1/6/2018 - Yale @ GT

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Georgia Tech vs Yale

In his last two games, Brandon Alston has dished out 6 assists with just one turnover in 29 min per game (photo courtesy of USA Today)

After a thrilling victory in Georgia Tech’s ACC home opener against Miami, the Jackets are set to face the Yale Bulldogs out of the Ivy League at McCamish Pavilion Saturday night. If you were excited for the Nerd Bowl vs Northwestern, I think we have raised the bar! Yale is 7-8 overall this year with key losses to Creighton, Wisconsin, and TCU but are coming off a win over Kennesaw State, 89-74.

Coaching the real Bulldogs (roll tide!) in his 19th season is James Jones. He was the Ivy League Coach of the Year back-to-back in ’15 and ’16 and is the winningest coach in school history. In 2016 Yale made it to the NCAA Tournament but sadly lost to Duke in the second round 64-71. With only two seniors on the roster, Yale is depending on some young but talented players to get the job done while continuing to develop.

The main youngster for Yale is the 6’7” sophomore out of Porter Ranch, California #24, Miye Oyi. Coming into this match-up Oyi is averaging 17.2 points per game and is shooting 35% from behind the arc. He has no problem putting shots up and is either on fire or less accurate than Jacob Eason trying to find the open receiver. Against Albany he was 2 for 10 from three and has gone 1 for 6 multiple times, but then goes 4 for 7 against TCU. If Tech can make him shoot tough shots early, it could cause him to not find his rhythm at all or ideally when it’s too late.

Another young talent for the Bulldogs is the 6’10” freshman out of West Palm Beach #20, Paul Atkinson. Most of the shots he takes are high IQ plays (big shock, right?) and his field goal percentage reflects that at 71.3%. Atkinson is coming off a 20-point game against Kennesaw State but like most freshman, he sometimes disappears and has long scoring droughts. Defensively, he plays longer than he is and has a nice wingspan that gives him the ability to affect shots or even block them. This leaves me questioning why he only has 4.7 rebounds per game. He has the tools to make it happen on the glass, so for him it is about continuing to learn the game on the collegiate level and putting a whole game together…hopefully right after Ben Lammers drops a 30 piece on him.

One of the few upperclassmen for Coach Jones is 6’7” junior #32, Blake Reynolds. He was second on the team last year in made three pointers but is only shooting 29% this year while averaging 11.3 points per game. Like Oyi, he is really hit or miss. Against Bryant University he was 4 for 5 from three but turned around next game against TCU and went 0 for 8 on three pointers and 0 for 10 from the field. Don’t get me wrong though, he can still shoot the ball, especially from the free throw line. He has only missed three free throws this entire year and should really try to get there more often. Georgia Tech just has to put pressure on him right off that bat and force bad shot attempts. If his shots fall, give credit, and then clamp down next possession.

Prediction: Georgia Tech should control this game from the start but that remains to be seen. I expect Jose Alvarado to build off of the best 7 turnover game I have ever seen and play well again. Yale does not have anyone in the back court that can control Jose or Jackson. This is another game where Tadric and Okogie should get in the lane whenever they want, and if Atkinson goes up to block the shot, drop it off to Gueye or Lammers for the dunk (grab the ball with two hands AD!). Based on patterns from the past we will play down to the competition and let them hang in all game…I say, nah, time to put a whole game together. Tech by 12.

 
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YlJacket

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CBG played 9 minutes in 2 sessions. Much ado about nothing. He got his feet wet against a team that shouldn't be real competition and he gets to see how his leg feels prior to ACC competition.
 

RamblinRed

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Curt played briefly in the first half and got extended min late after the game was in hand.
When they put him in the second half it was clear they were going to try to get him a shot. They kept sending him to the corner but the ball never got rotated back to him.
it was fairly amusing with about 2 min to play Curt had the ball in his hands and you could hear him yelling all the way in the upper deck for his teammates to move without the ball.

Yale scored the last 8 pts of the game.

