ND @ GT 8pm est ACCn 2/6 [TONIGHT]

1979jacket

Ramblin' Wreck
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568
I don’t know man, on some he was slow, but on a bunch of those it wasn’t him being slow...it was him just not even being aware that his man released to the basket. That was incredibly frustrating to watch happen over and overw
I'm with you - his recognition tonight is what looked slow to me whether he was nicked up or not- mostly on roll to the hoop but also slow on jumping out for 3 point shots. Wright was schooled but fortunately it didn't matter. Alavarado, of course as always, Devoe and even Usher playing with composure with 4 fouls - were very impressive, Wright will do better but the film room could be a little tough on him in this game.
 

The Doddfather

Jolly Good Fellow
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482
Also, the ending of the game went much quicker than I thought. With over a minute left I thought it would come down to foul shooting. Glad they decided not to foul, but I wish we would’ve run the clock down. I think Jose drove with about 9 on the shot clock. Great D to not even let them get a shot off. This team is great at home, just have to continue that and steal some on the road.
 

gt24

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354
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Southpawmac

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Also, the ending of the game went much quicker than I thought. With over a minute left I thought it would come down to foul shooting. Glad they decided not to foul, but I wish we would’ve run the clock down. I think Jose drove with about 9 on the shot clock. Great D to not even let them get a shot off. This team is great at home, just have to continue that and steal some on the road.
That’s what frustrated me. There was a three second difference and they weren’t fouling. Jose could have easily taken it down to one second on the shot clock and put up a rainbow three. It either hits the rim and is a tough rebound with almost no time left, or it misses and you get a shot clock violation with less than three seconds for them to inbound and score.
 

The Doddfather

Jolly Good Fellow
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482
That’s what frustrated me. There was a three second difference and they weren’t fouling. Jose could have easily taken it down to one second on the shot clock and put up a rainbow three. It either hits the rim and is a tough rebound with almost no time left, or it misses and you get a shot clock violation with less than three seconds for them to inbound and score.
I rewatched and Jose took off with about 5 seconds on the shot clock. I’m actually ok with him not throwing up a long 3 because if they get a long rebound, even with a couple seconds left, they could advance it and get a decent look. I’m just glad we played better down the stretch tonight than we did against uva and duke. Felt great to win a game that we should’ve won. The conference is weird this year. No reason we can’t finish near the top. Gonna be hard with the short turnarounds but I’m glad we are hopefully getting the chance to at least make these games up rather than playing an abbreviated schedule. Hopefully our guys will to make the tourney will outweigh our lack of depth. I know it didn’t play out that way against lville, but for some reason I feel confident in this team in the home stretch.
 

SecretAgentBuzz

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Incredible, gutsy win. Unbelievable, really, being down by 17 in the first half, and 15 at the break. We were also down 6 with 6 minutes to go. This is the kind of win that only comes from a veteran team that does all the right things down the stretch. Here is what I loved:

1. Alvarado. When he wants to take over a game, he does. His quickness on both offense and defense is really amazing.
2. I was down on Devoe and Parham both--Bubba was missing his shots in the 1st half and Devoe was slow in rotation, but they both played well at the end. Devoe hit some tough shots and Parham was all over the place. If they play with that kind of intensity and focus, we get a lot better.
3. Sturdivant gave us some really good minutes, as did Moore (as usual) and to some extent Howard. Wright "only" played 34 minutes.
4. Things didn't go our way, but we never hung our heads. At the end, we were going after every loose ball and every rebound, and that made the difference. We played with intense defense and offensive precision in those last 6 minutes.

Things I didn't like:
1. The refs called more fouls on ND early in the second half, and then they tried to make up for it in the last half by calling none. Really surprised that Alvarado didn't get the call one our last possession.
2. Beat me once, shame on you. Slip your big man off the screen to the hole and hit him for the dunk for the 6TH TIME, shame on me. I know we were hedging to prevent 3-point shots, but man....they killed us with that ONE play over and over again!

Really proud of this team win! Let's keep it up guys! Let's keep it going until we are dancing!
 

bke1984

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3,143
Felt great to win a game that we should’ve won
Interesting take. I assume you mean on paper before the game?

The way we played defense in the first half (and to some extent the second half with regards to defending the pick and roll) we didn’t deserve to even be talking about winning that game.

