GT vs. Georgia St.

[SteamWhistle]

We better pray the never make it out of the sunbelt. If they slip in American somehow we will have a hard time putting 2k in McTit and 25k in the Dodd. Wish we had their academic standards.

 

[OG-T]

I don’t think we have to worry about DeVoe turning pro. Wow, 8TOs. He said that was the key thing he needed to improve. Way too casual with ball, and turns his back. He’s frustrating because he is a skilled player. Just sloppy and pouts about it. The whole team too casual. Those who say it’s only one game are too accepting. Shortened season, veteran team, guard strong - this game was a must. GaSt is good, but not ACC good or even ok. Pastner opens season with major fail. Apparently FTs are not part of practice. That was embarrassing for a Year 5 program that is an “old” team.

 

[awbuzz]

Better team won. We aren't anywhere close to being good enough for the most talented player on the floor to also be the laziest.

Not sure about the laziest, but I'm sure he was tired. He played almost the entire game.

 

[THWG16]

1. We should be so fortunate to play with the toughness, energy, & confidence that Georgia State does
2. That was a clinic in self sabotage

Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone.

This is Georgia State for crying out loud , sad

 

[THWG16]

Decor should have been rested at some point. Did anyone come off the bench in OT? Our guys were gassed and you could tell it. Hate the loss, but Great effort guys!

We should beat ga state no excuses

 

[THWG16]

It’s our first game so cautious optimism we will make the tourney like we were supposed to. But ggotdam if we can’t make a three we won’t be able to compete. It’s just the way the game works now.

You think this team makes the tourney after watching this ?

 

[Deleted member 2897]

Im in my 20’s.
Someday will I be jealous of the athletic program of GA St? What’s the best thing Tech can do to prevent gaSt replacing GT as Atlanta’s team? I’m 100% serious.

And the fact you are serious is why you need to stop drinking.

 

[orientalnc]

I think some of you are far too negative, but:

Poor shooting exposes a lot of other flaws. When we began by hitting three quick treys I was worried we might not run the offense. That happened for about ten minutes of game time.

With Parham and Jose playing together we are really small. DeVoe was not himself last night. I wonder if the small lineup with him at the 3 doesn't work for him?

DeVoe played 57 minutes last night. Alvarado played 58. Wright played 53. Only one GSU played played 50.

GSU has three things where we were deficient last night: they are very quick & agile, they have some shooters, and they have a bench. And, they have been an NCAA team the last few years. This is not the GSU team from 10 years ago.

If Sturdivant is not ready to play, what was going on with his transfer? Is Meka hurt?

 

[Deleted member 2897]

A few things stand out.

We were o-fer from 3 across 4 overtime’s (0-8). We were barely 50% from FT in regulation. And most strikingly (to me) out of 60 possible minutes, Howard played 8 and Saba played 7 (IIRC). That basically means CJP hasn’t seen from them in practice that they’re ready. Without a true 5, it worries me. The stat line was largely equal with no big glaring differences. And that’s a problem - you can’t let a Georgia State play to your level.

 

[jbix80]

I was disappointed with the way their guards penetrated with ease to the basket. Maybe Banks did cover a lot more of that kind of stuff than I realized last year.

Turnovers and missed free throws obviously hurt. Oooooo, that one Alvarado missed was a killer. For them to have to hit a three instead of a two would have changed a lot.

On a good note, we are the second highest scoring team per game in the nation behind Georgia State...It took an extra 20 minutes, but we’re averaging 120 points/game.

 

[Oakland]

I have to admit, beside getting a technical foul at a critical moment, I was impressed with the Ga. State head coach. Their team seemed to be well prepared and ran some pretty good plays. On the other hand we seem to play ice hockey basketball, somewhat out of control. Are our guys allowed to defend against three point shots?

I love the way Alvarado plays basketball, but I wish he had held up on his last steal instead of going for an unsuccessful lay-up. Sitting on my sofa, I was begging our guys to stop taking three point shots. I guess they couldn't hear me.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

I’m making a list of all the people who in my opinion are overreacting. My personal challenge is this - if you really think the world is ending and the door is closed, then don’t ever watch again this season and don’t ever come post here again. Some of us are still on the fan bus and we’re not going to let you back in later on when things are going well.

