Article Tech hosts Gardner-Webb Monday night

Tech hosts Gardner-Webb Monday night

Georgia Tech freshman forward Khalid Moore (photo courtesy of ramblinwreck.com)

Finals week has concluded and it is time to get back to business on the court for Coach Pastner’s Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Coach’s crew will get back into the swing of things on Monday evening against Big South opponent Gardner-Webb.

The Runnin’ Bulldogs out of Boiling Springs, NC come into Monday night’s game with a 7-5 record and winners of 5 in a row. Two of those wins are a against non-D1 opponents, while the other three are against teams that rate 328 or worse in KenPom.

Gardner-Webb is led by sixth year head coach Tim Craft. This is Coach Craft’s first stint as a Division 1 coach and he has compiled a record of 95-83. He was an assistant coach at the program under Rick Scruggs in the early 2000’s as well. He has served as an assistant at Auburn and East Carolina (not ECU). He is the program’s third head coach since they joined D-1 in 2002-03, and he was preceded by current Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann.

Gardner-Webb is led by two dynamic scoring guards, senior David Efianayi and freshman Jose Perez. Efianayi owns over 1,300 career points and is currently on pace to set a career high for triples made in a season. He is averaging 17.2 points per game and shooting 42% from three on the season. In his last three contests however, he is only connecting at a 31% clip. He has scored in double figures every game this season and has had 20 or more five times.

Perez, a 6’5 wing out of the Bronx, is also averaging 17.2 points per game. He has been named the Big South freshman of the week twice and recorded Gardner-Webb’s first triple double in nearly 20 years earlier this season. He had exactly one scholarship offer out of high school that I could find. Over his last five games, Perez is averaging 18.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.8 steals and shooting 53% from behind the arc. Regardless of competition, that is really impressive.

A couple of additional players that should be mentioned are Nate Johnson and DJ Laster. Johnson, a 6’4 RS sophomore guard, is averaging 11.3 points per game. He has kind of burst onto the scene this year. He is shooting 42.6% from three and has an effective field goal percentage of 63% on the season.

Laster, an undersized forward, also averages double figures at 11.6 points per game, he is also good for about 5 rebounds. He is the only player on the roster taller than 6’6 that plays more than 12 minutes per game.

Gardner-Webb is an interesting team. While their numbers have certainly been impacted by the level of competition they have played, they have also played VCU, VPI and Furman. They are currently 291st in the country in tempo (KenPom) while being a top 50 team in points per game at 82.2. They do not have one particular player who dominates on the glass, but they are a very good rebounding team, ranking 23rd in nation in total rebounds.

This game will again give Georgia Tech an opportunity to flex their perimeter defense muscles as the Bulldogs rank 27th in triples made and 29th in the country at 39%

Make no mistake, Craft will have this team ready to play and Georgia Tech has a long history of playing poorly after finals week. During his time in Boiling Springs his program is 1-3 against the ACC. The win was on a neutral court against Clemson in 2014-15.  He also owns a win at Purdue (same season) and a win at Nebraska in 2016. This year they lost to Furman on the road by only two points in overtime.

To make a long story short, this is not a team the Yellow Jackets can afford to take lightly.

 

 

[KeystoneJacket]

Forgot about the game tonight. Just saw the score on twitter. Wow.

 

[Techster]

 

[tbglover]

I mean pastner was a lazy hire. They wanted him out of memphis, he didn’t want to stay and deal with the mess there. he’s getting paid really low compared to most P5 coaches I believe. So it’s a trade off, it’s what we could afford at the time.

He’s a good dude, and I wish he could be successful here, but I think his “recruiting reputation” was only built on Memphis bringing in kids from Memphis, which it would do with anyone there. It’s now really showing.

I think his staff now at this point is sub par and it shows with recruiting and X and O standpoint. Going to be 2 rough seasons back to back in the next 2 and don’t know if he last past end of next year.

McCamish is going to be a ghost town permanently soon.

