Article Jackets Look for First Win in Cameron Since '04

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Jackets Look for First Win in Cameron Since '04

ATLANTA, GEORGIA – JANUARY 22: James Banks III #1 of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets drives to the basket against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Hank McCamish Pavilion on January 22, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images)

The surprising 3-3 Jackets take to the road and try to land a statement win.

Grit. This team has it. With obvious shortcomings in the talent department you cannot say that this team does not have grit, heart or as Isuro “Kamakazi” Tanaka would say: “marbles”. The Jackets fought through injury and poor shooting to keep the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at bay last weekend. Now comes the real test. Duke, away.

Georgia Tech has not won at Cameron Indoor Stadium since March of 2004. They also have not beaten a ranked opponent in a true road game during the Josh Pastner era.

Things this year however have been more inspiring, if still ultimately unsuccessful. While Georgia Tech is 2-3 in true road games this season, they won at Arkansas (eh) and handled the Syracuse Orange at the Carrier Dome, their only ACC loss in five games. The Jackets also played now #1 Tennessee pretty well in Rocky Top and were blowing the doors off St. Johns on a neutral court before eventually collapsing in such a horrific fashion that only Stephen King could truly put it into words.

Can Georgia Tech win? Sure. Could I receive my tax return before the end of February this year? Sure. Both are unlikely, but that is why you don’t crown the champ in November.

Duke is led by three burger boys who are currently projected to go in the 2019 NBA Draft Lottery. The most obvious is phenom Zion Williamson who came into the 2018-19 season with so much luster it seemed almost impossible for him to live up the billing. Incredibly, he has done just that. Named after the mountain that houses the holy land, Williamson has been remarkable in what will be his only season at the collegiate level, averaging 21.7 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. He has an effective field goal percentage of 69% and is the only player in the country that averages more than 20 points, 9 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 2 steals per game.

Canadian RJ Barrett, the #1 ranked player in the 2018 class, is starting to hit his stride as well. While he was not bad early in the season, he has recently discovered that nobody can stop him off the dribble when he goes left. He seemed to come to this realization during the second half of the game against Virginia when he only attempted a single triple and continuously went to the hoop. You can’t argue with the results as Duke defeated the Hoos and, in my eyes, solidified themselves as the best team in the country.

The third fiddle of the trio is Cam Reddish. A 6’8″ high scoring wing, Reddish came into the season projected to be Duke’s best three point threat. He has had his moments from deep (game winner against FSU in Tallahassee), he has had some struggles (1-9 vs Hartford, 1-6 against UVA) and is incredibly streaky. Don’t sleep on him; when he decides to play he is as good as Barrett. His motor has always been the biggest question mark.

Those three are the only Blue Devils that average double figures, but they combine to score an eye-catching 58.7 points per game. Duke will almost assuredly be without fellow freshman defensive stopper Tre Jones for this tilt. The younger brother of former Dukie Tyus Jones, Tre is currently out with an AC Joint injury. His absence from this Saturday’s game can only be described as fantastic news for Jose Alvarado.

Some other players of note in Durham this year are Aussie Jack White and former five star recruit Marques Bolden. White is a big shot guy who can hit the short corner triple and finish at the rim. He is a hustle player who also possesses a good bit of talent. Bolden, a much maligned player during his career, has yet to live up to his prep potential. He was singled out by Virginia in the showdown last week and the Cavs had a lot of success getting the ball to whoever he was guarding.

Staying close is the name of the game here. Grab a carton of your favorite ice cream, a spoon and try to remain calm. You probably shouldn’t expect to win, but let’s try and not have a repeat of Louisville. FSU is below us in the standings and almost beat this team (Zion sat the second half) . Pitt is below us and kept it halfway respectable. Take enjoyment watching James Banks eat up Marques Bolden, hope for a moment such as Evan Cole cramming one down over Zion and pray for Jose Alvarado to get buckets and step over someone in Cameron a la Joel Berry in Chapel Hill last year.

Why not this team…

 
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gte447f

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Best thing Pastner could do to keep this game close is to let his guys do their thing and enjoy the environment. If they're constantly getting hassled by Coach it could get ugly

Biggest thing coach could have done to keep it close was call a time out to stop a 14-0 run at around 14 minutes to go in the 2nd half, when we went from up 8 to down 6. I thought that was a coaching fail. Frustrating.
 

lv20gt

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We played a great game.

We shot the same fg% as them, had better 3 point%, was within 3 rebs of them, and had 10 Orebs to their 11. Turned it over too much but many were dead ball turnovers so not as big a deal.

The difference in this game was 19-6 in the most predictable stat when playing at duke.
 

GT_EE78

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well played first half. definitely an encouraging sign for the rest of the season with a little improvement on O. I won't be picking Duke in my final four this year.
 

gte447f

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Didn't get to watch the game thanks to YoutubeTV and ESPN app blackout in ATL. Listened to the last 15 minutes on radio. Will try to find a replay to watch if I can bear it. Stat line didn't look good for any of our guys, except AD was decent, but his shots weren't falling in the 2nd half

10 turnovers from our 2 point guards has got to get cleaned up for us to have any chance against good teams.

4 points and 2 rebounds from Banks, I don't know what to say...

2/6 vs 16/19 from the free throw line is a recipe for disaster.

I don't care how good they are, if you hold them to 2/21 from 3, you should have a pretty good chance to win... frustrating.
 

Deleted member 2897

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Didn't get to watch the game thanks to YoutubeTV and ESPN app blackout in ATL. Listened to the last 15 minutes on radio. Will try to find a replay to watch if I can bear it. Stat line didn't look good for any of our guys, except AD was decent, but his shots weren't falling in the 2nd half

10 turnovers from our 2 point guards has got to get cleaned up for us to have any chance against good teams.