 

[slugboy]

Pastner’s offense seems to vary, but I see players getting into fixed positions outside the arc and passing the ball as a key component. Single player dribbling and penetration seems to be another trend. Players typically have to create their own shot. Screens are rare. There is not much player movement as a team—I’ll see 1-2 players moving and 3-4 players set.
Georgia State had more screens and a lot more motion in their offense. They were a smaller team, but had more lanes to the basket and more offensive rebounds. Either Georgia State is a really good defense (they aren’t highly ranked that way), or we’re really easy to defend.

Also, I’ve seen a lot of “this lost us the game” theories. We had 10 minutes of poor effort in the first half that cost us the lead until the end of the second half. Doing anything better in regulation, including playing with more effort earlier, wins us the game.
We have fewer games this season, so this had better be a fantastic learning experience for the players and coaches. We can’t afford many others.

One nice observation: Bubba was OK at PG. unspectacular, dribbled the ball up, and looked for what was open. That helped us

 

[ChristoGT]

Turned on about 10 minutes in and then only made it thru 1 OT, so didn't get to see the loss.

In general, our offense is lacking. There were so many times Alvarado brought the ball down and the team sat still, entirely still, for 5-8 seconds as Alvarado dribbled at the top of the key, basically I guess everyone waiting for an iso play by him. Zero movement, no "call" for any type of play or offensive set up, just let Jose try to drive in and hopefully someone opens up on the edge (that didn't happen often).

Defensively there was effort, but we allowed basically 50% shooting. Usher went out for aggressive blocks a few times and their guy dished down or just threw up a shot near the basket (like a few years ago), but luckily Moses was there to make stops (unlike a few years ago).

M Wright - he was our offense and defense last night. The primary player to play well.
J Alvarado - just looked out of control on many possessions. And too many drives inside and then STOP his dribble and surrounded by 3 tall guys too short to shoot and with nowhere to dish (not all his fault - no one else was trying to slash in on those plays either). In the second half, Bubba was being the floor general more and the offense worked a little better.
M Devoe - he is slow but does have the talent and makes creative shots (though 30% shooting is not acceptable). The TOs though were just too much. I counted 5 walks that the refs didn't call (GaST also had 2 blatant walks).
J Usher - he'll get lost on D sometimes but in general GaST didn't recognize it. He is an interesting enigma - doesn't seem to have the full trust of Pastner and he just gets a little loose out there, but last night was our second best (or third) player.

B Parham - threw up an incredible 3 (and then missed the easier 5 attempts) and he can sky - he was almost to his elbow above the rim on a rebound. The offense flowed better (not great but better) when he was handling the ball up top with more movement.
K Moore - he played relatively good defense the couple of times I watched him in particular. But, geez, he cannot finish on the offensive end. Several good drives to the basket and then got out of control as he went up for the shot/layup (a couple unnecessarily) and then really clunked it off the rim or backboard.
Gigiberia/Howard - as neither played long it's hard to get much of a read. I missed Howard in the game at the beginning but sounds like he was a dud. Saba looked ok and the GaST guys did not want to go up against him on a few shots due to his size. Surprised Saba didn't play more even just for some rest time for others.

 

[YlJacket]

Pastner’s offense seems to vary, but I see players getting into fixed positions outside the arc and passing the ball as a key component. Single player dribbling and penetration seems to be another trend. Players typically have to create their own shot. Screens are rare. There is not much player movement as a team—I’ll see 1-2 players moving and 3-4 players set.
Georgia State had more screens and a lot more motion in their offense. They were a smaller team, but had more lanes to the basket and more offensive rebounds. Either Georgia State is a really good defense (they aren’t highly ranked that way), or we’re really easy to defend.

Also, I’ve seen a lot of “this lost us the game” theories. We had 10 minutes of poor effort in the first half that cost us the lead until the end of the second half. Doing anything better in regulation, including playing with more effort earlier, wins us the game.
We have fewer games this season, so this had better be a fantastic learning experience for the players and coaches. We can’t afford many others.

