GT @ Florida State

[glandon1960]

FSU is the worst matchup for GT in the ACC. Their length combined with quickness is problem for small ball. They are matchup problem for almost every team.

I thought both teams made bad TOs first ten minutes - not unusual as you adjust to the other team - GT can't simulate FSU size in practice, FSU could not simulate GT match up zone in practice. In the end, we had one less TO than FSU, and kept rebounding difference respectable - both things GT had to do to have a chance.

The difference came down to shooting percentage - particularly from the three. FSU hit open 3's, GT did not - flip the percentages and GT probably wins a close one. FSaU size effected some GT drives and guards hesitated at times due to it.

Parham has played well (did not last night), but needs to make enough open threes (he had looks) or Sturdivent/Moore needed to be on the court. Also agree with posts regarding Barnes - he will be a high lottery pick - I told people with me in first half Moore needs to be on Barnes or play zone - yes matchup issues elsewhere, but he is only player we have that has chance to guard him with degree of success.

 

[kg01]

**** for a while, we had Bubba guarding him... That was a head-scratcher. We finally put Khalid on him, but it was in the bag (no pun intended).

Yeah .... and on Bubba .... I mean ..... I'm not in the business of bashing our guys 'cause they're our guys .... but ..... Bubba ........ *sigh* ...... it's been a year+ and I feel like I'm still waiting for something there.

 

[GTbball2016]

Yeah .... and on Bubba .... I mean ..... I'm not in the business of bashing our guys 'cause they're our guys .... but ..... Bubba ........ *sigh* ...... it's been a year+ and I feel like I'm still waiting for something there.

He’s shooting 25 pct from 3 pt range. That’s not going to get it done.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

Yeah .... and on Bubba .... I mean ..... I'm not in the business of bashing our guys 'cause they're our guys .... but ..... Bubba ........ *sigh* ...... it's been a year+ and I feel like I'm still waiting for something there.

 

[slugboy]

He’s shooting 25 pct from 3 pt range. That’s not going to get it done.

Our offense leans heavily on players to create their own shot. Bubba might be better off in a screen and shoot situation, or other plays that gave him a clearer shot at the basket.

We did get some of those against FSU, but they were unusual.

 

[GTbball2016]

Our offense leans heavily on players to create their own shot. Bubba might be better off in a screen and shoot situation, or other plays that gave him a clearer shot at the basket.

We did get some of those against FSU, but they were unusual.

I’ve seen plenty of wide open attempts by all of the guards that have been off.

 

[kg01]

I’ve seen plenty of wide open attempts by all of the guards that have been off.

That's a trend that's run concurrent with our tournament drought, thus it predates the current staff.

Really weird that we can't put together a roster that can consistently be respectable shooting the ball. Even as some have entered campus with solid shooting reputations.

 

[orientalnc]

Bubba was overmatched physically in this game. Until last night he has been playing 75% of his available minutes and averaging better than 10 ppg. At 5'10" 162# it is not reasonable to match him up against a 6-6 guard and expect him to excel.

If you want to point your finger at a specific reason, point to those guys who are unable to play. It's not necessarily their fault, but we have a 6-9 guy who is injured, a 6-10 transfer who is simply not ready for prime time, and a 7 foot project player. Oh, and another big guy who shouldn't be on the team.

Pointing your finger at a guy who is playing his heart out is not fair.

 

[Ramblinwreck86]

Bubba was overmatched physically in this game. Until last night he has been playing 75% of his available minutes and averaging better than 10 ppg. At 5'10" 162# it is not reasonable to match him up against a 6-6 guard and expect him to excel.

If you want to point your finger at a specific reason, point to those guys who are unable to play. It's not necessarily their fault, but we have a 6-9 guy who is injured, a 6-10 transfer who is simply not ready for prime time, and a 7 foot project player. Oh, and another big guy who shouldn't be on the team.

Pointing your finger at a guy who is playing his heart out is not fair.

Too bad big man Evan Cole left. Here is his line last night against Utah

 

[Deleted member 2897]

Too bad big man Evan Cole left. Here is his line last night against Utah

View attachment 9601

That represents an entire season of scoring here, LOL.

 

[lv20gt]

I'm glad Cole found a place that he could have success.

However, he never really seemed to get better here and nothing I saw really convinced me he was poised to make a big leap this year. It's possible he needed a change of scenery to act as a catalyst. Would have been nice to have as an option though.

 

[Tourneybound20]

Pastner knew for two years Banks would be gone after last season. It’s inexcusable that he wasn’t able to bring in a front court player to help Moses. Meanwhile Cole goes for 31 and 10 against a Pac 12 team.

Hence me stating a few days ago Cole,Sjolund and Price would have paid huge dividends for us if they were still here.Cole would be that frontcourt guy you mentioned and Price and Sjo would be 3 PT threats who both have some size and athleticism.Still a 13 point loss on the road to a solid FSU team is an easy pill to swallow.They need to put it in the rearview and keep playing hard!