Most kids were Memphis kids but then there was Jelan Kendrick who was an McDonald's All American from Wheeler and Will Barton from B-More so he scored some outside gems. Too bad he's been finishing 2nd and 3rd for kids since he's been here.

It doesn't take much to get McCamish rocking. Just need the team to win some such as in his 1rst season. The X's and O's do need to improve cause so far the offense has been sub par this year.

I was at the game tonight and I had to put my phone in my pocket for fear that I'd break it out of frustration.

 

[AE 87]

What we have here is what happens when a "recruiter" with questionable game-day coaching skill faces the reality of recruiting to Tech.

Glad we're not going that way with football.

- Drunk Peacone

 

[slugboy]

There were multiple times on offense that 2 games stood basically in the same spot waiting for the guy to pass him the ball. Neither moved. They just threw one of them the ball and whoever didn't catch it just trailed off to a defender.

I mean ...

I've watched other teams, like Michigan, run exactly the same offense. It's got 5 guys standing around the arc, not moving much, waiting on a guy to pass them the ball, same as us. The difference is that we shoot 29% on a good day (and 26% last night), and Michigan is shooting 39%. They played a similar caliber team and won 70-62 (http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=401082455). I've seen them run that offense and get 50% from outside the arc, and then Michigan looks good. At 39% 3pt%, Michigan looks pedestrian. At 29%, you've got us.

I'm not sure, if we had Michigan's talent and upperclassmen, that I'd want to run the same offense. But our best shooters would struggle to get off the bench for them, and that's a sharpshooter offense. We don't have sharpshooters.

This is not to say we played good defense--we didn't. I see why some of our opponents say we don't look well coached. I don't think we do.

We're square pegs, and that's a round hole offense

(Except our coaches don't pry the lid off).

 

[MikeJacket1967]

Wow what a horrible game

 

[kg01]

I've watched other teams, like Michigan, run exactly the same offense. It's got 5 guys standing around the arc, not moving much, waiting on a guy to pass them the ball, same as us. The difference is that we shoot 29% on a good day (and 26% last night), and Michigan is shooting 39%. They played a similar caliber team and won 70-62 (http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=401082455). I've seen them run that offense and get 50% from outside the arc, and then Michigan looks good. At 39% 3pt%, Michigan looks pedestrian. At 29%, you've got us.

I'm not sure, if we had Michigan's talent and upperclassmen, that I'd want to run the same offense. But our best shooters would struggle to get off the bench for them, and that's a sharpshooter offense. We don't have sharpshooters.

This is not to say we played good defense--we didn't. I see why some of our opponents say we don't look well coached. I don't think we do.

We're square pegs, and that's a round hole offense

(Except our coaches don't pry the lid off).

Good points. Our shooting (or lack thereof) just exacerbates everything. Still, in the absence of knockdown shooters, maybe we should explore other ways to attack offensively? I mean, shooters can be 'made' but they're mostly born. How much better do we expect the guys to collectively get?

Emphasis on collectively. I imagine certain ones will progress but this shouldn't be a scenario where double-digit guys have to work for years to simply be passable as shooters.

 

[jeffgt14]

We recruit these guys and they look like they have some talent, yet we put them in a white and gold jersey and they hover around the 300/351 or worse in 3pt % and have no ability to create their own shot inside the arc. The bad shooting was a consistent problem with CBG’s teams as well. There’s no way our talent should be on par or below an average mid major. We’re clearly doing something wrong as a program. Aren’t we using some advanced technological BS to improve shooting? Maybe we need to offload that crap to Kennesaw State.

 

[Gtbowhunter90]

The team, outside of Jose is just lazy damnit... they dont create their own shots and just stand around waiting for an open 3 look. Alston does okay sometimes at getting to the rim, but I blame this all on Coaching.... CJP wanted us to shoot 3 balls at a 40% clip? Okay well what do you expect guys to do? And lastly, we were told we would see a faster offense but it's the same, slow pace. That's why we only score 60 Pts a game

 

[ChasonBaller]

There is a lot that needs to be fixed but #1 for me is the lineup and bench rotation. It makes no sense at all....

