1/23/2024 MBB vs. Pitt.

awbuzz

awbuzz

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Let's get the W tonight!

Below is from the GTAA -

THE FLATS – Looking for a bounce-back win after dropping a close game Saturday to Virginia, Georgia Tech finishes a two-game homestand at 7 p.m. Tuesday night against Pittsburgh at McCamish Pavilion.

The Yellow Jackets (9-9, 2-5 ACC) has lost three straight ACC games at home to Boston College (95-87), Notre Dame (75-68 in overtime) and Virginia (75-66) since beating Duke (72-68) on Dec. 2. The Yellow Jackets’ other conference win came at Clemson last Tuesday (93-90 in overtime).

Pittsburgh (11-7, 2-5 ACC) had lost four of its last five games before capturing an 80-76 win at Duke Saturday, avenging a 23-point home loss to the Blue Devils in early January. The Panthers also have an 83-70 road win at Louisville to its credit.

Tuesday’s game will be televised live on ESPNU with a live stream available on the ESPN app. Radio coverage is on the Georgia Tech Sports Network by Legends Sports and flagship station 680 the Fan (680 AM/93.7 FM). The Tech broadcast is also available on SiriusXM channel 383 and the SiriusXM app.

THE TIP-OFF

Tech’s five ACC losses have been decided by an average of eight points, only one by double digits. In the last four, the Jackets had leads of 16 points against Boston College, seven vs. Notre Dame, 10 at Duke and 11 vs. Virginia.
Tech has averaged 76.6 points per game and has connected on 47.4 percent of its field goal tries in ACC play, which ranks No. 4 and No. 2, respectively, in those categories.
Tech has the ACC’s fourth-most efficient offense in conference games (109.5 points per 100 possessions according to KenPom.com) and ranks No. 2 in effective field goal percentage in conference games.
Seven Tech players have scored at least 20 points in a game this season - Naithan George, Kyle Sturdivant, Deebo Coleman, Tafara Gapare, Kowacie Reeves, Jr., Baye Ndongo and Miles Kelly. It is only the second time that as many as seven different Yellow Jackets have scored 20-plus in a game during a season (2007-08).
Four Tech players are averaging double figures in ACC play - Miles Kelly (15.9), Baye Ndongo (15.2) and Kowacie Reeves, Jr. (12.6) and Naithan George (10.6). Those three players have combined to hit 49.1 percent of their shots from the floor (144-293) and 39.5 percent from three-point range (58-of-129).
Tech has started two freshmen - Baye Ndongo and point guard Naithan George - in its last 14 games, winning seven of them. The Jackets have not had two freshmen in its regular starting lineup since the 2018-19 season (Michael Devoe, Khalid Moore), and have not had a freshman regularly start at point guard since Jose Alvarado in 2017-18.
Miles Kelly, Tech’s leading scorer in 2022-23 at 14.4 points per game, is Tech’s leading scorer again this season at 15.1 points per game. The junior guard leads three Jackets averaging in double figures with freshman forward Baye Ndongo (12.9 ppg) and junior guard Kowacie Reeves, Jr. (11.9 ppg). Five other Jackets average between 4.5 and 9.3 points per game.
Kelly sits 17 points away from 900 for his career, while Tyzhaun Claude needs 15 to reach the same plateau.
Freshman forward Baye Ndongo has won the ACC’s Rookie of the Week honor three times this season (Dec. 2, Dec. 18, Dec. 26), most for a Yellow Jacket since current NBA star Josh Okogie did so during the 2016-17 season.
Tech’s point guard tandem of Naithan George and Kyle Sturdivant has averaged 7.1 assists per game combined, 9.9 in ACC games. Their assist/turnover ratio is 2.37-to-1 combined overall, 3.45-to-1 in conference games. Both players rank among the nation’s top 51 players in assist rate (assists divided by the field goals made by the player’s teammates while he is on the court) according to KenPom.com.
Tech is 4-6 against Quad 1 and Quad 2 teams this season, with a Quad 1 win over Duke and Quad 2 wins over Mississippi State and Massachusetts. The Jackets have five Quad 1 and five Quad 2 opponents remaining on its schedule. Tech was 3-14 last season against Quad 1/2 foes.


🎟 BUY TICKETS

🏀 GAME PROMOTIONS
• First 500 students receive Georgia Tech hat presented by Union Up

DID YOU KNOW❓
Freshman forward Baye Ndongo made 6-of-7 shots from the floor against Virginia and is converting at a 63.4-percent rate in ACC games.61.2 percent for the season. He ranks No. 2 nationally among freshmen in field goal percentage. Ndongo has scored in double digits in Tech’s last 10 games, averaging 15.2 points and 9.5 rebounds, and has hit on 68.8 percent of his field goals (64-of-93).
 
awbuzz

awbuzz

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"Tech has averaged 76.6 points per game and has connected on 47.4 percent of its field goal tries in ACC play, which ranks No. 4 and No. 2, respectively, in those categories."


So turnovers, reduced rebounding advantage, poor D, etc. appear to be our Achilles heel.
 
