Yellow Jacked Up
Fansided

Georgia Tech Basketball: Tech fans potentially get first chance to see Jordan Usher against Ball State

By Dylan Callaghan-Croley

LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 10: Jordan Usher #1 of the USC Trojans looks to pass against the Arizona Wildcats during the championship game of the Pac-12 basketball tournament at T-Mobile Arena on March 10, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Wildcats won 75-61. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 10: Jordan Usher #1 of the USC Trojans looks to pass against the Arizona Wildcats during the championship game of the Pac-12 basketball tournament at T-Mobile Arena on March 10, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Wildcats won 75-61. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Georgia Tech basketball fans will potentially get their first chance to see former  USC Trojan Jordan Usher when the Jackets take on Ball State.

Usher performed rather well in his first season with the Trojans, shooting 44.4% from the field overall while averaging 4.8 points over 14.1 minutes per game. He shot extremely well from beyond the arch as a freshman as well, hitting over 40% of his shots (27-for-66). That being said, as a sophomore, that three-point percentage dropped to 28.6% (8-for-28). However, that was in a much more smaller sample size with just 12 games played before deciding to transfer away from the program.

As a team, the Yellow Jackets would be much benefited from Usher if he could rekindle his strong shooting from beyond the arch. Through their first eight games, the Jackets are shooting just 28.9% from three-point range. Michael Devoe by far has been the Jackets best three-point shooter, hitting 18-of-39 attempts, a 46.2 shooting percentage. The only other player currently shooting above 30% from deep is Khalid Moore, who’s shooting 33.3%.

With a Jose Alvarado potentially still on the mend, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Usher slide into the Jackets starting lineup on Wednesday night. Against Kentucky, Bubba Parham earned the start as the second guard in the Jackets starting lineup. Parham played well in his start scoring 10-points and shot 4-for-7 from the floor.

That being said, Usher is the type of talent that if he’s ready to go, you can slide into the starting lineup an expect results. However, one could make the argument that not playing in a real game in over a year could have Usher a bit rusty. Either way, Usher should see quite a bit of playing time against Ball State. For Josh Pastner, getting Usher in the lineup could be huge for a Tech team that needs more scoring options outside of Devoe, who’s averaging over 19 points per game this season.

The Jackets and Cardinals are expected to tip-off on Wednesday at 7:00 pm at McCamish Pavilion. The Jackets will look for their first win since December 4th when they took on and defeated Nebraska 73-56.