At any rate, it was very impressive to come back and win like that. We have to carry this momentum into Wednesday and get a win. It’s the toughest team left on the schedule and we absolutely need it for our tournament resume. If we get that win we can start imagining scenarios where we finish in the top four in the league to get a double bye in the ACCT.
 

orientalnc

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Techster

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What come back win. ND won 4 of their last 5, and every win was by double digits. It looked pretty bad for the good guys at halftime. None of our shots were falling, ND was making every shot and getting every call, and we were down by 17. A replay of Louisville looked inevitable...

...then we do what GT does best. We scrapped, created havoc in transition, and our guys went on a 12-2 run to start the second half. Maybe it was the hangover from the Louisville game, but the GT team we've been used to seeing most of the season showed up in the second half. 9 steals, and kept our TOs low. We are tough to beat if we create that many TO's and keep our own TOs low. Jose was special again, but it was a pretty balanced effort by everyone.

Kudos to Bubba to spark our second half. Making shots and creating turnovers. He really does do a LOT of the little things. If you want to know why Pastner keeps playing Bubba despite the obvious mismatch on the defensive end...well, look at the first few minutes of the second half. Bubba can probably score more points if he wanted to, and he was the leading conference scorer at his previous stop, but I think he understands his role at GT.

Usher's contribution was huge in the first half...both him and Jose probably kept the game from becoming an even bigger blowout in the first half. Good on him to settle down and play the game for a long stretch with 4 fouls. We are so good when he's playing well. It makes us extremely difficult to defend. I think good games from Jose and Moses are pretty much a given...and Devoe more times than not, but if Usher is playing well, we can pretty much play with anyone.

Good to see Devoe attack the basket again. We all know him for his shot, but if he doesn't pick up his dribble in the lane, and attacks the basket, he's getting points or a foul. Both are good outcomes for us. AS much grief as some of you give him, he's an extremely important piece for us. Shot extremely well against ND: 7/9 overall, 3/4 from 3. I'll take that every night from him.

Moses this game is the Moses I really like seeing. Aggressive to the basket, and creating shots off the dribble and in the low post. He's got some really good low post moves, and he can handle himself really well against other post players. His shots were not falling at first, but he kept plugging away and eventually pretty much everything seemed to go in for him. One thing I'd like to see him do more of is creating contact when he has his man in the air. Moses had ZERO free throw attempts this game...part of it was officiating was lopsided against us. Seemed Moses was a bit dinged to start the 2nd.

Jose...well. No need to say anything about him that hasn't already been said. He's the quintessential GT PG that earned us the "Point Guard U" nickname.

Great job by Sturdivant and Khalid. Both probably deserve to start, and both would be a heck of a good starter. Right now, they understand what the team needs of them, and they're playing high quality minutes when their number is called.

It's always fun when we win. It's even more fun when we beat the other team and the refs. F the refs.

First leg of the marathon of death done. Next up UVA at home. Let's get payback for the last game against them.
 

slugboy

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So, ND players have a high basketball IQ, but lack the athleticism of GT players. Hmmm...

High basketball IQ == letting the clock run out and not even heaving a desperation 3 that could win the game?

{From watching the game and seeing the lineups, I know what the author means, too—even if the author doesn’t}
 

New Old Guy

Jolly Good Fellow
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319
Interesting take. I assume you mean on paper before the game?

The way we played defense in the first half (and to some extent the second half with regards to defending the pick and roll) we didn’t deserve to even be talking about winning that game.

At any rate, it was very impressive to come back and win like that. We have to carry this momentum into Wednesday and get a win. It’s the toughest team left on the schedule and we absolutely need it for our tournament resume. If we get that win we can start imagining scenarios where we finish in the top four in the league to get a double bye in the ACCT.
I agree with this. I feel like we turned what was becoming a very disappointing loss into an incredible win, somehow. Major kudos to the team. Maybe this starts to make up for a few games where we lost, but should have won (@UVA, @Duke+refs).

Long way to go, but we still have a chance.
 

Ramblingon

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
547
Great comeback guys! Alvarado took over in the second half, but he wasn't alone. ND guys are very tall and we played 6-7, 6-7 up front with them part of the game.
 
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