AD played very well tonight. There are times he needs to simply make a quick move and shoot rather than pump and think, but there are times he looks like a really solid player out there. i do see him as the likely starter at 5 next season. He is developing enough where he will have to at least be guarded there.

We are already starting to see a difference in how the team plays. They are not playing nearly as much through Ben as they did last year.
 

kg01

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Best I've ever seen AD play. Patient, under control. More like this please, AD.

Josh 'n Kobe is so dangerous. Let's the game come to him but, when he decides to impact the game, watch out!

Glad the Jackets put together a solid performance for kg03's first ever time in the building. We walked past one of the buildings and I pointed out a lab. He said, "Guess that's where I'll be doing my work, huh dad?"

:smuggrin:

I almost teared up a lil bit. Had to fight it back. Wouldn'tve been able to explain the ice cube on my face. It was colder'n a sumb*tch today, wasn't it?
 

FightWinDrink

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Took my Maryland alum dad to the game tonight. Said he wished they had a coach that actually looked interested in the game and tried coaching like Josh instead of Turgeon who he said spends more time sitting down or facing away from the court than anything else :ROFLMAO:

He was also impressed with the arena. said you could actually see the game instead of sitting a mile away like at the Xfinity Center
 

awbuzz

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One of the if not the best game I have seen from AD (AG). He's seemed more confident last two games. Hope it continues. Granted he doesn't need to be lofting 3s on a regular basis though.
 

Ramblingon

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A tip of the hat to Mr. Alvarado, Mr. Gueye, and Mr. Okogie. Excellent play. Let's see more of the same. Nice to see Haywood.
 

RyanS12

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I don’t know what it is, and maybe I’m seeing something that’s not there but the chemistry with this team looks off most of the time. Like tonight when JO basically blew CJP off when he was trying to talk to him. I can’t quite put my finger on it but it seems like it takes this group a while for them to get enthused to be in the game.
 

okiemon

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One of the if not the best game I have seen from AD (AG). He's seemed more confident last two games. Hope it continues. Granted he doesn't need to be lofting 3s on a regular basis though.

I agree. It’s still an adventure when he gets the ball on offense; you never know if he’s going to travel, throw the ball away, pump fake and get it stolen, or score. But he’s improving game by game.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

Peacone36

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I’m glad we won, by god damn our perimeter defense is terrible. That extended 1-3-1 really leaves those corners open for snipers. I think they made 8-10 triples but they had to have had 13-15 really clean looks. That’s a problem.
 

MWBATL

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A few comments.....
  1. Watching the backups in the last two m8nutes makes it abundantly clear why we have been sticking to a 6 man rotation. We simply have no depth right now...
  2. Great to see Haywood back on the floor, even if just to start knocking some of the rust off. He’ll be #7 for us, which should help
  3. I still hate to see Lammers shooting 12 footers (and beyond). I was excited to see him hit the offensive boards and get some put back points. That’s where I want to h8m and AD all the time....low block and in close
  4. Alvarado has ice in his veins. Makes very good decisions for a freshman. His three point shooting helped immensely
  5. Agree with the comment above that we give up a TON of open three point looks. This will cost us some games (Wofford anyone?) To my untrained eye it looks more like how we are coached to run that defense than poor effort
  6. AD was much more effective in the first half, I thought. In the second half (fatigue maybe?) he seemed to revert a bit with more poor shots and TO on offense. He played lights out in the first half though!
  7. The fact that we we behind after 15 minutes against another poor team and were yielding over 50% shooting....worries me about this team and shows we can lose to anyone
  8. The fact that we then roared back and led by over 20 with 3 minutes left gives me hope for the future that we can play really good basketball
  9. That through the legs backpass by Alvarado to Okogie for the windmill dunk was just.......amazing!
 

YJMD

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Lammers is a great mid-range shooter, though. Just doesn't have 3 point range.