One nice observation: Bubba was OK at PG. unspectacular, dribbled the ball up, and looked for what was open. That helped us

This is what drove me nuts last night. When Moses played at the free throw line in the 4 out set, he started the offense with some sort of movement - often a ball screen to get the D moving. When we went to putting Moses on the block - probably to save his energy as he wasn't coming out - we went to an unbelievably static offense that was just whoever had the ball had to break down their guy with no one else moving. For a college team really easy to defend. And our guards are not uber athletic so counting on them to break down defenders one on one is not their strength. Devoe had way too many turnovers and bad drives last night but that was because we were requiring him to play one on one basketball - something he isn't really good at.

GSU was more fit than we were and got out and ran for key buckets - almost all of our offense was against set defenses. And they didn't run complicated sets but they did run a nice wheel motion with a pick and role that got enough movement to make things difficult for us. There are a lot of things you can do out of a 4 out set to get movement and screens to initiate an offense. And IMHO our guards are very good but they are "crafty" type of guards who need help with offensive sets and not guys you say hey just go beat your guy. Devoe is and should be one of the top catch and shoot guys in the ACC - but that means you have to move the ball among several players to get the defense to help off of him and then kick to him. It would help immeasurably if someone else could step up as a 3 point shooter to keep the lane clear for Moses. I don't know when Maxwell will be back but the floor is open for him.

All in all though last night was incredibly frustrating but not definitive about how this season will go. We showed significant improvement in the second half from the first half and GSU is a good team - one we should have beaten but still good. We simply need to incorporate some sort of movement/screens into the 4 out offense and CJP has to find a few more minutes on the bench so our guys are not playing "tired" at the end of the game.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

What I find concerning is Josh Pastners comments after the game. I guess he and I watched a different game. The program has a lonng way to go, he inherited a better program from Brian Gregory than he has today...just pathetic...our Men's basketball team has officially been set back years.


“We just could never put them away,” said Tech coach Josh Pastner, who directed the Jackets behind a face shield. “It was almost like the basketball gods said, ‘OK, Georgia State’s winning this game.’”

Link

College basketball: Georgia State 123, Georgia Tech 120 (4 OT)

A season that portends to be unlike any other offered a historic – albeit crushing – season opener for Georgia Tech. With McCamish Pavilion reconfigured for COVID-19 protocols, the Yellow Jackets opened their season Wednesday night against Georgia State in the teams’ first regular-season meeting...

www.ajc.com

I get your frustration, but there’s no reason to make obviously false hyperboles. We weren’t expected to win a single ACC game in his first year. Stop making things up.

 

[GT_EE78]

Pastner’s inability to find someone to be able to actually replace Banks is going to kill this team. Both big men desperately needed a redshirt season.

Like many of us said,the recruiting failure to sign a center was last year so the development could have occurred while backing up banks.
for this year there was a need for more experience at C.
lack of a fifth quality player may have adverse effects.

 

[GT_EE78]

This is embarrassing. If this is the best team Pastner can put together, we are screwed. I still have no idea why he has had them practice like he has the last few weeks.

definitely needs to move on to a better practice routine

 

[Jacketman99]

This is not the end of the world. GA State is a good team and likely NCAA team. They have arguably been the best program in the state over the last 10 years. Its not like we were playing Savannah St. However. we lost this game in regulation with missed fts and turnovers. We let them have a 17-0 run in the first half mainly because we turned the ball over. We spent the rest of regulation climbing out of the hole we dug ourselves. Neither Devoe nor Alvarado shot the ball well. Moses needs help down low. Once we got to OT I did not feel good about the game. GA State's rotation is deeper than ours and it started to show.
With that being said you cannot take one game and project how the rest of the season will play out. I believe our defense will get better based off of recent history. Also Devoe and Alvarado will shoot better. I am hoping we get more production from the bench and something, anything from Howard and Saba. We really need some rim protection nd rebounding more so than offense at the 5. Hopefully we show improvement on Friday.

 

[orientalnc]

With all the discussion about how poorly we played on offense, remember, we scored 120 points in 60 minutes. Last year we averaged 1.7 points per minute. And that with 20+ turnovers and poor shooting. There was a ten minute stretch in the first half that killed us. Otherwise, we did not play a terrible game. There are issues. That is certain. But, I think we may look back on this game more favorably than we do this morning.

This was our first game and I think the lack of scrimmages in practice showed its impact last night. Also, three of our guys were gassed at the end.