11/6 - MBB vs. Georgia Southern

bucknellbison31

Jolly Good Fellow
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220
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Pittsburgh, PA
Had I wrote this post at halftime, I would've said we're in for a LOOOOOOOOOONG season. The last 12 or so minutes of the second half were awesome. Our talent really shone through. This is easily the deepest roster we've had at Tech in years, and we were without Lance and Ndongo today. This team will go through growing pains, but there's lots to be excited about!
 

GTBandit22

Helluva Engineer
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1,249
I really like 12. Reminds me of Jeremis Smith.
5 is a good player, will be a force on blocking shots.
14 is a heck of an athlete, and stroked a couple of threes as well.
After trying a bunch of different combos, having Kelly, Deebo, and Sturdivant was the trio we rode to the big lead.

Way to pull away from an overmatched squad. Keep gelling.
 

AUFC

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Atlanta
Attendance: 3,414.

YIKES. THE WOMEN HAD MORE OF A CROWD THAN THE MEN TODAY.
Crowd and student section was definitely pitiful today. We have maybe the best football student section and the worst basketball student section. I don't know what it'll take to get them making some noise on defense. Win and they will come I guess.
 

Ramblingon

Ramblin' Wreck
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562
We need a big man and I hope it's Ndongo. Otherwise I watched this on ESPN+ and it was a well matched gamed until Kelly and Coleman started hitting big time. Sturdivant is the man to be at the point for now. Claude is doing what we hoped from him...wish he was taller. We were missing Ndongo and Terry so we will get better.
 

Techster

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18,189
Man, we are quick and athletic. Our guys can close space QUICK.

This team could have easily scored 100 points tonight. We left some easy points on floor. Free throw shooting was terrible (17-27), Miles/Abrams/Reeves/Claude all missed easy layups in the 1st half...

...then we just poured on it on GSU. I mean, we just got a glimpse of how explosive this team can be. Grant it, it's GSU, but you have to like how this team looks in the first game.

A few of us touched on it, but this team has multiple guys who can score in double figures. Tonight, it was Kelly (25 pts), Reeves (15 pts), Claude (10 pts), Coleman (17 pts). Sturdivant was close with 8pts...IMO, Sturdivant played a heck of a game. He settled us down, moved the ball to the right guys, and facilitated the offense. 6 assists versus 1 TO. Picked his spots to shoot. He's a calming presence, and we're seeing the maturation of pure PG. He doesn't need to score to make an impact, but he can definitely score if he needs to. At the end of the day, this team has a REALLY high ceiling in terms of scoring potential. Oh, and Lance Terry was left on the bench tonight from a lingering injury.

Kelly had a horrible first half (as did most of the team), but that second half is the Kelly we saw last season. I kinda forgot how explosive he can be in terms of getting buckets in a hurry.

I think we saw the "freedom" aspect of Stoudamire's system. All throughout the game we saw guys breaking down the defender off the dribble. Kelly and Abrams did it early in the first half, but couldn't finish.

Obviously we need to temper our enthusiasm because we just don't know how good GA Southern is, but the early returns on this team is we have parts to be a VERY dangerous team...oh, and it was pretty fun to watch once everyone started to settle down and the shots started to fall in.

I think our first test won't come until 11/22 against Cincy. Hopefully, once that game rolls around, GT will have gelled and the team will feel more comfortable playing with each other. Lots of new faces and in a new system. That said...heck of way to start the season!
 

Techwood Relict

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1,369
Dude it’s Monday we got lab reports due tomorrow.
I'd put in a word from the 9-5 meme girl, but this seems more age appropriate for most of us here....

Jerry Seinfeld Popcorn GIF by Sheets & Giggles
 

lv20gt

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5,578
Don't want to read too much into one game, especially the first one and against a team with not a lot of expectations.

First 30 minutes had a lot of issues but outscored them 32-12 the last 10. Did we just wear them down or did things start to click? Which is more indicative of the team going forward? Can't really say at this point.

Really wondering why Kyle didn't start as he's clearly our best PG in terms of running the team right now and with the rest of our back court we aren't in a super need for slightly better scoring from that position. While we have a lot of new faces, we still return a core in the back court with a lot of experience and experience playing together. Feels like we should lean on that dynamic early in the season as we get the new faces acclimated.

Also, I have to assume Gapare started in place of Ndongo and we just wanted to keep a similar dynamic, because while he has a lot of potential, his time at UMass was less than impressive and 1-6 for 2 points and 1 reb isn't going to cut it. Maybe we feel his defense is that helpful, but he'll have to also rebound significantly better for that to be useful.

Overall, I think we saw a good bit of both the potential good and potential bad on this team. The back court is really well set up with experience, talent, and depth. When they are on they can play with anyone. But we certainly have some issues in the front court that will need to be addressed. Two more tune up games and then a stretch of Cinci, Ole Miss, Duke, and UGA.
 

JacketOff

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2,931
Started the game looking like wouldn’t win a single game all year.

Ended the game looking like we’ll contend for the ACC title.

I suspect the end result will be somewhere in the middle, but it did give me confidence we made a solid hire, especially for what we’re paying him.
 
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