 

[kg01]

There is a lot that needs to be fixed but #1 for me is the lineup and bench rotation. It makes no sense at all....

Khalid. Moore. Needs. Moore. Minutes.

 

[THWG]

Khalid. Moore. Needs. Moore. Minutes.

Dude needs to be starting. I want the lineup to be Alvarado, Banks, Haywood, Moore, and Devoe.

 

[lauraee]

There is a lot that needs to be fixed but #1 for me is the lineup and bench rotation. It makes no sense at all....

Please put Khalid Moore in!

 

[kg01]

Dude needs to be starting. I want the lineup to be Alvarado, Banks, Haywood, Moore, and Devoe.

Pretty much. For going-forward purposes, that makes sense anyway.

Moore is really impressive from an IQ standpoint. Makes general FR mistakes, which should be expected, but he just ... moves properly where others kinda are just out there.

 

[slugboy]

Advanced stats, sorted by "Win Shares"

Rk              Player   PER  TS% eFG% 3PAr  TRB%   WS   WS/40  OBPM DBPM   BPM
1        Jose Alvarado  16.8 .541 .505 .490   5.1  1.2    .168   2.9  2.5   5.4
2       Brandon Alston  16.5 .607 .557 .343   5.6  1.0    .178   1.9  1.6   3.5
3      James Banks III  21.6 .614 .614 .000  19.7  1.0    .207   0.4  8.1   8.5
4    Curtis Haywood II  17.0 .596 .578 .724   6.4  0.9    .189   4.2  1.6   5.8
5        Michael Devoe  12.0 .509 .433 .462   6.0  0.7    .123  -1.5  6.0   4.4
6         Khalid Moore  20.4 .702 .632 .158   8.7  0.6    .250   3.7  3.8   7.5
7         Moses Wright  12.6 .467 .463 .185  10.8  0.5    .115  -3.7  2.9  -0.8
8      Abdoulaye Gueye  13.4 .456 .400 .029  13.2  0.4    .126  -4.3  7.9   3.6
9    Sylvester Ogbonda  14.1 .478 .417 .000  18.2  0.2    .159  -1.6  3.9   2.3
10   Shembari Phillips   4.7 .481 .433 .433   6.5  0.2    .058  -4.9  2.6  -2.2
11           Evan Cole   7.0 .381 .125 .250   8.8  0.1    .082  -6.9  4.2  -2.8
12         Evan Jester -29.4           .000  19.0  0.0   -.480 -35.6 -2.8 -38.3
13     Shaheed Medlock                  0.0   0.0  0.0    .063  -4.6  3.1  -1.4
14        Malachi Rice -29.6 .000 .000 .000   0.0  0.0   -.286 -22.8 -4.0 -26.8
15         Avi Schafer                 23.9  38.0  0.0    .331  12.6 -4.3   8.3
16    Kristian Sjolund -10.1 .279 .188 .875   9.5 -0.1   -.080 -11.3 -0.3 -11.7

Provided by CBB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 12/18/2018.

Here it is sorted by Box Plus Minus (with some walk-ons removed, because they aren't going to start):

