ATLANTA -- Josh Pastner saw plenty of areas needed for improvement in his first game as Georgia Techs head coach.He wants the pace to speed up. He wants players making quicker cuts on offense. He doesnt want to call a play every time his team has possession.I want our guys to be able to play with freedom and structure and make plays, but with that comes lots of responsibility, Pastner said. Theyve got to understand how to play the right way.Josh Okogie scored 18 points, Ben Lammers added 15 points and Pastner won his Georgia Tech debut with a 70-55 victory over Tennessee Tech on Friday night.Quinton Stephens finished with 12 points and six rebounds for the Yellow Jackets.Lammers output was a career high, as were his five blocks. Okogie was 7 for 9 from the field and had five rebounds.Micaiah Henry finished with 15 points and JaCardo Hawkins added 10 points for Tennessee Tech.Pastner went 167-73 and led Memphis to four NCAA tournaments in seven seasons before joining the Yellow Jackets last spring. Hes beginning a major rebuilding project with one of the nations least experienced rosters.Pastner had four players making their first college start -- Lammers, Okogie, Abdoulaye Gueye and Justin Moore. Stephens started 14 games last season.The Jackets were without Josh Heath, who was suspended for the first four games of the season for violating team rules. Tadric Jackson missed the game with a hamstring injury.Georgia Tech never trailed after Stephens jumper gave the Jackets a one-point lead in the first 5 minutes of the first half.Okogies 3-pointer in front of the Jackets bench pushed the lead to 61-48 with 3:59 remaining. Stephens 3 made it 64-50 a couple of possessions later.Pastner has high expectations for Okogie, who starred at nearby Shiloh High School in Snellville. Okogie played 21 minutes, about 10 minutes less than the other starters because he picked up three fouls in the first half. Pastner said two of them were 94 feet from the basket.I think Josh Okogie has a chance down the road to be a really good ACC player, Pastner said. Im a big, big fan of Josh Okogie. I just didnt think he played real well tonight. He can play way better. Hes got that ability.Tennessee Tech guard Aleksa Jugovic began the night shooting 39.4 percent in 259 career attempts on 3s, but he went just 1 for 6 beyond the arc and finished with five points.BIG PICTURETennessee Tech: The Golden Eagles went 19-12 last season, 11-5 in the Ohio Valley Conference. They were picked in preseason to finish fourth in the East Division for the second straight year.We lost three really good seniors last year off a good team, coach Steve Payne said. They are hard to replace. The guys that were our go-to were offensive guys, and everybody is playing a new role or we have some new guys playing.Georgia Tech: The departures of last years most productive players -- Marcus Georges-Hunt, Adam Smith, Charles Mitchell and Nick Jacobs -- left a major scoring and rebounding void, about 53 points and 21 boards per game. Pastner said earlier that he likely will change the starting lineup a few times in November to decide who best fits the role.UP NEXTTennessee Tech: Hosts Central Michigan on Monday. It will be the first meeting between the two schools.Georgia Tech: Host Southern on Monday. Southern is the second of five straight home games for the Jackets.---Online:AP College Basketball: www.collegebasketball.ap.org Hawks Jerseys China . They had already blown a double-digit lead, fans were hitting the exits, and a long seven-game road trip waited at the end. Cheap Custom Hawks Jersey . After a first half in which he thought "the lid was on the basket," the Toronto Raptors coach watched his squad mount a second half surge to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 98-91. http://www.customhawksjersey.com/ .ca! Hi Kerry, Its another day and here we are looking at another dubious hit to the head. In this case Blue Jackets forward Brandon Dubinsky elbowed Saku Koivu in the head about a second after he dished off the puck to a teammate, knocking him unconscious. Wholesale Custom Hawks Shirts . "Were just throwing s--- at the wall hoping something sticks," said Tortorella about the possible line combinations for Fridays game against Columbus. The Canucks have lost five straight games and six of their last seven, leaving them in a logjam in the Pacific Division, currently sitting fifth - good for ninth in the Western Conference. Cheap Hawks Jerseys .C. -- Chris Thorburn thinks one of the reasons the Winnipeg Jets have been successful under new coach Paul Maurice is that theyre playing together as a team. METAIRIE, La. -- Lately, Saints rookie defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins has been reminding New Orleans interior offensive lineman that theyd be doing him a considerable favor by blocking as hard as they possibly can against him during practice.The 12th overall pick in Iast springs draft out of Louisville still has yet to make his NFL regular season debut because he fractured his left fibula during training camp in mid-August. But that is expected to change this weekend in san Francisco, when Rankins will be eligible to play for the first time.When Im going up against guys, I always tell them, `Just give me a real look. I havent done anything for a while, so I want as close to full speed without trying to kill each other as I can get, Rankins said. Theyve been good about that.Meanwhile, the offensive linemen whove been indulging Rankins request for difficult practice repetitions say the rookie has been wearing them out.To come back the way he has within the amount of time -- just the timeframe and to have as much strength as he has is really incredible right now, Saints guard Tim Lelito said. Hes basically picked up right where he left off. Theres a reason why he was a first-round draft pick, honestly. Hes quick, hes strong, got great hands ... so Im excited to hopefully see him out there in some live situations.Saints coach Sean Payton said Rankins is getting around well and we anticipate this is the week for him to come back.Rankins said coaches have begun rotating him into the first-team defense during 11-on-11 work in practice so he is up to speed with this weeks game plan.The recovery is going as expected. I havent had any setbacks, getting my strength back, getting my endurance back, Rankins said. Its fun to be out there playing. I feel fine. I feel I can be effective. If I didnt feel I could be effective, I wouldnt put myself out there.Saints coaches have said they see Rankins eventually being an every-down player because he is versatile enough to play several spots aalong the defensive line as either a run stuffer or pass rusher.dddddddddddd But Rankins figures that in terms of stamina and experience, he would blame coaches for easing him into his first few games in a more limited role.Definitely coming off an injury as long as Ive been off, you definitely dont want to put the cart before the horse, so to speak, Rankins said. You want to do what you can but dont overexert yourself too much. You dont want to be out there trying to overcompensate and those other issues. So I think theyre going to do a good job of keeping an eye on me, giving me what I can handle, and Ill make the most of those snaps.The Saints defense could use help. The unit ranks 28th in the NFL, allowing 397.4 yards per game, and 31st in points allowed at 30.7 per game.In his last two seasons at Louisville, Rankins registered 14 sacks and 26 + tackles for losses.When Lelito was asked if Rankins looked ready to apply stress on the front of an opposing teams pass-protection pocket, he responded, Absolutely. He can put stress anywhere. The front of the pocket, the side of the pocket. Wherever you want to put him hes putting stress. Hes definitely someone that youre going to have to account for.Game notes S Kenny Vaccaro, who sat out Wednesdays practice with knee soreness, returned Thursday on a limited basis. ... Three other players who sat out Wednesdays practice -- T Terron Armstead (Knee), LB Dannell Ellerbe (Quad) and LB James Laurinaitis (Quad) -- also did not practice on Thursday. ... RB and special teams regular Daniel Lasco, who was not on Wednesdays injury report, missed Thursdays practice. ... LB Stephone Anthony (Hamstring), CB Delvin Breaux (Fibula), WR Jake Lampman (Knee), CB Sterling Moore (Abdomen) and C Max Unger (Shoulder) were listed as limited in practice.---AP NFL websites: http://pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '