Jordan Meka doesn’t have much pretense about how he’s supposed to impact games for Georgia Tech.
“It’s pretty simple if you think about it,” the Yellow Jackets forward said Tuesday. “I’m an aggressive presence. (Coach Josh Pastner) wants me to just have a high motor and get on the boards and block shots and run the floor and just make plays.”
That is indeed about what Meka has done in limited chances. The 6-foot-8 sophomore from Cameroon (he attended Mount Bethel Christian Academy in Cobb County) has been most effective on defense, using his size and quickness to defend the post and challenge shots.
Meka has played in nine games this season, starting three, and is averaging 4.0 rebounds and 0.9 blocks in 14.8 minutes per game. While it’s a small sample, if it were extrapolated on a per-minute basis, if he were playing 30 minutes a game, Meka would average 8.1 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 1.1 steals per game.
Meka came off the bench to play a career-high 27 minutes against Clemson on Saturday, second most on the team. And, despite scoring only two points on 1-for-5 shooting, he was a key piece to the Jackets’ 69-64 win at McCamish Pavilion.
“Jordan Meka came in and gave us some great minutes,” Pastner said after the game.
Meka played only one game last season as a freshman, sidelined by back surgery. His appearances have been spotty. He came off the bench to play 21 minutes in the team’s overtime win over Georgia on Dec. 21 in what was just his third college game. Pastner then started him in the next three games with center Rodney Howard out with an ankle injury.
In a total of 60 minutes, Meka scored four points but claimed 17 rebounds and blocked six shots. The Clayton State game aside, he played a total of two minutes over the next six games before Pastner called on him to help out against Clemson.
“It was kind of a feel thing,” Pastner said. “I just felt we needed a change.”
“It's pretty simple if you think about it. I'm an aggressive presence. (Coach Josh Pastner) wants me to just have a high motor and get on the boards and block shots and run the floor and just make plays."
Said Meka, “Coach Pastner, he has been really good to me. He’s been telling me to just stay the course and stay ready. That has been the mindset for me, just when you get the chance, you’ve got to stay ready and just go and do your thing.”
There’s no telling how Pastner will feel Wednesday when the Jackets play at Miami, but his ability to defend the rim, rebound and play post defense might persuade him to give him more time against a Hurricanes team that has one of the most efficient offenses in the ACC. (In Tech’s first game against Miami, Howard started and played 11 minutes and was the only post player to get in the game.)
The cost, though, is that Meka’s offensive game is very much in the “under development” stage. He is 5-for-19 from the field this season, with most of the shots taken near the basket. To his credit, he has committed only three turnovers in 133 minutes of play.
“Offensively, it hasn’t been very good for me, but I trust myself,” Meka said. “I trust my game, and I know my shots are going to go in at some point.”
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