Game Thread - @ UNC, 1/4/2020

[Gold1]

It spreads

 

[CuseJacket]

 

[GTbball2016]

When we beat NC State the team went to the Sheetz market (which is a gas station and convenience store chain). The team walked through and got drinks, snacks, etc.

They beat NC and went back to the same gas station "we're back". It's nothing really, just some fun for the kids, they won and they like it as a team which is all that matters.

/

Sheetz is incredible, I would be pumped also to get whatever I wanted from there

 

[Techster]

Few things to keep in mind that bodes well for our ACC run:

1. Alvarado still isn't 100%. You could tell in the second half he was still favoring the ankle a bit. Also, I think he didn't really bring the ball up the court to save him from having to make too many cuts. Dude is tough as nails, and you can tell we just play differently with him in the lineup. He's got bit of NY bravado to his game which I love and our team feeds off of.

2. James Banks still isn't playing his best. We saw glimpses of the Banks from 2018 against UNC, but he's still not the consistent force we were expecting. Funny enough, he's still a 10pts/7rebs/3blks this year, which is about where he was last year. His blocks are actually a little more than last year's pace...however, it just doesn't feel like he's the dominant presence down low like he was in 2018-2019 season.

3. Devoe only scored 4 points, and we won pretty comfortably at a place we haven't won in 10 years. The book is out on Devoe...make his life miserable and GT just might fold. We didn't. Now that we've established we have Alvarado, Moses, Banks and the random bench guy who can contribute (Cole, Parham, Moore)...it's going to much tougher to play us.

4. Moses still hasn't reached his ceiling, and I'm not sure we'll see it for a while. Think about this: Moses isn't really our first or second option but he's probably our most consistent scorer this year. In fact, he's probably our most consistent overall player. Watching him play, I've always felt that if he added a few post moves and gets a mid range jumper down, he can be an All ACC level player. Oh, and if he ever gets his free throws down. I think there's a lot left on the table for Moses to capitalize on.

5. Jordan Usher still hasn't found his groove yet. IMO, he's easily our most athletic and explosive player. He's still shaking off the rust from his redshirt, and feeling his way on where he can contribute. It'll come, and we might be scary good when it happens.

6. Our bench players still have A LOT of upside. Khalid Moore is gonna be REAL good, but right now he just has to get minutes. Evan Cole has always fit in as a role player, but he starting to flash ability of a great 6th and 7th man. Parham is a lot like Usher...still finding his place on this team. He made some great plays against UNC, and he could be a game or two away from the guy we thought we would get when he transferred in. Those three aren't just bodies to eat minutes anymore...they are becoming "plus" type players.

I've always said we could be a top 8 team in the ACC this year. Right now, we're in 6th place. We just put up 96 points on the road in an ACC game without our best scorer hitting double figures. When was the last time we did that? UNC still had a LOT of talent on the court despite not playing with a top 5 draft pick. There was enough talent for them to easily win...they didn't and we embarassed them.

Consistency. If we can get that from our guys, and keep our turnovers low ("only" 13 against UNC), I don't see why we can't stay in the top 6 of the ACC. We can be a REALLY good team if we don't shoot ourselves in the foot like we have been to start the season.

 

[lv20gt]

Let's not get too carried away. Roy was playing without his best two players and scored 56 points on us in the 2nd half. That big lead should not blind us from the reality that we played like our regular selves in the second half. We finished the game with some tough possessions, so we were able to hang on.

This makes no sense. Our regular selves are a slow it down defensive oriented team. The second half was 56-49 UNC. That isn't our regular selves on either end.

Also, to say that we had some tough possessions and were able to hang on is misleading. UNC was never close to winning that game. Yes they came out and cut the lead in half quickly. We responded and pushed the lead back up to as much as 18 with 9 minutes left. They never got it to single digits again and only had it for single digits for about 20 seconds of the second half. We didn't just hang on.

As far as missing their two best players, Anthony is obviously their best player but who are you considering their second? They were missing Manley who was a sub 10mpg player last year, Harris who was playing 12 mpg, and Platek scoring 4 ppg while playing 17 mpg. Even recruiting wise those 3 weren't UNC's top recruits. Manley and Platek were rated significantly below Brooks and Harris was a good freshman recruit but he was a good bit lower rated than Bacot. Am I missing something? I mean the number of injuries hurt them due to the way they want to play and Anthony is a huge loss but I don't think you need to oversell one of their players to make that point.