I agree with the defensive style, though. We should mix in more man. Also, teams are either cued into how to keep Lammers from being the help defender in the post or his rust/injury is really showing in that department.
 

dtm1997

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A few comments.....
  1. Watching the backups in the last two m8nutes makes it abundantly clear why we have been sticking to a 6 man rotation. We simply have no depth right now...
  2. Great to see Haywood back on the floor, even if just to start knocking some of the rust off. He’ll be #7 for us, which should help
  3. I still hate to see Lammers shooting 12 footers (and beyond). I was excited to see him hit the offensive boards and get some put back points. That’s where I want to h8m and AD all the time....low block and in close
  4. Alvarado has ice in his veins. Makes very good decisions for a freshman. His three point shooting helped immensely
  5. Agree with the comment above that we give up a TON of open three point looks. This will cost us some games (Wofford anyone?) To my untrained eye it looks more like how we are coached to run that defense than poor effort
  6. AD was much more effective in the first half, I thought. In the second half (fatigue maybe?) he seemed to revert a bit with more poor shots and TO on offense. He played lights out in the first half though!
  7. The fact that we we behind after 15 minutes against another poor team and were yielding over 50% shooting....worries me about this team and shows we can lose to anyone
  8. The fact that we then roared back and led by over 20 with 3 minutes left gives me hope for the future that we can play really good basketball
  9. That through the legs backpass by Alvarado to Okogie for the windmill dunk was just.......amazing!
Between the way they played & the way they're recruiting, hard to call Yale and certain other Ivy League teams poor teams. If that team ends up the Ivy League winner, they could upset a team in March.

Some of our losses have been to subpar teams, but when a mid major is good, like Wofford or Yale, let's not judge the book by its cover.
 

MWBATL

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Between the way they played & the way they're recruiting, hard to call Yale and certain other Ivy League teams poor teams. If that team ends up the Ivy League winner, they could upset a team in March.

Some of our losses have been to subpar teams, but when a mid major is good, like Wofford or Yale, let's not judge the book by its cover.
I was reacting to the fact they have lost their two best players off their roster this year to injury. Otherwise, I am in violent agreement with you.
 

Jacket Forever

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CGB played. Pastner had a smokescreen.
Not to be purposely impertinent but why does it even matter what CJP said about a player’s ‘health and likely playing status before a game? Coaches change their minds based upon the ebb and flow of games and game situations. Or am I missing something?
 

dtm1997

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I was reacting to the fact they have lost their two best players off their roster this year to injury. Otherwise, I am in violent agreement with you.
I know what the announcers were saying, but if that Oni kid wasn't one of their two best players, then I think we'd be at risk to lose big time if their two best players had played. Oni could go.
 

Connell62

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Between the way they played & the way they're recruiting, hard to call Yale and certain other Ivy League teams poor teams. If that team ends up the Ivy League winner, they could upset a team in March.

Some of our losses have been to subpar teams, but when a mid major is good, like Wofford or Yale, let's not judge the book by its cover.

Not to mention, we were coming off of an emotional win against Miami, no surprise they came out flat in the first half. I totally expected that to be honest.
 

dtm1997

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Not to be purposely impertinent but why does it even matter what CJP said about a player’s ‘health and likely playing status before a game? Coaches change their minds based upon the ebb and flow of games and game situations. Or am I missing something?
Curtis was expected not expected to be back yesterday. Pre-game, he was deemed day by day and had just been cleared for running in practice without sprinting.
 

YlJacket

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Had not heard the "couldn't sprint" part which does confuse things a bit - but still not sure why the consternation over CJP being conservative about Haywood's playing status. Take it as an upside that he got 7 min of run to test the leg and get back in the flow of things. Means he may be able to play 20 min against ND which would be huge.

FWIW, corner 3's are the bain of any 1-3-1 zone. Plus simply overloading the baseline like Pitt did to us last year. Rotating to the corner takes a lot of energy from both the wing and Lammers underneath.

I wasn't a huge fan of playing Lammers at the 4 on offense but GT got 24 and 17 from AD and Lammers yesterday. At least for Yale we definitely got more out of AD than we lost from Lammers. Whether ND will guard Lammers on the perimeter the way Yale did will be interesting to see. I could see them making Lammers make a couple of 18 footers before they worry about him.
 
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