zero-point, four-rebound game in 30 minutes at Miami a week ago. Pastner said that Banks had put in an extra 90 minutes of practice time each of the previous two days, Friday’s session an individual one with Pastner himself, that evidently paid off.
Among other contributions, he scored on an and-one putback on Tech’s final possession of the first half, a three-point play that gave the Jackets a 40-33 lead going into halftime.
“I was really proud of James (Sunday),” Pastner said.
Wright continued his strong run of play, chipping in 10 points and four rebounds. In the past four games, he has averaged 10.5 points and 5.8 rebounds. In the first 24 games of the season – in which his minutes were more inconsistent, in part because of his own play – he had averaged 4.8 points and 3.1 rebounds.
“Moses keeps getting better,” Pastner said. “You can see it.”
Further, guard Curtis Haywood continued to struggle with his shot – he was 1-for-5 from the floor, all 3-pointers – but had a team-high six assists and seven rebounds.
Tech completed its home ACC schedule at 4-5, not exactly material for a billboard. Its wins were over Wake Forest (11-17), Notre Dame (13-16), Pittsburgh (12-17) and Boston College (14-14). The final regular-season game will be at N.C. State, which is fighting to stay in the NCAA tournament picture. The Jackets are 1-7 on the road in league play.
In the big picture, the way Tech played Sunday – shooting 31-for-61 from the field, getting on the offensive glass, holding Bowman (a potential first-team All-ACC pick) to 13 points on 5-for-14 shooting – could mean more if it’s followed up by solid play on the road at N.C. State and in the ACC tournament in Charlotte, N.C.
The win raised Tech into 11th place. Pastner noted that the Jackets were picked to finish 13th in the preseason.
“Again, we don’t want to be 10th place,” he said. “That’s not what we’re aspiring to be, but I do believe we’re moving the right way in where we’re trying to get to.”
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