Game Thread - UVA, 1/18/2020

[MWBATL]

Simply unwatchable. My wife tries to get me to watch with her as she wants to see them play, and it just puts me in a bad mood to see such sloppy offense and the terrible number of turnovers.

 

[GTbball2016]

Ridiculous how many games this year we’ve had huge droughts from about the 8 minute mark remaining of the game until the 2 minute mark. Just an inconsistent, bad offense.

 

[bke1984]

Don’t worry. If we win the rest of our games we will still make the tournament.

 

[bke1984]

This is ridiculous. A win on the road in conference is an accomplishment no matter what.

Fair enough. Wins at home are pretty important too though.

 

[GTbball2016]

Yet to win an ACC game against a team not missing two of its best players. This team is bad and Pastner needs to go. God help us when Alvarado and Wright can transfer without penalty after the season.

 

[SteamWhistle]

Please someone explain how Usher is better for our team then Khalid.

 

[GTbball2016]

Please someone explain how Usher is better for our team then Khalid.

What has Moore done this year to warrant more playing time? With how prominent transferring is these days, I think we all see what’s coming.

 

[sidewalkGTfan]

61% shooting, 13 turnovers. When his team cleans up their carelessness, it will start seeing the wins.

They’re not gonna clean up their issues. At this point in the season, it’s who they are. They will continue to turn over the ball a lot. They will continue to not shoot the 3 well or enough. They will continue to have a crazy short bench.

At least we are playing better with our full roster, whatever that means, as the losses rack up.

 

[SteamWhistle]

What has Moore done this year to warrant more playing time?

Moore is a better defender and plays an actual roll on the team and can hit the corner 3 when left open. Usher is shooting under 20% from deep last time I checked, and is a walking turnover. What Moore did last year was more then enough for him to be a returning starter IMO.
Anyone who averages more TO then A in the ACC doesn’t deserve the minutes we give him.

 

[gtbync]

Moore had a good game against NC State, but pastner haven't really played him much after that.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

@GTNavyNuke How many more days until baseball season?

26 days and 17 hours.

I tried to watch the UVa game twice. Too depressing. Glad the women play tomorrow.

 

[THWG]

26 days and 17 hours.

I tried to watch the UVa game twice. Too depressing. Glad the women play tomorrow.

It can't come soon enough.

 

[awbuzz]

Turnovers continue to be the Achilles heel...

 

[awbuzz]

Oh, and FT sux too.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

It can't come soon enough.

I think we are going to have inexperience pains but will be top 20 at the end of the season again.

Just don't get your expectations too high ....... Lucy and all that.

 

[MWBATL]

I think we are going to have inexperience pains but will be top 20 at the end of the season again.

Just don't get your expectations too high ....... Lucy and all that.

It will be nice to finish a baseball season strong......

 

[lv20gt]

Moore is a better defender and plays an actual roll on the team and can hit the corner 3 when left open. Usher is shooting under 20% from deep last time I checked, and is a walking turnover. What Moore did last year was more then enough for him to be a returning starter IMO.

He was the starter. He also played god awful for a number of games before losing his minutes. Moore was also shooting 24% from 3 this year and udner 50% from FTs. I agree that he deserves some minutes, but he wasn't playing well at all the last half dozen or so games and that includes his defense falling off.

Moore had a good game against NC State, but pastner haven't really played him much after that.

That simply just isn't true (about not playing him much). Moore played 25+ minutes 8 times after the NCSU game.

Anyways this game was rough. Poor first half play dug us into a hole, with a lot of unforced turnovers. Obviously UVA will force some turnovers with their play. That will happen, but we had guys just dropping passes, stepping on the out of bounds line, etc for no reason. It was like we were intimidated by UVA's reputation. Second half we played better. Only turned the ball over 5 times, and put on a run to cut it to 2. Unfortunately we weren't able to hit the shots we needed to nor make the general plays we had to. Two offensive rebounds really took the pressure off UVA. One was after a long 3 with about 230 to go on what, imo, should have been a foul. Led to 2 points. Then again with a minute left in a 5 point game they miss the front end of a 1-1 and we don't box out the shooter and they get the ball back. They scored a dunk after that and that was the last real chance. Whenever it may happen, we have to learn to finish games off, especially at home, if we ever want to get back to the NCAAT. Arkansas, ND, and now UVA were all games we had chances at the end to win it and couldn't. Even against Kentucky and Duke we were in a good position at the end before they put the game out of reach with about ~8 minutes left. We could try going with a deeper bench to keep our starters fresh but I'm afraid that will just lead to bigger holes to have to try and climb out of if Jose or Mike are off the floor for extended time.

In any case I think we have to make a concerted effort to try and get better looks from 3 even if that means forcing some shots that aren't the best. Moses and Banks are solid inside, and Jose and Mike driving are certainly weapons, but it's just not consistent enough to put up the points we need. If our bigs were better at identifying doubles and kicking to the open man it'd be fine, but we can't keep trying to ignore the 3 point line. It's a bit counter intuitive because we've struggled making the shots, but I think we have to try and get Bubba, Jose, and Mike more shots up from behind the arc and then hopefully exploit that with Moses and Banks down low.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

It will be nice to finish a baseball season strong......

One out from advancing last year. Finish Omaha strong?

 

[Ramblingon]

Play Evan Cole! He's not flashy, but he provided and has provided a spark off the bench. The game began turning around for Tech when he was put in (we also needed his size against UVA's height). He tries probably harder than most of our guys. But you won't get much out of him when playing him a few minutes or none a game.

 

[YlJacket]

Ivy - you are right Especially against UVA's pack line D you have to take and make 3 point shots. They are going to pack the paint and you won't beat them trying to drive or post in the paint. But they are open to kick outs from the paint and especially ball movement that gets to the back side. there was no way in hadies we were beating UVA with DeVoe taking 3 shots even if he was 3 for 3. Either he or Bubba had to go off from 3 and they were far from 3 point threats. We have to find a way to get them taking and hopefully making 3s.

Our defense was generally pretty good - especially in the second half. Huff is a strange matchup for Banks and we started switching Moses and Cole on to him which was better. But we didn't lose this on the defensive end.

We didn't make plays down the stretch which kept us from being able to come back. But the core issue was we don't get any perimeter points from our 2 or 3 slots. You don't beat UVA without perimeter shooting.

Having said that, Jose was worth the watch by himself tonight. He ain't perfect but he works so hard it is worth the watch. And if they had called a T on his guitar stuff to the sidelines they should have brought the game to a halt with whatever was under the seats.