12/18 - MBB vs. UMBC

[spdrama]

Doryan Onwuchekwa has left the team. Reeves was the only player missing from the game roster inside McCamish tonite. Watched warmups and saw lots of one-on-one between coaches & Ndongo, but didn’t notice DO was missing until the team came back out for the game. A very sudden & surprise development. In CDS’s post game presser he said DO left for personal reasons and he has no info on a return. Final exams were recently completed & this is about the time grades are published so I speculate that academic eligibility might be a factor based on timing. But that’s just a guess.

Puts a hole in next years team as DO was looking like a very promising big for the future. Cole Kirouac & Mustapha Diop have been splitting big man minutes for City Reapers of OTE, but neither is doing anything to turn heads so far this season & Diop is in the 2026 class. Muhamed Sylla is reportedly about to commit very soon, but some elite programs are on his final list of 5. A very tough recruiting war to win.

 

[AUFC]

Doryan Onwuchekwa has left the team. Reeves was the only player missing from the game roster inside McCamish tonite. Watched warmups and saw lots of one-on-one between coaches & Ndongo, but didn’t notice DO was missing until the team came back out for the game. A very sudden & surprise development. In CDS’s post game presser he said DO left for personal reasons and he has no info on a return. Final exams were recently completed & this is about the time grades are published so I speculate that academic eligibility might be a factor based on timing. But that’s just a guess.

Puts a hole in next years team as DO was looking like a very promising big for the future. Cole Kirouac & Mustapha Diop have been splitting big man minutes for City Reapers of OTE, but neither is doing anything to turn heads so far this season & Diop is in the 2026 class. Muhamed Sylla is reportedly about to commit very soon, but some elite programs are on his final list of 5. A very tough recruiting war to win.

Is this a misinterpretation? The announcers mentioned DO was out this evening for personal reasons but I hoped he would be back for Duke. He has flat out left the team? It was pretty clear after a foul committed outside the arc against Northwestern that DO is not in his right mind at the moment, but this is a really devastating loss. He has a ton of potential and I expected him to be a major piece the next few years. Ugh.

Edit: just saw - DO is away from the team but has not left at this point in time. No timetable for his return.

 

[AUFC]

There are a few numbers that pop out to me:

1. I didn’t watch a single second of this game, but 16 3 point attempts feels like a healthy number for this squad. Good balance and glad that they attacked the paint.

2. How in the world are we still so bad at the free throw line? 65.5%?!? Are you actually kidding me?!?

3. One of the things I wanted to know about was if our guards could guard their guards. Don’t know how that specifically went, but the fact that they shot over 50% from the field and 40% from behind the arc tells me we played pretty bad defense. 32 points in the paint for a team that’s widely known to be small isn’t helping either.

4. YAYY ONLY 14 TURNOVERS!!!

5. Did we really just let UMBC beat us by 20 in the fast break points category even though we had 5 blocks and 7 steals?!?!

Again, I haven’t even watched the highlights yet, but this game gives me no reason to expect a sudden turnaround in ACC play. Highly disappointing considering the supposed talent on the squad.

If you went to the game, please feel free to tell me what I missed or misinterpreted.

It was a pretty weird game. We started out disinterested and CDS called a timeout before the first TV break. Then we proceeded to go on a 19-0 run and extended the lead to 20+ at some point early in the 2nd half. Then the team mostly looked disinterested again until the game got close later in the 2nd half. Then they mentally locked in and just imposed the differential in athleticism on UMBC and extended the lead again until the final whistle. Baye pretty much got whatever he wanted (6 ORBs) as I suggested in the initial post of the thread.

Say what you want about the coach's inability for his roster to play a 40 minute game, but it's hard to take much away from this game from a talent or strategy perspective on either side of the ball. UMBC's eFG was what it was in the 2nd half mostly because of the lack of effort.

 

[spdrama]

Is this a misinterpretation? The announcers mentioned DO was out this evening for personal reasons but I hoped he would be back for Duke. He has flat out left the team? It was pretty clear after a foul committed outside the arc against Northwestern that DO is not in his right mind at the moment, but this is a really devastating loss. He has a ton of potential and I expected him to be a major piece the next few years. Ugh.

Edit: just saw - DO is away from the team but has not left at this point in time. No timetable for his return.

Listen to the press conference. I didnt get the impression he has an ailing relative back home & will be gone a few days. Does not sound good. “Away” or “left” he is not there. That’s gone. All that hard work & conditioning goes up in smoke. There is obviously much more to this story & much more that CDS & the team knows and are not ready to share. Until it leaks, we won’t know either. How long away before he is in no condition to return & play?

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Too close, the free-throw parade at the end help us seal the victory.
View attachment 17473

Impressive stats all things considered.

 

[57jacket]

Strange team. At times look like a competitive ACC team, then just collapse and look awful. Weird. I like the increased playing time for Mustaf. Scrappy player.