 

[alagold]

This is not a bad loss but again a loss with a team that will lose 4 Srs for next yr -which mean another loss only worse then..

 

[GTRX7]

To add, this is actually getting to be ridiculous. We absolutely have to have a player that can consistently hit an open three. I feel like Marvin Lewis was the last one we had. Just too many wide open opportunities in this game. If we make just three more of these shots we are winning the game right now.

Anthony Morrow, Adam Smith, and 2019 Devoe were all above 40% on the season. May be others, but certainly not enough. Should be one a year, every year.

 

[GTFLETCH]

Hopefully this loss is an outlier in ACC play... We shall see

 

[slugboy]

Anthony Morrow, Adam Smith, and 2019 Devoe were all above 40% on the season. May be others, but certainly not enough. Should be one a year, every year.

Good outside-shooting teams have more than one player near or above 40%, even in the NCAAs. I'm not going to nitpick a player at 38% from 3, but if you just have one three point shooter, you're easy to defend from 3. What I'm saying is 40% isn't a magic number, and 35% isn't either, but if your shooters are closer to 30% than 45%, that's bad.

As a team, we're shooting 31% from behind the arc. Our opponents are shooting about 41% from behind the arc.
If you look at our stats per player, Moses has the best percentage, but he's not an outside shooter, and it's pretty infrequent, and I think that's an outlier. Alvarado and Parham are about where they were last year, rather than improving to catch up to Devoe. Instead, Devoe has slid to where they were last year. Six games in, I think we've got an idea about the team right now. Moses, and to a lesser degree Usher and Wright are our main inside offense. Against an FSU, that's not enough physical size unless you're just an acrobatic player. Saba and Howard aren't getting playing time, and before the season I had hoped that Howard would fill in where Banks left off--we don't have a true 5. We play 7 players, unless we're playing a Florida A&M. We have height on the bench, but they're not in the rotation.

Last year, if I'm an opposing coach, I try to limit Devoe and then Banks and Alavarado. This year, I key on Moses Wright, and play team defense for the rest.

OrientalNC gave a good explanation of the composition of the team, where we really have 7 players ready to go in. Last night (FAMU) was partially about getting Saba some seasoning, even if it was only 6 minutes of seasoning.

Sturdivant only played 5 minutes against FAMU, and Howard only 1. I think that shows something to the fans.

Also, the offense and defense we're playing now is probably what we'll play all season. I saw a little more screening and more plays against FAMU. I saw as many as three players in motion instead of just one. It's generally not a heavy motion offense, though. We have some free shots, but they're not as free or as frequent as our opponents, and I think it's on our coaches to find ways to set our players up with higher-percentage shots.

FAMU seemed to be more "running an offense" than FSU, but in both we ran into "I have 2 seconds left, I better heave it" situations, and that's on the offensive coaching.

I showed Minutes Played, Games Played, and 3PT% here. Points are overall.

Rk	Player	G	MP	3P	3PA	3P%V	PF	PTS
1	Moses Wright	6	37.3	0.7	1.2	.571	3.2	20.2
2	Jose Alvarado	6	37.3	1.8	5.3	.344	3.0	14.8
3	Jordan Usher	6	26.0	0.8	2.5	.333	3.2	10.3
4	Michael Devoe	6	36.2	1.8	5.8	.314	2.0	14.3
5	Bubba Parham	6	33.7	1.7	5.8	.286	2.7	10.8
6	Khalid Moore	6	23.5	0.5	2.3	.214	0.8	4.8
7	Kyle Sturdivant	6	15.2	0.2	1.0	.167	1.2	3.7
8	Rodney Howard	3	7.3	0.0	0.0		1.3	2.0
9	Saba Gigiberia	3	5.0	0.0	0.0		2.0	0.7
10	Jordan Meka	1	8.0	0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0

Provided by CBB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 12/19/2020.

 

[alagold]

Too bad big man Evan Cole left. Here is his line last night against Utah

View attachment 9601

Holy crap--WOW! I knew we would miss him but not like this.

 

[tbglover]

Holy crap--WOW! I knew we would miss him but not like this.

In his 2 other games besides the 31 point outing he scored 6 points and 12 points with a total of 7 rebounds and 0 blocks in those 2 games. He did certain things well at Tech but he's not killing it at Utah Valley either thus far.

 

[alagold]

In his 2 other games besides the 31 point outing he scored 6 points and 12 points with a total of 7 rebounds and 0 blocks in those 2 games. He did certain things well at Tech but he's not killing it at Utah Valley either thus far.

Still 16pts/ 6 Rebs avg ain't bad.Think how that might add to our team if ANYWHERE close..

 

[GTFLETCH]

Well hopefully we can win 8 ACC games this year