Defense Prevails In Home Opener Win Over Elon

It wasn't pretty, but it was a victory.

Taking to the floor in McCamish Pavilion for the first time in the 2019-20 regular season, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (2-0, 1-0) stayed undefeated on the season by utilizing a dominating defensive performance in their 64-41 victory over the Elon Phoenix (2-1, 0-0).

Offensively, it was not the greatest performance put on by the Yellow Jackets. They shot only 37.7% from the floor, including going 30.4% in the first half and putting up 25 points. Aside from Jehloni James, who saw only 40 seconds of playing time, only 2 other Tech players finished shooting 50% of above. Like in the season opener vs. NC State, Michael Devoe led the scoring effort for Georgia Tech, finishing with a game-high 22 points.

However defensively, the Ramblin' Wreck shined bright. They held the Phoenix to an abysmal 21.6% shooting percentage from the field, and an even worse 10% from beyond the arc. At one point in the contest, Elon was just 1-23 on three point field goals. Elon's 21.6% from the field was the lowest by a Georgia Tech opponent since 1960, and second lowest in school history.

"I thought we guarded at a high level," head coach Josh Pastner said. "We really executed and followed the game plan."

Elon did start out the game ahead of the Yellow Jackets just after the media timeout, but Tech then fired off a 13 point run to put themselves ahead of the Phoenix for the remainder of the game. Even while ahead, Tech still struggled at times to find an offensive flow. This was part due to junior Jose Alvarado's absence from the starting point position. He suffered a rolled ankle in practice this past Friday and was in a walking boot at tipoff.

"We're a better team with Jose," Pastner said. "It took some time to adjust [without him]."

Coach Pastner isn't far off the mark. Initially Tech struggled in his absence, amassing 8 turnovers int he first 16 minutes of the game. But once the second half got going, it started to become a complete team effort for the Yellow Jackets. They would go on an 11-3 run to start the second half, while Elon would continue struggle, at one point missing 12 field goals in a row.

A key factor in this was the bench play of Evan Cole and Asanti Price. Cole quickly put up 4 rebounds when Tech was down 6-4 and finished with 9 total (second on team), and Price finished with the highest +/- of the game with 28.

As the game reached its inevitable conclusion, Coach Pastner utilized this time to get the bench players some valuable playing time. In the end, every Georgia Tech player on the roster except for junior guard Christian Scott saw action. But Pastner said this was due to Scott still in limbo on whether to use this season to redshirt.

Georgia Tech has a long layover coming up, not seeing action until next Wednesday, November 20th against the Georgia Bulldogs in Athens. Tipoff is set for 7:00pm.

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