 

[OG-T]

DO “away”(left) team? No timetable?
What is going on with this squad? CDS keeps talking about mental aspect of game for team … he recently mentioned coaching different going forward (not accepting habits?). Keeps saying he knows how to correct it. This is feeling like it’s starting to unravel before it even raveled.

 

[TampaBuzz]

DO “away”(left) team? No timetable?
What is going on with this squad? CDS keeps talking about mental aspect of game for team … he recently mentioned coaching different going forward (not accepting habits?). Keeps saying he knows how to correct it. This is feeling like it’s starting to unravel before it even raveled.

This is not how Peacone wants to win his bet....

 

[Ramble1885]

with how the season’s gone, a win is a win. And the offense looked much better.

Now… how will we beat Duke? I have no idea. But all we can do is hope and watch.

 

[spdrama]

This might be the GT highlight reel of the season so far.
We can expect the alley-oop to a big like Ndongo or even to great small leaper like 5th year Terry, but sophomore guard Nait George to Freshman guard Jaeden Mustaf is an example of rebuilding & giving new life to a dying program by recruiting tough skilled players. The portal might fill needs, but new players signing up for 1 year gigs don’t always fit or take too long into the season to gel. These two getting ready to take over running the offense. Watching this on a highlight reel is nice. Seeing this happen live in front of you is pretty sweet & brings cheers & smiles.

 

[57jacket]

Georgia Tech breaks skid, beats UMBC

Baye Ndongo scored four points, grabbed two rebounds, dished out two assists and blocked a shot over the final 6:37 of the game, helping to squelch a UMBC spurt .....

www.ajc.com

 

[Connell62]

Listen to the press conference. I didnt get the impression he has an ailing relative back home & will be gone a few days. Does not sound good. “Away” or “left” he is not there. That’s gone. All that hard work & conditioning goes up in smoke. There is obviously much more to this story & much more that CDS & the team knows and are not ready to share. Until it leaks, we won’t know either. How long away before he is in no condition to return & play?

Yeah, it ain't good.. Listening to the post-game, it didn't sound very encouraging that he would return at all.

When asked do you anticipate that he may return, Damon's response was: "I'm not necessarily for sure."

I have no idea what it is related too, so I do not want to speculate, but I wish him the best and hope that he does return.

I felt he has as much upside as of any of the freshmen. Whatever has been going on though I think explains the emergence of Mutombo.

 

[spdrama]

Yeah, it ain't good.. Listening to the post-game, it didn't sound very encouraging that he would return at all.

When asked do you anticipate that he may return, Damon's response was: "I'm not necessarily for sure."

I have no idea what it is related too, so I do not want to speculate, but I wish him the best and hope that he does return.

I felt he has as much upside as of any of the freshmen. Whatever has been going on though I think explains the emergence of Mutombo.

There is also a Nait George/Ryan Mutombo press conference. Ryan explained his absence from the team during pre-season training & practice due to his dad’s passing put him behind in getting game ready. He doesn’t think he is in shape yet and still has work to do especially with his role increasing. Sounds like the initial plan was for him to contribute immediately, but Dikembe’s death impacted that plan, not unlike multiple injuries & newly announced DO issues that have all contributed to the disappointing start to this season.

 

[Peacone36]

This is not how Peacone wants to win his bet....

Wasn’t me, it was the guy with the Calvin and Hobbs profile pic

 

[YlJacket]

No doubt we should have won this one going away. Lot of reasons for frustrations for sure. DO at the top of the list. We pounded the ball inside in the first half and then forgot about that in the second. And more. But there were some things to elicit at least a little bit of positive vibes in the game

We ran several sets beyond just the high ball screen that did seem to get the ball moving more than it has been. The horn set in particular got Obrian 2 open 3 point shots that he nailed. George also hit 3 of 5 from 3 point land which is big. He has to be a threat from there.

We got the young uns some legit minutes. Not just Mustaf who started and played decent but Sutton got 12 minutes. Not ready yet but you can see the potential.

I will say I thought our D was not great but better than the final score indicates. We were going over screens which we haven't consistently done and did a decent job keeping guys in front. We didn't get back on D and gave them 32 fast break points plus they flat out hit multiple shots with defenders in their grill. I am concerned about us getting back as we are not really going to the offensive boards that hard and we should be spaced to have people back on D when the shot goes up. This has to get fixed.

George and Baye are starting to play like we hoped - not there yet though. We have to get Javian back to what he was doing last year to have any real shot going forward.

It was a win. Take it and run. And duck with Duke coming on Saturday.

