What a difference a week makes, and not in a good way for Georgia Tech.
Second-year Tech coach Damon Stoudamire watched his squad turn in two dismal performances last week on the road in ACC play, outings that resulted in back-to-back losses and dropped the Yellow Jackets back under .500. Those games came on the heels of a three-game win streak which seemed to indicate Tech had turned a corner in its season.
A 62-55 loss at Syracuse on Tuesday, where Tech shot 36.4%, and a 93-71 defeat Saturday at SMU, where Tech turned the ball over 22 times, has Stoudamire looking for answers ahead of a 9 p.m. Tuesday tilt with Clemson at McCamish Pavilion.
“There’s reality, then there’s overreaction. We’re gonna try to figure some things out, but the reality of it is, until we get a bunch of healthy bodies, there’s only so many ways we can go,” Stoudamire said Monday. “The thing about it is, although Saturday happened, I still don’t feel like we’re that far-off, and I feel like we got a lot of winnable games that if we just — the biggest thing is, we’re either good or bad. Can we can be consistent?
“And that’s the one thing I’ve been screaming all season, the attention to detail and being consistent so you can learn each practice, each game. That’s probably been the biggest frustration for me, is we’ve either been or we’ve been bad, nothing in between.”
Stoudamire, now 22-27 and 9-17 against the ACC as Tech’s coach, has 14 games left in the regular season to try to get his Jackets to jockey up the standings. The good news is Stoudamire’s side must face only three opponents who are considered Quadrant 1 teams according to the NCAA’s NET ranking system.
The not-so-good news is the Jackets are 0-5 so far against such opponents and also 0-2 against teams residing in Quadrant 2.
Tech begins this week as the fourth worst team in the ACC as far as the NET rankings are concerned. And if the season ended Monday, Tech barely would make the league’s 15-team postseason tournament as the No. 13 seed.
“We don’t have time. I seem a little irritated because I am because we just don’t have time,” Stoudamire said after Saturday’s loss at SMU, a game in which Tech trailed 50-19 at halftime. “The sense of urgency just don’t seem there. Nobody’s promised tomorrow. We’re not promised that. We gotta get it right now.”
Wins and losses don’t paint the entire picture, of course. Senior guard Kowacie Reeves has been out since late November with a foot injury, and there is still no timetable for his return. Senior shooting forward Luke O’Brien, a graduate transfer from Colorado, hasn’t played since mid-December with a toe injury. Freshman Doryan Onwuchekwa made eight starts in 10 games, but has been away from the team since the middle of December for what Stoudamire will term only as, “personal reasons.”
Guards Javian McCollum, a senior, and Jaeden Mustaf, a freshman, also have missed time with injuries.
Still, the expectations for Stoudamire and for Stoudamire’s team was to be better than 8-9 through 17 games and better than 2-4 after six matchups in the ACC.
“I’m a fair guy, but I’m not an excuse guy,” Stoudamire said. “Injuries are a part of sports, and I understand that.”
Clemson comes to McCamish Pavilion having won four of five after beating Florida State by 20 at home Saturday. The Tigers (15-4, 5-1 ACC) lead the ACC in free-throw and 3-point shooting.
Senior Chase Hunter, a Westlake High School graduate, is shooting almost 45% on 3-point shots, and senior Ian Schieffelin, a Grayson High School graduate, is one of the ACC’s best rebounders at 10.2 per game.
After Tuesday’s contest, Tech will have only three games left this month, two of which will be on the road.
“I need to be able to look guys in the eyes and know that they’re ready to compete,” Stoudamire added. “Toughness and competing is along the same line, but when we compete, we tend to show toughness. We don’t show toughness when we don’t compete. We have to come out (Tuesday), and we have to be physical because that’s the way Clemson’s gonna play. We can’t have all these turnovers we had in the last couple games because that will give them energy. And we’re gonna have to keep them off the glass. Those are big challenges for us.
“Are we capable? Yeah, we capable. We gotta figure it out. I tell the guys this all time, ‘Man, nobody feels sorry for you. Nobody feels sorry for us right now.’ We gotta fight to get out of the situation we’re in. We can flip it, but we gotta fight. Nobody’s gonna give it to us.”
About the Author
