Georgia Tech Basketball

The UConn women lost all of two games last season. This year, they've lost two of their last four games. 

Georgia Tech stunned the Lady Huskies on Thursday night, beating them 57-44 behind Lotta-Maj Lahtinen's 15 points and three assists.

Nerea Hermosa added 13 points and six rebounds for the Yellow Jackets, while Christyn Williams led UConn with 13 points and three boards. 

It was the extremely rare loss for UConn against an unranked team:

Life without reigning Player of the Year Paige Bueckers didn't get off to a great start for the Huskies. The superstar guard, out six to eight weeks with a tibial plateau fracture in her left knee, has been joined on the sideline by freshman Azzi Fudd and sophomore Nika Muhl, who are also dealing with injuries, this month. 

Whether UConn (5-2) was unable to overcome those missing pieces or Georgia Tech simply played suffocating defense—likely a combination of the two—the Huskies struggled immensely on the offensive end Thursday, shooting just 31 percent from the field (18-of-58) and 13.3 percent from three (2-of-15). They also turned the ball over 16 times. 

Without Bueckers to facilitate and lead the team in scoring, UConn's offense stagnated. It was a worrying first performance in this sans-Bueckers stretch of the season.

UConn's struggles will be the storyline, but Georgia Tech (7-2) has gotten off to a very nice start this season, with back-to-back wins over Georgia and the Huskies. That aggressive defense, paired with the team's length in the paint, will make the Yellow Jackets a tough out come March. 

Just ask UConn. 

Ron Bell was convicted Monday in an Arizona court on misdemeanor charges of solicitation of influencing a witness (two counts), attempted tampering with a witness (two counts), false information and facilitation of fraud, scheme and practice after organizing a plan to falsely accuse Georgia Tech basketball coach Josh Pastner of sexual assault, per Mark Schlabach of ESPN.

Jennifer Pendley, Bell's girlfriend, told police in 2019 that Pastner had sexually assaulted her in 2016. 

Chris Meegan, a former security guard for Georgia Tech, had previously told authorities he fabricated claims that he'd witnessed Pastner make inappropriate sexual contact with Pendley ahead of a 2016 game. He later said he hadn't even been working at that game and he made the claim in exchange for receiving money from a potential civil lawsuit or settlement. 

Georgia Tech forward Moses Wright will miss his team's first-round NCAA Division I men's basketball matchup against Loyola-Chicago on Friday, per Jeff Goodman and Brett McMurphy of Stadium.

Per ESPN's Jeff Borzello, Wright would also miss a potential second-round matchup Sunday against either Illinois or Drexel should the Yellow Jackets win Friday.

No official reason has been given for Wright's absence.

Wright, who played in all 25 of the ACC tournament champion's games this year, paced the team with 17.4 points on 53.0 percent shooting, 8.0 rebounds and 1.6 blocks.

His stellar effort against Florida State in the ACC title game (15 points, eight rebounds, three blocks, two steals) helped the Yellow Jackets pull off an 80-75 upset win.

The question now is how Georgia Tech will regroup without the ACC Player of the Year.

On offense, the trio of Jose Alvarado (15.3 PPG), Michael Devoe (15.1 PPG) and Jordan Usher (11.5 PPG) could be asked to take on more of a scoring load.

Rebounding may also be more of a team effort, as no player besides Wright had more than 4.3 boards per game this year.

As far as who replaces him in the starting lineup, Georgia Tech could roll with a five of Alvarado, Devoe, Usher, Bubba Parham and Khalid Moore. Parham and Moore have split time starting 23 of the team's 25 games.

Size-wise, the 6'7" Moore and 6'7" Usher would be the two tallest Georgia Tech players on the court.

Head coach Josh Pastner runs a pretty tight rotation, to the point where only seven players averaged 10 or more minutes per game this season.

Without Wright, Kyle Sturdivant, who is seventh on the team in playing time, could see more action as the sixth man.

Pastner also has the option of simply swapping Wright out for 6'10" big man Rodney Howard, who has 1.6 points and 1.4 rebounds in 7.6 minutes per game this year. Howard has played in 18 games, starting two.

