Josh Pastner Not Overlooking Morehouse
The nightly grind of the ACC has not been kind to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets as of late. For the most part, Tech has struggled with their consistency and has at times lacked the ability to "close the door" as head coach Josh Pastner would say. Since the bulk of conference play started on New Year's Eve 2019, the Jackets are just 3-5 in league play - including a three game stretch where they lost by a combined 13 points.
However Tech seems to be finally turning a corner. Their last time out saw them complete a season sweep over the NC State Wolfpack in a game where turnovers were down from their normal nightly average, and junior point guard Jose Alvarado nearly posted a triple-double.
For all but a brief moment, life in the ACC is set to take a halt for Georgia Tech next time they take the court. They're set to host the "visiting" Morehouse College Maroon Tigers, where only a ten minutes drive on I-85 & I-20 separates each team's home venue.
It's also a game where Georgia Tech is unanimously favored. KenPom.com is projecting a win with 100% certainty and sports betting services such as Caesars & BetOnline.ag have the game completely off the books. This is usually the case when a Division I school squares off with a Division II or III institution.
Despite being more than a heavy favorite in this game, Georgia Tech head coach Josh Pastner is not about to change his approach to the game.
"I'm the kind of person that doesn't overlook anybody. With us, we don't have any margin for error," he said. "We have great respect for Morehouse, Coach Brewer and his staff."
He did not deviate from his normal pregame media availability routine, lauding head coach Grady Brewer's Maroon Tigers and their style of play. He also stressed the importance of capitalizing on the momentum from the win over NC State.
"They press, they play multiple guys, they play hard. They run some good actions offensively, they can shoot it," Pastner said. "We'll need to play at a high level. We need to carry over that momentum from what we did on Saturday [against NC State]."
A win over Morehouse would give Georgia Tech their first winning streak since capturing back-to-back victories over Bethune-Cookman and Nebraska on December 1st & 4th. If the Jackets want to have any shot of making the NCAA Tournament for the first time 2010, stringing together some late season wins will be tantamount to those efforts.
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