 

[Connell62]

No doubt we should have won this one going away. Lot of reasons for frustrations for sure. DO at the top of the list. We pounded the ball inside in the first half and then forgot about that in the second. And more. But there were some things to elicit at least a little bit of positive vibes in the game

We ran several sets beyond just the high ball screen that did seem to get the ball moving more than it has been. The horn set in particular got Obrian 2 open 3 point shots that he nailed. George also hit 3 of 5 from 3 point land which is big. He has to be a threat from there.

We got the young uns some legit minutes. Not just Mustaf who started and played decent but Sutton got 12 minutes. Not ready yet but you can see the potential.

I will say I thought our D was not great but better than the final score indicates. We were going over screens which we haven't consistently done and did a decent job keeping guys in front. We didn't get back on D and gave them 32 fast break points plus they flat out hit multiple shots with defenders in their grill. I am concerned about us getting back as we are not really going to the offensive boards that hard and we should be spaced to have people back on D when the shot goes up. This has to get fixed.

George and Baye are starting to play like we hoped - not there yet though. We have to get Javian back to what he was doing last year to have any real shot going forward.

It was a win. Take it and run. And duck with Duke coming on Saturday.

Good post YlJacket... I'm not sure I could agree with you any more. Loved seeing them put Ryan on the post and actually go to him. Damon was spot on that it helps Baye when he is not the only threat in the paint and he doesn't have to get every board. Definitely some moments in the second half that left a little to be desired, but I thought that UMBC played pretty damn well in the second half. They made some really tough shots and 61% on several perimeter shots.

All in all, I was encouraged by the effort, and thought we should have won by a wider margin, but that only matters in Vegas.

 

[alagold]

A bit scary that we can't crush a team as this level when we have a 20 pt lead in 2nd half.Good offense but giving 80+ pts to that team. Good thing we didn't play U.Mass-Lowell.

 

[78pike]

Listen to the press conference. I didnt get the impression he has an ailing relative back home & will be gone a few days. Does not sound good. “Away” or “left” he is not there. That’s gone. All that hard work & conditioning goes up in smoke. There is obviously much more to this story & much more that CDS & the team knows and are not ready to share. Until it leaks, we won’t know either. How long away before he is in no condition to return & play?

I'm only guessing here but there has been talk before by CDS and others that DO will pop off from time to time and wasn't shy about expressing his opinions to his coach and others. After the way he was sat down in the Northwestern game and Mutumbo got the big man minutes for the remainder of that game, it makes me wonder if DO "popped off" about it and stepped over the line. Or maybe as RM worked himself back into playing shape and was getting more first team reps in practice that upset DO. Again just a wild guess from me but you don't just go from being the starter to not being with the team over night for no reason. then again grades might be the reason as someone else pointed out. Regardless, I hope the situation can be resolved.

Another interesting coincidence is this comes right on the heels of Sylla committing to us. Not sure if or why that could be an issue.

 

[SecretAgentBuzz]

Glad to get back in the win column and there were a few encouraging signs in this one. Well done, Jackets. Let's build on this.

What I liked:
-SHOOTING! Yay! Finally, a game where the buckets seemed to fall. UMBC played pretty good defense, but other than the first couple of minutes (and a weird stretch of 4+ minutes in the second half), we shot really well inside and out. I'll take 52% from the field and 50% from 3s every game, thank you. The better shooting was probably related to...
-Better offensive movement. This is the best offensive movement I have seen from this team. They cut, they moved off the ball, they made the extra pass, and they made good entry passes (where we had a huge advantage inside). 24 assists on 32 made baskets is great.
-Mustaf is improving every game and I love the toughness and aggressiveness. He even hit a three. I like him in the starting lineup right now.
-We got a good version of Baye and George had a really good game as well. We have all said it, but these two have to play well for us to win consistently.

What I didn't like:
-Sutton's FT stroke (and some of the other misses). It didn't cost us the game, but 66% at the FT line could be improved.
-Turnovers, especially live ball TOs. 14 TOs and 32 fast break points given up is too many.
-14 ORebs, but only 5 second chance points?
-McCollum is not totally back yet...from what I see. But he is getting there.

We got pushed when they starting making crazy shots, but we held on and won comfortably. Any win is a step in the right direction, but it remains to be seen how much we have improved and will it be enough. FWIW, I'm not worried about DO yet. If he's not back in a week or two, then I will worry. All the speculation seems unnecessary.

Go Jackets! Beat Duke!

 

[stinger78]

There is also a Nait George/Ryan Mutombo press conference. Ryan explained his absence from the team during pre-season training & practice due to his dad’s passing put him behind in getting game ready. He doesn’t think he is in shape yet and still has work to do especially with his role increasing. Sounds like the initial plan was for him to contribute immediately, but Dikembe’s death impacted that plan, not unlike multiple injuries & newly announced DO issues that have all contributed to the disappointing start to this season.

Sad to say, I had forgotten about Mutombo. Very mature young man, it seems. Glad his family is moving past losing their patriarch and he’s getting back into his life pursuits.