App State Game Thread

[dtm1997]

Game preview is up on Ramblin Wreck.


http://www.ramblinwreck.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/121214aac.html

Hopefully, the USC-Upstate game lights a fire under them as they've got nothing to worry about except for hoops & family for the next few weeks.

To the extent anyone is interested, my game tickets are available for Monday's game. Shoot me a PM if you'd like to use them. Gratis, of course, and first come, first served.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Given how cheap the seats are for this game I have convinced a group of 5 friends to join me for the game. The Pavilion is a great place to see a basketball game. I could not care less how many games the team will end up winning this year or if Gregory is going to end up fired at the end or not.

It is a chance to go see and root for Tech athletes playing a fun game to watch in a great venue and support the program, which is going to still be there long after Gregory anyway. Results will determine his fate but I am glad to have a chance to see another game and that it is affordable enough to convince a bunch of friends to make it a reason to hang out.

 

[dtm1997]

Last call for using my tickets. Drop me a PM if you're interested.

 

[ASURAMS07]

I'm hoping for a good turn around game tonight. Hope the team doesn't play down to the competition and plays with energy all four quarters. USC-Upstate should have shown them what can happen when they take teams lightly.

 

[Connell62]

I really wish I could go, but having a year and half old makes the week night games especially difficult..(Thank God for WatchESPN App & Chromecast)...I'm anxious to see how we rebound from Upstate. Like everyone else, I expect to see us come out tonight will a lot more energy and focus. Frankly, if we don't see another gear tonight, I will be concerned about the coming weeks.

One part of the game I will be watching closest is how well do we take care of the ball? Not just the guards, but our guys in the paint. Their ability to effectively handle the ball is a big part of our offense. It no coincidence that as our offense went into the toilet that our turnovers shot through the roof. They have been killing us as of late, and you know that they have been a focus in practice.

Looking forward to a big effort from our guys tonight!

 

[awbuzz]

Watching via ESPN3 in OKC Hotel...

 

[awbuzz]

A lot easier to watch on the road when we win when we're supposed too!

App St 57 - GT 70

 

[alaguy]

Well, it was much better than it has been.App st is not a good team and we should beat them by 20 pts.If MGH had not had a strong first half with a BUNCH of FTs we would have struggled again.Good def effort though.

The flat fact is we have very little good shooting.MGH is a non-3 pt scorer(0-3 on open 3s to start 2nd half).Couple that with bad FT shooting by most and it is hard to win even with good def and decent passing/few TOs.
Sampson finally put a good game together.
On newcomersLammers looked good overall. he needs a 12 ftshot.TadricJ is a shot machine. Now if he becomes a scoring machine, this team has a chance to be ok.

 

[dtm1997]

I've had a wonky connection between commuting & getting settled at home, but appears we've had some pluses & minuses as usual.

• Robert Sampson appears to be our best defender with the highest energy.
• Lammers isn't ready for primetime, but the flashes are certainly there that he's got a chance to develop nicely.
• Bolden & Jackson have been nice bench sparkplugs and when he was with the bench players, Travis appeared to play very nicely.
• Also, Travis appears to be playing in to defensive shape.
• I've still got concerns about Q playing defense on the perimeter.
• Except for the 1st few plays, I didn't see much of MGH's play, but man he's prone to those charges.
• Effort looked better overall, although we opened with more lackadaisical passing.
• Shooting %ages were about where they've been. Still terrible from 3, although a few of those shots were good looks and not rushed.
• Pretty good job setting up teammates... 14 assists on 25 makes.
• Came in under the TO average.
• I did like the way we put some slowdown pressure on after makes.

Certainly not a great performance, but solid bounce back after the USC-U letdown and good way to start the week ahead of practices & the Vandy game on Saturday.

Always happy to get a win.

 

[awbuzz]

Passing has been an issue so far this year. Something needs to click to make not only b etter passes but also "go to" the ball. Need to quit waiting for the b all and allowing the D to tap away passes that aren't crisp.

 

[dtm1997]

BG's post-game radio interview

 

[Peacone36]

Nice first half by MGH
Nice game for Sampson
Lammers reminds of Miller so much its scary.
Nice to see Heyward get some mins.

 

[RamblinRed]

Solid game. Nothing to get excited about. But nothing to get upset about either. Was about the game I expected.
Jorgenson looked better physically then he had recently.

The Vanderbilt game is going to be interesting. In some ways a bad matchup for us. They have the athletic, talented center in Jones (avg 17, 7.5), a tall (7') stretch 4 in Cornet who is a strong 3-pt shooter (15-26 on season). And then almost their entire perimeter rotation is FR who are frankly playing extremely well.
As a team they shoot over 50% from the field and over 40% from the foul line. They have 4 guys shooting at least 35% from 3.

Looking at their games, in their 2 losses their 2 bigs had strong games but their FR guards did not shoot well. That would seem to suggest that you may want to play the bigs straight up and really try to stay on their guards.

Given how Vandy plays i think we might see alot of Sampson this weekend. He is by far our best big at defending, especially in space.

This will be Vandy's first true road game.

 

[Connell62]

BG's post-game radio interview

Thanks for adding..

I liked his comments about Tadric. He is getting clean looks and he is capable of making them, but man, he has to start making a few of them. Last night, he got several wide open looks. Nice vote of confidence by BG in the freshman though.

I think that we played with a sense of purpose last night, all the way up until we emptied the bench (which cost me the cover). Like P said above, nice first half by MGH, but he seemed to disappear in the second half. We're gonna need a complete game from him to win against better teams.

 

[MWBATL]

This will be Vandy's first true road game.

But will we have enough people in the Pavilion to make it a "true road game"?

 

[Connell62]

Great question..I would say no, but I cannot talk smack because I'm not going to be able to make it either.