Jordan Usher missed a jumper in the lane on the first possession. Michael Devoe took a wide-open 3-pointer on the second, and the shot bounced off the back of the rim. Khalid Moore tried to penetrate the defense on the third and lost control of the ball, a turnover.
It wouldn’t be until the Yellow Jackets’ sixth possession of their home game against N.C. State on Tuesday night that they got on the scoreboard, when center Rodney Howard scored on a screen-and-roll layup on a pass from Usher. By that point, the Wolfpack led 10-0 and were building momentum for what would turn out to be arguably the Jackets’ worst loss of the season, a 76-61 loss in which the last-place Wolfpack led by as many as 30 points and Tech never had a chance after that disastrous start.
“I think they just came out and blitzed us a little bit, and we weren’t expecting it, and they controlled the game from there,” Tech guard Kyle Sturdivant said.
“Time is running out, and I recognize that our starts, we cannot continue to put ourselves in a hole. We always fight back, but I want to sometime just play a 40-minute game and not always have to play from behind."
As Tech (10-15, 3-11 ACC) replaced the Wolfpack in last place in the ACC, the loss highlighted another area where coach Josh Pastner’s team has faltered this season – the beginning.
Before the Jackets fell behind 10-0 to N.C. State, Virginia took an 18-4 lead on them Saturday. Against Miami last week, the Jackets had to fight back from an early 8-2 deficit, the same gap they ultimately overcame to beat Clemson in the game before that.
The impact of falling behind early may not be significant – after falling behind 8-2 to the Hurricanes, for instance, the Jackets counterattacked and built a 32-18 lead later in the half (before ultimately losing). In defeating Florida State on Jan. 26, Tech first fell behind 7-0 to the Seminoles.
But, it certainly doesn’t help. On Tuesday, the Wolfpack’s early lead likely fortified their confidence after having lost their six previous games. Against Virginia, the Cavaliers’ 17-point first-half edge provided the margin that enabled them to withstand a Tech rally that cut the lead to two points in the second half.
“It has been a real concern the way we’ve started since the Florida State game,” Pastner told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday.
It follows the pattern of scoring lapses that the Jackets have not been able to avoid. Against N.C. State, it was compounded by the Wolfpack’s hot shooting out of the gate.
“We’ve got to figure out how to start games better,” Sturdivant said. “We always tend to start off slow and then try to fight back. We do a great job fighting back, but sometimes it’s a little bit too late.”
Against N.C. State, the slow start seemed to fluster the Jackets, with the missed shots draining energy on defense. Tech was down 51-25 at the half, a performance that compelled Pastner to apologize to Tech fans.
“Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket Nation deserves an apology from me,” he said after the game. “I can’t promise wins, but I can try to do all we can to not let (such poor play in the first half) happen.”
A remarkable statistic – in each of the Jackets’ 14 ACC games, Tech has scored on its first possession just once. It’s even more noteworthy because Pastner can draw up the play before the game begins. Pastner said the Jackets normally run a designed play on the first possession rather than run the team’s Princeton offense and wait for a shot to develop.
As Pastner and his staff try to solve the conundrum, he said that “everything is on the table to help us start better,” whether that’s coming up with a different play to start off or trying a different starting lineup.
“We’re looking at some different things to get us going,” Pastner said.
It speaks again to the difficulty that the Jackets have had scoring, not just at the start of games but throughout the 40 minutes of regulation. In league play, Tech was 10th in field-goal percentage (42.4%) going into Wednesday’s games, last in turnovers per game (13.2) and third to last in free throws per game (12.8).
“Time is running out, and I recognize that our starts, we cannot continue to put ourselves in a hole,” Pastner said. “We always fight back, but I want to sometime just play a 40-minute game and not always have to play from behind.”