AUFC

AUFC

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Every game is a must win but with 4 probable losses in a row coming up, we really need to execute in this one :(

Postseason play is probably a wash at this point. Just hoping to see the team get better and CDS’s vision come more to life. It’d be great to see something click for a guy like Gapare. I’d also like to avoid ACCT Day 1 - I think that’s the goal at this point.
 
slugboy

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More of a general question, but now that we’re in the thick of the season—
  • Who is getting noticeably better?
  • Where are we better as a team?
  • Where have we regressed?
  • What do we need to be a tourney team next season?
 

bucknellbison31

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slugboy said:
More of a general question, but now that we’re in the thick of the season—
  • Who is getting noticeably better?
  • Where are we better as a team?
  • Where have we regressed?
  • What do we need to be a tourney team next season?
Click to expand...
1) Nait and Baye are clearly getting better. Wacie has improved substantially from his final year at UF.
2) Better relative to what? To last year? Or to earlier in the year? If the latter, then the obvious answer is three-point shooting.
3) Again, it depends on what your point of reference is. I don't think we've regressed noticeably in any area from earlier in the season, but individual players have certainly regressed from last year, namely Miles and Deebo. Miles seems to be starting to figure things out, and hopefully that continues. Also, in fairness to Deebo, coming off the bench/reduced minutes may be the main cause for his statistical decline.
4) Three main things:
  • New contributors — we need at least one more experienced scorer out of the portal, and ideally one of the freshmen will contribute to some degree next year.
  • Development — Amaree and Tafara NEED to be able to contribute more next year if we are going to make a run at the tournament. The staff has their work cut out for them with those two.
  • Retention — we need continuity. Ideally, this would mean returning everyone getting minutes except for Kyle and Tyzhaun Claude.
 
OG-T

OG-T

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Up and down season, we’re do for an UP.

Side note: CDS needs to hook Gapare up with the Wide Receivers coach, get Tafara in front of pass catching machine, or have him squeezing a tennis ball - his hands seem noticeably weak on rebounds, opposing teams seem to knock rebounds out of his hands. He has so much potential, but a lot of work needed. Hope he snaps it all together, he and Ndongo could both be 6’10” players that can be threats at all three levels.
 
gte447f

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MtnWasp

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slugboy said:
More of a general question, but now that we’re in the thick of the season—
  • Who is getting noticeably better?
  • Where are we better as a team?
  • Where have we regressed?
  • What do we need to be a tourney team next season?
Click to expand...
1. George is getting better. Everyone else is up and down.
2. Our shot selection is better and we are more fluid in our offensive actions. We are working more efficiently to get open shots. I haven't looked at the stats, but I actually think our turnovers are down. We're not as consistent as we need to be, but we are better given the competition.
3. Rebounding has regressed. We're standing around too much on defense. We're not forcing turnovers so we are not getting out is transition like we were, but I think this latter issue is due to the upgrade in scouting and game prep by opposing coaches.
4. We need another all-around producer at the 4 or 5. Maybe two solid players there. Darrion Sutton will help, but I think we look for a transfer. We need to get way tougher to be a Tournament team.

Now that we are in conference play, the scouting and coaching is more thorough and teams are well aware of tendencies and strengths and pet moves and do a good job of taking those things away. I think it is pretty typical for inexperienced guys (like Ndongo) to struggle in January. But the good ones will have an answer in February.
 
slugboy

slugboy

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bucknellbison31 said:
1) Nait and Baye are clearly getting better. Wacie has improved substantially from his final year at UF.
2) Better relative to what? To last year? Or to earlier in the year? If the latter, then the obvious answer is three-point shooting.
3) Again, it depends on what your point of reference is. I don't think we've regressed noticeably in any area from earlier in the season, but individual players have certainly regressed from last year, namely Miles and Deebo. Miles seems to be starting to figure things out, and hopefully that continues. Also, in fairness to Deebo, coming off the bench/reduced minutes may be the main cause for his statistical decline.
4) Three main things:
  • New contributors — we need at least one more experienced scorer out of the portal, and ideally one of the freshmen will contribute to some degree next year.
  • Development — Amaree and Tafara NEED to be able to contribute more next year if we are going to make a run at the tournament. The staff has their work cut out for them with those two.
  • Retention — we need continuity. Ideally, this would mean returning everyone getting minutes except for Kyle and Tyzhaun Claude.
Click to expand...
I’m interested in improvement during the season. Comparisons to last year with a different squad and a different coach don’t seem that meaningful to me
 
gte447f

gte447f

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AUFC said:
omny.fm

GT Coach Damon Stoudamire Show 1/22/24 - Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

On this week's Damon Stoudamire Show, Coach Stoudamire and Andy Demetra talk last Tuesday's thrilling win against Clemson and the tough loss to Virginia on Saturday night. They also preview Tuesday's home matchup with Pittsburgh.
omny.fm omny.fm

Coaches show from last night
Click to expand...
This is worth the time to listen. Play it on your way to McCamish tonight. I’m only half way through it, but man, does it come through that CDS really knows basketball. Duh, I know he has been a professional player and coach for his entire adult life, but his command of the game still impresses me, especially his player evaluations.
For example, at around the 34 minute mark he alludes to the fact that Deebo Coleman may not have the skills and athleticism to attack defenders off the dribble, but he is adept at recognizing and attacking when he has an advantage over a defender that is late on a close out. There’s a difference, and it’s important that the player knows the difference and knows their own abilities, strengths, and weaknesses.

This is just one example. CDS may not be the most eloquent speaker, but he communicates his knowledge of the game very effectively. The contrast between CDS and Pastner is night and day. I loved Pastner, but you never got any basketball nuggets from him. CDS, on the other hand, is full of them.
 
iceeater1969

iceeater1969

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Who is miles kelly?

He has 0 points and 2 rbs in a lot of minutes

Pitt is grading 3 point line and taking away the 3.
 
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