Josh Pastner Talks About Syracuse's Zone Defense & Michael Devoe's Success
Capping off one the busier stretches of the season for the Yellow Jackets, Georgia Tech is preparing to take on Jim Boeheim's Syracuse Orange tomorrow at noon from McCamish Pavilion. It finishes a week in which Tech will have faced 3 teams in 7 days, having won both the matchups this week against Bethune-Cookman and Nebraska.
One of Boeheim's coaching trademarks has been his 2-3 zone defense, and has given many teams and coaches fits over the years.
In his tenure as the head coach at Georgia Tech, Josh Pastner's teams have also prided themselves on defense. So far this season, the Yellow Jackets' zone defense is ranked as a top 25 defense according to KenPom.
While both teams execute a suffocating zone defense, Pastner doesn't think it gives them an advantage over the Orange, calling them "two different zones".
Regardless of the similarities and differences between the zones, there has already been one coach this week praising it. After Nebraska's loss to Tech on Wednesday, head coach Fred Hoiberg said "It is a zone you don’t see very often" and that simulating it in practice is "impossible to do."
Pastner went on to say that Cuse's athleticism and length plays a key role of the success of their 2-3 zone. The same can be said for Georgia Tech, and there are less than 24 hours until we find out which one will prevail.
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