🤞Clemson at Georgia Tech Jan 20 2021, 7 PM 🤞

Connell62

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To think if we had been doing contact practices since the beginning we probably beat state and Mercer and sit at 9-1 right now. Really interested to see how we stack up vs UVA. They had the upset loss in the beginning of the year and got steamrolled by Gonzaga... but so has everyone else, so I think they’re better than their ranking.
Personally, I think that we match-up well with them. If Moses can win the battle against Huff, I like our chances.
 

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Of the 7 players in the rotation... Alvarado, Devoe, Sturdivant, and Usher are 4 stars. Khalid, Moses, and Bubba are the only ones who weren't highly rated.

Saba Gigiberia was rated a 4-star when he committed to us:

He was a top 100 guy by both 247 and Rivals at one point.

We have 5 guys who were top 150 nationally.
 

Techster

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I mean.. dang. That was fun huh?

I was texting with my dad throughout the game that this is the first real tournament ready team we have had since 2004. CJP had the boys tuned up right last night and we layed the wood with authority.

We made it through without Khalid, but I’ll be happy to have him back so that we can avoid small ball of/when a usher needs a calibration moment to slow himself back down in games. Jose/Devoe/Bubba/Kyle are looking like they came to play in the guard rotation and Moses isn’t messing around anymore. Someone got in his ear about the [̲̅$̲̅(̲̅100)̲̅$̲̅] he can make in the NBA and he is here to show what’s what.

Let’s go get it against UVA. One thing that has me feeling particularly bubbly is that we ran ABunch of slowed down half court offense and looked to pick our shots. That’s what we will have to do against UVA. The land of transition ball, they are not.

I hate playing UVA. Their style of play is just so frustrating. Being down six points to them feels like a 15 point hole. EVERY possession is a battle. If you turn over the ball to them it's just soul crushing.

It will definitely be a fascinating matchup given how well we have played.
 

crut

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Saba Gigiberia was rated a 4-star when he committed to us:

He was a top 100 guy by both 247 and Rivals at one point.

We have 5 guys who were top 150 nationally.
Yeah the post I was replying to was talking about the rotation so I didn't include Saba. He is only getting like 3 mins a game.
 

jayparr

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Of the 7 players in the rotation... Alvarado, Devoe, Sturdivant, and Usher are 4 stars. Khalid, Moses, and Bubba are the only ones who weren't highly rated.
Compared to the players on Cremins teams there is no one that was near the rating of his!!! Absolutely no one, and that makes me even more proud of these guys!!!!!!!
 

MidtownJacket

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I hate playing UVA. Their style of play is just so frustrating. Being down six points to them feels like a 15 point hole. EVERY possession is a battle. If you turn over the ball to them it's just soul crushing.

It will definitely be a fascinating matchup given how well we have played.
It's funny. I really like watching them (when we aren't lined up against them) because of the disciplined approach they take to playing the game. The things we don't like about playing them are some of my favorite parts about basketball.

Agreed it is going to be interesting to see our 1-3-1 zone against their Pack Line approach.
 

Fatmike91

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It's funny. I really like watching them (when we aren't lined up against them) because of the disciplined approach they take to playing the game. The things we don't like about playing them are some of my favorite parts about basketball.
I agree.

I'll take the over on 29 points this time even though I think UVA is under-rated.

/
 

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I hate playing UVA. Their style of play is just so frustrating. Being down six points to them feels like a 15 point hole. EVERY possession is a battle. If you turn over the ball to them it's just soul crushing.

It will definitely be a fascinating matchup given how well we have played.

The interesting thing though is we average over 80 ppg and they average over 70 ppg. But without knowing that, in my head I foresee a 52-48 outcome on the way. :) As of today, Virginia is #1 in the ACC in FG% and we are #2. I would never guess that if I didn't know it. I'd picture 2 tough defenses grinding out 35% shooting and a lower scoring game. But that's not the way the two teams are playing this year.
 