Rk              Player   PER  TS% eFG% 3PAr TRB%  TOV%  OWS DWS   WS   WS/40  OBPM DBPM   BPM
1      James Banks III  21.6 .614 .614 .000 19.7  21.7  0.4 0.7  1.0    .207   0.4  8.1   8.5
3         Khalid Moore  20.4 .702 .632 .158  8.7  13.5  0.3 0.3  0.6    .250   3.7  3.8   7.5
4    Curtis Haywood II  17.0 .596 .578 .724  6.4  11.0  0.4 0.5  0.9    .189   4.2  1.6   5.8
5        Jose Alvarado  16.8 .541 .505 .490  5.1  14.4  0.4 0.7  1.2    .168   2.9  2.5   5.4
6        Michael Devoe  12.0 .509 .433 .462  6.0  23.2  0.0 0.7  0.7    .123  -1.5  6.0   4.4
7      Abdoulaye Gueye  13.4 .456 .400 .029 13.2  19.4  0.0 0.4  0.4    .126  -4.3  7.9   3.6
8       Brandon Alston  16.5 .607 .557 .343  5.6  14.9  0.5 0.6  1.0    .178   1.9  1.6   3.5
9    Sylvester Ogbonda  14.1 .478 .417 .000 18.2  19.3  0.0 0.1  0.2    .159  -1.6  3.9   2.3
10        Moses Wright  12.6 .467 .463 .185 10.8  11.4  0.0 0.5  0.5    .115  -3.7  2.9  -0.8
12   Shembari Phillips   4.7 .481 .433 .433  6.5  27.5 -0.2 0.4  0.2    .058  -4.9  2.6  -2.2
13           Evan Cole   7.0 .381 .125 .250  8.8  14.5  0.0 0.1  0.1    .082  -6.9  4.2  -2.8
14    Kristian Sjolund -10.1 .279 .188 .875  9.5  30.9 -0.1 0.1 -0.1   -.080 -11.3 -0.3 -11.7
15        Malachi Rice -29.6 .000 .000 .000  0.0   0.0  0.0 0.0  0.0   -.286 -22.8 -4.0 -26.8

Provided by CBB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 12/18/2018.

BPM likes Moore a lot. BPM may make some sense here.

 

[ChasonBaller]

Khalid. Moore. Needs. Moore. Minutes.

 

[ChasonBaller]

Dude needs to be starting. I want the lineup to be Alvarado, Banks, Haywood, Moore, and Devoe.

Same here.

 

[THWG16]

Aren’t we like 5th in the nation in defensive fg%? What the hell was that?

Didn’t anticipate going 0-3 this week when I woke up this morning.

0-3 is a really good possibility

 

[lauraee]

Advanced stats, sorted by "Win Shares"

Rk              Player   PER  TS% eFG% 3PAr  TRB%   WS   WS/40  OBPM DBPM   BPM
1        Jose Alvarado  16.8 .541 .505 .490   5.1  1.2    .168   2.9  2.5   5.4
2       Brandon Alston  16.5 .607 .557 .343   5.6  1.0    .178   1.9  1.6   3.5
3      James Banks III  21.6 .614 .614 .000  19.7  1.0    .207   0.4  8.1   8.5
4    Curtis Haywood II  17.0 .596 .578 .724   6.4  0.9    .189   4.2  1.6   5.8
5        Michael Devoe  12.0 .509 .433 .462   6.0  0.7    .123  -1.5  6.0   4.4
6         Khalid Moore  20.4 .702 .632 .158   8.7  0.6    .250   3.7  3.8   7.5
7         Moses Wright  12.6 .467 .463 .185  10.8  0.5    .115  -3.7  2.9  -0.8
8      Abdoulaye Gueye  13.4 .456 .400 .029  13.2  0.4    .126  -4.3  7.9   3.6
9    Sylvester Ogbonda  14.1 .478 .417 .000  18.2  0.2    .159  -1.6  3.9   2.3
10   Shembari Phillips   4.7 .481 .433 .433   6.5  0.2    .058  -4.9  2.6  -2.2
11           Evan Cole   7.0 .381 .125 .250   8.8  0.1    .082  -6.9  4.2  -2.8
12         Evan Jester -29.4           .000  19.0  0.0   -.480 -35.6 -2.8 -38.3
13     Shaheed Medlock                  0.0   0.0  0.0    .063  -4.6  3.1  -1.4
14        Malachi Rice -29.6 .000 .000 .000   0.0  0.0   -.286 -22.8 -4.0 -26.8
15         Avi Schafer                 23.9  38.0  0.0    .331  12.6 -4.3   8.3
16    Kristian Sjolund -10.1 .279 .188 .875   9.5 -0.1   -.080 -11.3 -0.3 -11.7

Provided by CBB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 12/18/2018.