Ultimately, playing without Wright presents a huge challenge against Loyola-Chicago simply because of Ramblers big man Cameron Krutwig, a 6'9", 255-pounder who leads the team with 15.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.2 blocks.

We'll see what Pastner ultimately decides soon enough with the game slated for Friday at 4 p.m. ET.

Georgia Tech will serve its one-year postseason ban stemming from NCAA sanctions for impermissible benefits, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Ken Sugiura. 

The Yellow Jackets withdrew their appeal of the postseason ban, which will rule them out of the ACC and NCAA tournaments.

"I support the decision of our administration to withdraw the appeal of the competition penalty and am happy to know that we'll have this penalty behind us as we go into 2020-21," head coach Josh Pastner said. "Like our administration, I'm sad for our two seniors who won't have the opportunity to participate in the postseason in their final year."

In March 2019 the NCAA informed Georgia Tech of violations committed by former assistant coach Darryl LaBarrie and Ron Bell, who had been friends with Pastner. In one instance, LaBarrie provided $300 to a prospective recruit while at an Atlanta strip club.

The NCAA then handed down its ruling last September, banning the Yellow Jackets from the 2019-20 postseason and removing one scholarship for each of the four years they're on probation.

Sugiura reported the school is still appealing the scholarship reductions.

Monday's decision was likely down to pragmatism to some extent.

With a 15-14 overall record, Georgia Tech needed to win the ACC tournament in order to seal a berth in the Big Dance. The Yellow Jackets might have received an invitation to a secondary tourney, but they're probably balancing that against whatever shot they'll have of partaking in March Madness in 2021.

The team's top three leading scorers (Michael Devoe, Jose Alvarado and Moses Wright) should be back next season, giving Pastner a much better shot at guiding Tech to its first NCAA tournament appearance under his watch.

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets men's basketball team was banned from 2020 postseason play Thursday as part of a ruling from the Division I Committee on Infractions panel, which determined two boosters provided impermissible benefits to the program.

"Both sets of violations occurred because men's basketball coaching staff members invited outside individuals into their program," the committee said. "They permitted these outside individuals to interact with their student-athletes, and those actions resulted in violations."

Other punishments include four years of probation with one scholarship taken away each year, a fine of $5,000 plus 2 percent of the program's budget, and a series of recruiting restrictions.

Former Georgia Tech assistant coach Darryl LaBarrie received a three-year show-cause order, and the university self-imposed a three-year disassociation with him:

"The former assistant coach violated NCAA ethical conduct rules when he did not cooperate with the investigation. After initially denying any involvement during his first interview with NCAA enforcement staff, the former assistant coach admitted that he arranged the impermissible activity with the booster. The former assistant coach also tried to get the student-athlete host to lie about what happened, according to the committee."

In April, LaBarrie told Ken Sugiura of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he regretted taking a group that allegedly included recruit Wendell Carter Jr. (who later went to Duke), then-Yellow Jackets guard Justin Moore and program legend Jarrett Jack to a strip club.

"I would do anything to go back and change what I did on that night," he said. "It was just a lapse in judgment."

However, LaBarrie denied being aware that $300 was given to each player for use at the club. The money was mentioned in the committee ruling, but it wasn't directly linked to the former assistant.

Meanwhile, a second booster was previously identified as Ron Bell, a former friend of Tech head coach Josh Pastner who informed him of potential infractions he committed when their friendship abruptly ended.

Bell told Alan Judd of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in February 2018 he provided players with items such as shoes and clothing, but he said Pastner was "too smart to leave a paper trail linking him to violations."

"Every word out of Ron's mouth is a lie," Bell's mother told Pastner's lawyers as part of a lawsuit filed against him by the Yellow Jackets head coach.

Georgia Tech must also provide the NCAA with information regarding games played by potentially ineligible players within the next 14 days, and it will vacate any records in those contests.

Pastner has compiled a 48-53 record across three years with the Yellow Jackets after a seven-year run with the Memphis Tigers that featured a 167-73 mark and four NCAA tournament appearances.