YlJacket

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Last night was a really good win. The kind of win we have to have if we are going to make up for our early sins and sniff the bubbly this year. As have pointed out, our next 6 are crucial and we have to have at least 3 wins - and 4 would be really helpful to keep on the bubbly track. The ACC is down this year so we have to be higher than normal in the standings to stay relevant to the committee.

The 3 point shooting last night was phenomenal. Simply making that many open 3 point shots is phenomenal. Kudos to Usher who has obviously worked on his shot. To me he is the one who makes us a good offensive team as he is the one folks help off of and will get those shots.

IMHO there were 2 keys to the offensive performance last night (in addition to actually making the shots). First was Moses who got off to a great start and was dominating inside against Sims or whoever. That caused Clemson to collapse on him all night long - even when he didn't have the ball - and left guys open for catch and shoot 3's. The other was our guards - Jose primarily - could get by their defender and take advantage of them collapsing. It was really nice 4 out basketball.

I did think Moses got tired in the second half. He wasn't nearly as active on the offensive end (partly because of the attention he was getting) but he also wasn't as good on defense against Sims. Sims got most of his points in the second half when Moses had trouble staying in front of him. I really do wish we had someone who could give him a break.

The offense did hide some sins on the defensive end - turnovers notwithstanding. Their shooting percentages were higher than you normally can tolerate while winning. And specifically they were able to use the high ball screen very effectively to get the guard into the paint or get Sims the ball in position to score. We were bound and determined to go over the ball screen - even way outside - which left our guard glued to the rear end of their guard who was going downhill. Moses didn't want to leave Sims so we gave up a lot of penetration and kick outs. UVA will run that same set down our throat with Huff and Clark so we need to get it straightened out. I would be happy to live with going under that screen and let Clark try to beat us with pull up 3's. Normally you would like to have Moses hedge hard but that will leave Huff with open pops and that ain't good.

I think we do have a shot at UVA given how well we played last night. The obvious caveats are stay out of foul trouble and continue to shoot well. But beyond that I do think Moses can take advantage of Huff from 15 feet or so where he can use his quickness on him and the packline D is susceptible to 3 point shots if you can get the ball to the weakside. Their help comes primarily from the weakside and skip passes / rapid ball movement will get you shots if you have good spacing. I am not as hopeful that Jose will have as much success breaking down Clark. I will be really interested to see how Usher does trying to slow down Hauser. Hopefully will be a good game.
 

forensicbuzz

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We did it as Jose had an "off" night for him. We played some outstanding ball without Jose being "Jose"...if we can keep it up AND get "Jose" back, just WOW. Also bodes well for next season as Devoe and Sturdivant will be our starting guards.
Jose was being Jose. He was dribble penetrating and dishing for open shots. He was pushing the ball on offense and his standards swarming defense. He just didn't shoot as much as he usually did.
 

Fatmike91

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Last night was a really good win. The kind of win we have to have if we are going to make up for our early sins and sniff the bubbly this year. As have pointed out, our next 6 are crucial and we have to have at least 3 wins - and 4 would be really helpful to keep on the bubbly track. The ACC is down this year so we have to be higher than normal in the standings to stay relevant to the committee.

We should be very happy going 3-3 over the next 6. This is a tough stretch of games even in the cupcake ACC:

@ Virginia
@ Duke
FSU
ND
Virginia
@ Clemson

/
 

YlJacket

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We should be very happy going 3-3 over the next 6. This is a tough stretch of games even in the cupcake ACC:

@ Virginia
@ Duke
FSU
ND
Virginia
@ Clemson

/

I agree with you wholeheartedly that it is a rough stretch even in this year's ACC. 3 wins means I am assuming a win over Duke and 4 wins means we knock off Duke and either UVA or FSU. Obviously tall orders. The issue to me is we have to make up for our early sins and in this year's ACC "quality wins" are going to be harder to come by. 3 of the next 6 keeps bubbly as an option. 4 gets us solidly in the discussion. Would love to see 4.
 
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