4 points and 2 rebounds from Banks, I don't know what to say...

2/6 vs 16/19 from the free throw line is a recipe for disaster.

I don't care how good they are, if you hold them to 2/21 from 3, you should have a pretty good chance to win... frustrating.

Yea, think about it - they shot 9% from 3PT and only had 2 guys on the entire team make more than 3 baskets. And they still won by 13.
 

lauraee

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Didn't get to watch the game thanks to YoutubeTV and ESPN app blackout in ATL. Listened to the last 15 minutes on radio. Will try to find a replay to watch if I can bear it. Stat line didn't look good for any of our guys, except AD was decent, but his shots weren't falling in the 2nd half

10 turnovers from our 2 point guards has got to get cleaned up for us to have any chance against good teams.

4 points and 2 rebounds from Banks, I don't know what to say...

2/6 vs 16/19 from the free throw line is a recipe for disaster.

I don't care how good they are, if you hold them to 2/21 from 3, you should have a pretty good chance to win... frustrating.
If you were in atl, could've watched it on Peachtree tv. Tech played very well today. Not sure what you are bitc#ing about.
 

YlJacket

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The untimely turnovers in the second half killed us. Duke got out and ran - built momentum and the game was over.

Duke is bigger, stronger and longer than we are. A subtle but huge advantage for them today was the refs allowed them to really play the body hard all game. Banks and especially AD were bumped off their spot all game - even with the ball - and on the perimeter they let Duke defenders body Jose and Devoe a lot more than they should have. Duke used to get away with the hand check - now they establish their ability to body you with the same effect.

Our defense was generally really good - we sold out on the perimeter and it showed. The good was Duke didn't shoot well from 3. That was in big part due to our D and due to the fact we didn't let them get out and run - especially in the first half. The downside was Duke was able to exploit us inside. Bolden and Zion were really good at pinning Banks in particular and AD some really deep on the block where all they could do was foul. They also got used to the zone and started running really good stuff to get the ball in deep on cuts to the rim. Would have been great to switch to man for a short while just for a different look but we would have gotten killed with mismatches all over the court.

On offense I thought we played really smart except for that one stretch in the second half where we started turning the ball over. Kudos to CJP who ran a different set with the high screen by AD primarily just to get a switch and allow him to go to work on Reddish (usually). That was a neat wrinkle. The key thing that has to happen for us to compete at this level is for both Jose and especially Devoe to get stronger so they cannot be bodies like they were today. They have to be able to get where they want regardless of a good physical defender on them. Then throw in confidence so we get more shooting and an improved ability to kick out when we do get the ball inside - either on a drive or to the post.

Overall though I really liked what I saw. I'll avoid moral victories but I do see it as a step in the right direction. Now we need to see consistency going forward which for a team as young as this is a big ask.
 

gte447f

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If you were in atl, could've watched it on Peachtree tv. Tech played very well today. Not sure what you are bitc#ing about.

I'm bitc#ing about losing going away by 13 and basically being totally out of the game for the last 12 minutes despite playing pretty well like you said. We matched them in FG% and rebounding. They shot 9% from 3 PT, and we still lost handily. It's frustrating like I said.
 

gte447f

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We played a great game.

We shot the same fg% as them, had better 3 point%, was within 3 rebs of them, and had 10 Orebs to their 11. Turned it over too much but many were dead ball turnovers so not as big a deal.

The difference in this game was 19-6 in the most predictable stat when playing at duke.

Yep, lost by 13, outscored by 14 at the free throw line. Brutal.
 

AUFC

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The free throw thing isn't such a big deal. If you don't play Duke's bigs physical, they are just going to get easy, uncontested dunks and layups. See: last 10 minutes when AD and Banks had 4 fouls. My point is we still would have lost this game by double digits even if the free throw differential was more even.
 

AE 87

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I thought we played pretty well, but having guys play nearly 40 minutes at the pace we were playing probably contributed to the end of the game break-down. We weren't getting up for D rebounds as well and lost focus in passing, shooting and defending, imo.

I don't know what's up with Alston. He can't get the second half of next year somewhere anymore can he? We heard "personal reasons" a lot last year. It would've been nice to have some minutes from him or for Shembari to be more than a liability.

I agree with what others have said about it seeming that our guys were getting bodied off-balance all over the place, but I don't know the "rule" or "practice" for how that's usually called.
 

tbglover

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For the season Duke has made 286 free throws. Their opponents have taken 300 free throws so losing the battle at the free throw line is pretty much guaranteed. The called a couple of ticky tack fouls and Gueye's 3rd foul should have gone against Cole IMO. Finally keeping an opponent from completely dominating the offensive glass was nice to finally see.
 

g0lftime

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We looked tired in the second half and our zone was a little slower to rotate. Strategy seems to get the ball inside to our bigs. Not sure why we aren't able to get to the line and draw fouls when we do. They doubled Banks when he got it down low. We had way too many TO's and didn't get offensive rebounds in the second half like first half. The crowd was waiting to explode all game but other than a spurt mid 2nd half we kept them pretty quiet. Banks played with them when he fouled out and didn't sit down until they were in the motion of taking the foul shot. When Geuye fouled out they really let gave him an extra loud "see ya!". Pretty funny.
 

Ramblingon

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Hate to lose any game, but you have to feel good about Tech's game today. Our guards were gassed at the end (both played 40 min each I believe). They gave their all. Devoe is starting to turn into a very good player. I knew early on that our bigs would be in foul trouble. Pastner did a good job of rotating them and getting the most out of their minutes while they were on the floor. A tip of the hat to Gueye. Overall CJP did a good job of coaching in a very hostile environment, against the best paid team in the country.
 
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