The couple that accused Georgia Tech basketball coach Josh Pastner of sexual assault have now been charged with "providing false information to law enforcement and facilitation of a fraud scheme practice," according to Mark Schlabach of ESPN. 

Ron Bell was a friend of Pastner but in 2018, he and his girlfriend Jennifer Pendley accused the coach of assaulting Pendley in a hotel room in 2016. 

However, an independent investigation later found the claims were "concocted" as part of an extortion scheme, per A.J. Perez of USA Today.

Bell had also accused Pastner of violating NCAA recruiting rules, but the coach filed a lawsuit against the couple for defamation.

The false allegations have now added to their legal trouble.

Bell was charged Friday in the Oro Valley Magistrate Court in Arizona, adding to his seven misdemeanor counts from March. Pendley was charged with misdemeanor facilitation of a fraud scheme practice, facilitation of influencing a witness and facilitation of tampering with a witness, but she now has an arrest warrant after failing to appear in court.

The two also allegedly encouraged a security guard to lie about witnessing the assault, although he later admitted he wasn't working that day.

Pastner is coming off his third season with Georgia Tech after spending his previous seven seasons with Memphis.

Former Georgia Tech and NBA player Jarrett Jack was reportedly involved in sending Wendell Carter to a strip club while the now-Chicago Bull was on a recruiting visit to the school in 2016. 

Sources told Jeff Goodman of Stadium that Carter is the recruit who was taken to a strip club by one of Georgia Tech's assistant coaches and Jack was the booster serving the school's interest. 

Per Ken Sugiura of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the NCAA served Georgia Tech with a notice of allegations Thursday for alleged high-level recruiting violations involving former assistant basketball coach Darryl LaBarrie and Ron Bell. 

The notice mentions LaBarrie "took a prospect on an official visit and a team member to a strip club and facilitated an improper recruiting contact with a person described in the notice as a representative of the school's athletics interest" in November 2016.

LaBarrie is also believed to have provided the NCAA and Georgia Tech false or misleading information about his "knowledge and involvement of the allegations, attempted to influence the team member to provide false or misleading information and further tried to conceal his attempt to influence the team member."

LaBarrie resigned from Georgia Tech in February 2018, two years after being hired to work on head coach Josh Pastner's staff. 

Carter, who was born in Atlanta, had Georgia Tech on his short list of schools before ultimately committing to Duke on Nov. 23, 2016. He played one season for the Blue Devils before being drafted No. 7 overall by the Chicago Bulls. 

Jack played for the Yellow Jackets for three seasons from 2002-05. He helped the program reach the national title game during the 2003-04 season, which they lost to Connecticut. 

The NCAA notified the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets of alleged recruiting violations by former assistant basketball coach Darryl LaBarrie and Ron Bell, who was friends with head coach Josh Pastner.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Ken Sugiura, LaBarrie allegedly traveled to a strip club with a prospective recruit on an official visit. The recruit and a member of the team also on the trip were provided with $300.

When the NCAA met with LaBarrie to discuss the allegations, the organization said he "provided false or misleading information" and "attempted to influence the team member to provide false or misleading information."

The NCAA also zeroed in on Bell, who was intertwined with the basketball program until he and Pastner had a falling out.

Georgia Tech self-reported violations by now-former players Josh Okogie and Tadric Jackson in November 2017. The school said Okogie and Jackson accepted improper benefits from Bell totaling less than $525 and $750, respectively.

According to Sugiura, the NCAA's notice includes those allegations as well as Bell's efforts to influence Markel Crawford, who was transferring from Memphis. The report said Bell "sent hundreds of text messages" to Crawford when he was still a member of the Tigers. Bell also attempted to spend $883 toward plane tickets for Crawford and his brother, later rescinding the offer when Crawford transferred to Ole Miss.

The NCAA didn't qualify Bell as a booster for the Yellow Jackets but classified him as "a representative of the school's athletics interest," per Sugiura. As a result, any NCAA violations he committed would count as if he were an official member of the program.

Of the three violations Georgia Tech is facing, two fall under Level I status, which is the highest on the NCAA's scale.