2023 Holiday Break - GT in the Diamond Head Classic

57jacket

Helluva Engineer
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1,588
Good game. We could have won but for the missed 3s. Kelly just hasn't recovered his shot. He hits 2 of those and we win. his shot will come. But good effort against a very good Nevada team.(11-1) We're getting better every game, tho not in a straight ine.LOL
 

Techster

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18,392
At some point we need to have a discussion about Miles Kelly. He's only shot over 40% overall twice this season. Once against GA Southern to start the season, and against Hawaii on Friday. This season he's shooting just over 33% overall, and 23.6% from 3. Both easily the worst of his 3 years at GT. On average he's taking just over 14 shots a game. He's become a high volume shooter with lower percentage returns. Up till now, we've had multiple other players step up to compensate, but tonight that never really happened outside of Ndongo.

This game was a very winnable. Outside of Ndongo, everyone picked a bad time to have a mediocre to bad night. We took 26 shots from 3, and only made 6. We make 3 more shots from 3 and this game takes on a different complexion. Reeves, who has been our best overall player this year, had an OK night. We need him to play better than OK, especially with Miles's season slump.

Sturdivant and Coleman need to be more consistent. They are ACC caliber players, but sometimes they disappear for stretches or just don't show up. We also need more consistency out of our big guys not named Ndongo.

This wasn't a bad loss, it was just a missed opportunity. We were on a good winning streak, and winning against a good team in the finals could have put some more wind in our sails. I don't want to be too hard on this team for this game, but we had an opportunity to make a statement tonight and we fell short.

Overall, I'm happy with the performance of this team in this tournament. Flying halfway across the world, playing 3 games in 4 nights is a lot to ask. Hopefully we bounce back and go on another winning streak.
 

1979jacket

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
653
I haven’t seen a game like Blackshear has played in a long time. They iso’d him every stinking time and we couldn’t stop him. So frustrating!

Free throws down the stretch really hurt. Ndongo is a beast, but his foul trouble hurt us some tonight. They seemed to go on little runs every time he went out. Kelly’s shot is broken right now. He got great looks tonight, but can’t make it for some reason, even at the free throw line.

Great tournament run. Could have won that thing. I’m excited for conference play.
Blackshear - and not complaining about coaching but would like to have seen what we could have done with him if we could have let him drive into Ndonga with no fouls - couldn't do that due to foul trouble - or see what Gapare could do with him. I was happy with how we played.
 

GaTech4ever

Helluva Engineer
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1,562
I thought this game we’d really impose our supposedly deeper bench, but we only played 8 guys and Nevada played 9.
I was a little confused as to why we didn’t go back to Sturdivant late in the second half when we were desperate for points. He would have been the freshest player on the court, he had already given us a scoring punch, and George faded late. I thought it would have been the perfect time to have Sturdivant finish the game, but CDS knows what he’s doing.
 

GaTech4ever

Helluva Engineer
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1,562
That’s what my son kept saying. I think he can be a liability on offense at times though.
Gapare is a liability on both ends, but we’re just good enough (and/or haven’t played teams good enough when he’s played) to not lose because of him.

I’m fine with it because his potential is worth these rough minutes, and his talent is also good enough to win us a game every now and then. But I see no way he wouldn’t have gotten called for a foul every time down guarding Blackshear.
 

OG-T

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
335
Our two FR are joys to watch. Their quiet confidence at this stage is inspiring. Mikes Kelly OTOH, wow, and he waited til last day to pull his name from draft. I hope he personally turns season around, but the NBA? Really. That’s a laughable thought at this point. He can’t take avg college guys, and his shooting % is awful. I hope the kid comes around, but his ceiling may be Euro ball at best. His offense is ugly to watch, and confidence; every shot looks like he’s hoping it goes in.
Even with all this, the team has potential to be scary for anyone. Collectively, I like these guys, but since CDS has proclaimed Kelly the MAN, Kelly needs to correct his S if we want to stand a chance for dance.
 

Northeast Stinger

Helluva Engineer
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11,174
At some point we need to have a discussion about Miles Kelly. He's only shot over 40% overall twice this season. Once against GA Southern to start the season, and against Hawaii on Friday. This season he's shooting just over 33% overall, and 23.6% from 3. Both easily the worst of his 3 years at GT. On average he's taking just over 14 shots a game. He's become a high volume shooter with lower percentage returns. Up till now, we've had multiple other players step up to compensate, but tonight that never really happened outside of Ndongo.

This game was a very winnable. Outside of Ndongo, everyone picked a bad time to have a mediocre to bad night. We took 26 shots from 3, and only made 6. We make 3 more shots from 3 and this game takes on a different complexion. Reeves, who has been our best overall player this year, had an OK night. We need him to play better than OK, especially with Miles's season slump.

Sturdivant and Coleman need to be more consistent. They are ACC caliber players, but sometimes they disappear for stretches or just don't show up. We also need more consistency out of our big guys not named Ndongo.

This wasn't a bad loss, it was just a missed opportunity. We were on a good winning streak, and winning against a good team in the finals could have put some more wind in our sails. I don't want to be too hard on this team for this game, but we had an opportunity to make a statement tonight and we fell short.

Overall, I'm happy with the performance of this team in this tournament. Flying halfway across the world, playing 3 games in 4 nights is a lot to ask. Hopefully we bounce back and go on another winning streak.
I think Stoudamire will be gentle with them because of their overall effort this tournament but he could remind them that if you play in the NBA having a lot of travel and playing a lot of games each week can be a regular thing.
 

Techster

Helluva Engineer
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18,392
FTR, the "conversation" about Kelly, it's not that he's turned into a bad player, or that he's even taking bad shots. He's playing good defense, and he's one of our best rebounders. The reality is his shots are not falling like they were in the past. IMO, I think he's pressing a bit and he's probably in his own head. Obviously, Stoudamire still has confidence in Kelly or else he wouldn't be playing the minutes he's gotten.

So how do we get the Kelly of 2022? That's the money question for Kelly and Stoudamire.
 

awbuzz

Helluva Manager
Staff member
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3rd game in 4 days on a 6 hour time change and it looked like it. Tired legs miss free throws
... True, but Nevada had the same number of games in 4 days and a 4 hour time change. But after being there basically a week the time change difference should have been negligible/non-factor.
 
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