Yes the injuries take away some of the shine of the win, but it was still a dominating road win in the ACC in a game where they got a career night from one of their players and we got almost nothing from our top scorer. It'd be different it we barely squeeked out a nail biter of a win. A dominant start to finish road win is something to be very excited about.

 

[YlJacket]

I agree but will go more the comment - returned to our normal selves in the second half. That's simply nuts. That second half team is 10-4 maybe 11-3 this year. The first half was about UNC being simply atrocious. The second half was about GT playing very good, high level basketball against an embarrassed and motivated team. I didn't see anything that said we reverted to earlier form.

I didn't think we had a shot unless DeVoe was over 20. I am floored at how well Moses, Banks and even Cole played and arguably were the difference in the game. That game was to put it mildly "loosely called" - both ways. If you were going to rebound you had to bring your hard hat and those guys did. There were guys flying out of the paint all day - especially in the second half. That was mans work. And we broke even on the boards against the top rebounding team in the ACC. That and having less TOs than UNC won the game IMHO. We didn't wilt on either aspect.

One final thought about the second half is we made plays and ran coherent sets. It was admittedly almost totally Jose focused with him making the penetration and pass decisions - but we ran just enough "stuff" to get switches and give Jose driving lanes. And as opposed to earlier this year, when they had shots both Jose and Bubba generally knocked them down. Something we hadn't seen prior.

This team likely isn't beating Duke and will have a couple more WTF losses - but if they can play like they did in the second half they will be at .500 in the ACC and maybe above. It is a lot more possible now than it was a week or so ago.

 

[New Old Guy]

Posted earlier, but THAT performance and Devoe only getting 4 points. And Usher only playing 22 mins (not because of foul trouble either) and Moore (one time starter) only playing 7? Wow. I didn’t see posted anywhere, was Shembari sick or hurt, or DNP CD? With guard foul trouble, surprised he didn’t get a taste.

Shembari has a viral infection and didn’t make the trip.

 

[YlJacket]

It's just what they do after a road win. They treat the players to gas station junk food before taking the trip back home. The players seem to like it. I don't remember which road game started it. I think there is a particular gas station in the triangle area that they hit up when they get a win against one of the NC teams around there. That gas station owner should be a GT fan.

It's a Sheets station that is right by the RDU airport. So any game against UNC/NCSU/Duke they are going to stop there right before they get to the charter. I would not expect the corporate Sheets to go big on GT but it is nice that you never see anything UGA in it.

 

[jbix80]

Let's not get too carried away. Roy was playing without his best two players and scored 56 points on us in the 2nd half. That big lead should not blind us from the reality that we played like our regular selves in the second half. We finished the game with some tough possessions, so we were able to hang on.

If our “regular selves in the second half” is scoring 49 points and shooting around 60%, I’ll take it. I’m carried away!!! Every win on the road in the ACC is a great win. I don’t care who they are or who they have playing on their team. If we had lost, you guys would be dumping all over our boys. Enjoy the win!!!

 

[Gold1]

Could you imagine if we beat Duke? I might cry

 

[alagold]

To make it even more strange--When I saw the score I thought Usher and Devoe had GONE OFF bigtime. but no, it was JA and Moses. It will be interesting to see what happens now.

 

[mstranahan]

some of the best players in the country

That has been true in the past, but this year's team is far from that talent level. Look at the roster absent Cole Anthony. One player ranked as a 5* and in top 75 nationally. (I used Rivals rankings) They have four nice players, but they are a long way from having "best players in the country"

Armando Bacot (5*, #27 nationally)
Garrison Brooks (4*, #123 nationally)
Leaky Black (4*, #81 nationally)
Brandon Robinson (4*, #76 nationally)
Jeremiah Francis (4*, unranked nationally)
Justin Pierce (unranked)
Christian Keeling (unranked)
K J Smith (unranked)

 

[Techster]

That has been true in the past, but this year's team is far from that talent level. Look at the roster absent Cole Anthony. One player ranked as a 5* and in top 75 nationally. (I used Rivals rankings) They have four nice players, but they are a long way from having "best players in the country"

Armando Bacot (5*, #27 nationally)
Garrison Brooks (4*, #123 nationally)
Leaky Black (4*, #81 nationally)
Brandon Robinson (4*, #76 nationally)
Jeremiah Francis (4*, unranked nationally)
Justin Pierce (unranked)
Christian Keeling (unranked)
K J Smith (unranked)

Now compare that to the players we put on the floor...on the road...

 

[Deleted member 2897]

Now compare that to the players we put on the floor...on the road...

Exactly 4 4-stars and 1 5-star. Womp Womp.

 

[lv20gt]

That has been true in the past, but this year's team is far from that talent level. Look at the roster absent Cole Anthony. One player ranked as a 5* and in top 75 nationally. (I used Rivals rankings) They have four nice players, but they are a long way from having "best players in the country"

Armando Bacot (5*, #27 nationally)
Garrison Brooks (4*, #123 nationally)
Leaky Black (4*, #81 nationally)
Brandon Robinson (4*, #76 nationally)
Jeremiah Francis (4*, unranked nationally)
Justin Pierce (unranked)
Christian Keeling (unranked)
K J Smith (unranked)

You just listed a starting 5 all 4*s or better and two high profile senior transfers. 4 of those are upperclassmen with Black being a sophomore. That is not elite in the country level talent, but that is still a high level of talent for a a top 7.

 

[dtm1997]

That has been true in the past, but this year's team is far from that talent level. Look at the roster absent Cole Anthony. One player ranked as a 5* and in top 75 nationally. (I used Rivals rankings) They have four nice players, but they are a long way from having "best players in the country"

Armando Bacot (5*, #27 nationally)
Garrison Brooks (4*, #123 nationally)
Leaky Black (4*, #81 nationally)
Brandon Robinson (4*, #76 nationally)
Jeremiah Francis (4*, unranked nationally)
Justin Pierce (unranked)
Christian Keeling (unranked)
K J Smith (unranked)

4 of which we recruited and another we at least kicked the tires on.

 

[kg01]

Exactly 4 4-stars and 1 5-star. Womp Womp.

Awwww, UNC had to play without a decided talent advantage. Awwwwwwww

 

[Buzzbomb]

Reflecting on the game last night....it was obvious the guys played hard, and a good game plan was put together. Coaches didn’t get in the way during the couple of small UNC runs in the second half, and still saved our timeouts if the game got closer.

Wish we fronted Garrison Brooks a little more often, but the defense didn’t need to be as tight as we’re going to need against this next stretch of teams.

 

[vadimivich]

That has been true in the past, but this year's team is far from that talent level. Look at the roster absent Cole Anthony. One player ranked as a 5* and in top 75 nationally. (I used Rivals rankings) They have four nice players, but they are a long way from having "best players in the country"

Armando Bacot (5*, #27 nationally)
Garrison Brooks (4*, #123 nationally)
Leaky Black (4*, #81 nationally)
Brandon Robinson (4*, #76 nationally)
Jeremiah Francis (4*, unranked nationally)
Justin Pierce (unranked)
Christian Keeling (unranked)
K J Smith (unranked)

Devoe, Alvarado and Wright would be for sure starters on this current version of UNC. Strange thing to say in recent years, that's for sure.

 

[New Old Guy]

It is really great to read the positive comments and the expressions of support. Winning is wonderful, and it cures a lot of ills. Last night should provide some momentum and a shot of confidence for our guys. Now, can we build on the UNC victory?

I was lucky enough to attend the Kentucky game, and I was at the Dean Dome last night. Both crowds were incredibly loud, and gave their home teams a decided boost. For example, I believe the Refs were influenced last night during the second half UNC mini-runs. Our guys were absolutely mugged at times as Carolina tried to trap, with no whistle to be heard.

So, finally to my point. I have been a MBB season ticket holder for many years, and McCamish can get loud. But I aspire for our crowds to resemble those at UK and UNC. I know it is hard to be enthusiastic and supportive after we get blown out by Syracuse and lose to Ball State. But I think our team is at a kind of inflection point, and with the right level of vocal fan support we might yet turn this into a special season.

I will be there Wednesday for Duke, and for every remaining home game. As always I intend to be very loud and generous with my advice re bad officiating, at least bad from a GT perspective. I hope some of you, along with a great throng of others, will also be there to give our guys the boost they need to keep these positive feelings going!