Here it is sorted by Box Plus Minus (with some walk-ons removed, because they aren't going to start):

Rk              Player   PER  TS% eFG% 3PAr TRB%  TOV%  OWS DWS   WS   WS/40  OBPM DBPM   BPM
1      James Banks III  21.6 .614 .614 .000 19.7  21.7  0.4 0.7  1.0    .207   0.4  8.1   8.5
3         Khalid Moore  20.4 .702 .632 .158  8.7  13.5  0.3 0.3  0.6    .250   3.7  3.8   7.5
4    Curtis Haywood II  17.0 .596 .578 .724  6.4  11.0  0.4 0.5  0.9    .189   4.2  1.6   5.8
5        Jose Alvarado  16.8 .541 .505 .490  5.1  14.4  0.4 0.7  1.2    .168   2.9  2.5   5.4
6        Michael Devoe  12.0 .509 .433 .462  6.0  23.2  0.0 0.7  0.7    .123  -1.5  6.0   4.4
7      Abdoulaye Gueye  13.4 .456 .400 .029 13.2  19.4  0.0 0.4  0.4    .126  -4.3  7.9   3.6
8       Brandon Alston  16.5 .607 .557 .343  5.6  14.9  0.5 0.6  1.0    .178   1.9  1.6   3.5
9    Sylvester Ogbonda  14.1 .478 .417 .000 18.2  19.3  0.0 0.1  0.2    .159  -1.6  3.9   2.3
10        Moses Wright  12.6 .467 .463 .185 10.8  11.4  0.0 0.5  0.5    .115  -3.7  2.9  -0.8
12   Shembari Phillips   4.7 .481 .433 .433  6.5  27.5 -0.2 0.4  0.2    .058  -4.9  2.6  -2.2
13           Evan Cole   7.0 .381 .125 .250  8.8  14.5  0.0 0.1  0.1    .082  -6.9  4.2  -2.8
14    Kristian Sjolund -10.1 .279 .188 .875  9.5  30.9 -0.1 0.1 -0.1   -.080 -11.3 -0.3 -11.7
15        Malachi Rice -29.6 .000 .000 .000  0.0   0.0  0.0 0.0  0.0   -.286 -22.8 -4.0 -26.8

Provided by CBB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 12/18/2018.

BPM likes Moore a lot. BPM may make some sense here.

The old eyeball test says the same.

 

[slugboy]

Win Share for 40 minutes really likes Moore. It also thinks AD should get more playing time and be first off of the bench, and that we aren't seeing enough Haywood:
(Hope not too too far off topic, but it doesn't look like Advanced Stats likes the Alston/Alvarado combo all that much. I wonder if a Banks/Moore/Gueye/Alvarado/Haywood lineup would have been a good one last night)

Rk              Player   PER  TS% eFG% 3PAr TRB%  TOV%  OWS DWS   WS   WS/40  OBPM DBPM   BPM
1      James Banks III  21.6 .614 .614 .000 19.7  21.7  0.4 0.7  1.0    .207   0.4  8.1   8.5
2         Khalid Moore  20.4 .702 .632 .158  8.7  13.5  0.3 0.3  0.6    .250   3.7  3.8   7.5
3    Curtis Haywood II  17.0 .596 .578 .724  6.4  11.0  0.4 0.5  0.9    .189   4.2  1.6   5.8
4        Jose Alvarado  16.8 .541 .505 .490  5.1  14.4  0.4 0.7  1.2    .168   2.9  2.5   5.4
5        Michael Devoe  12.0 .509 .433 .462  6.0  23.2  0.0 0.7  0.7    .123  -1.5  6.0   4.4
6      Abdoulaye Gueye  13.4 .456 .400 .029 13.2  19.4  0.0 0.4  0.4    .126  -4.3  7.9   3.6
7       Brandon Alston  16.5 .607 .557 .343  5.6  14.9  0.5 0.6  1.0    .178   1.9  1.6   3.5
8    Sylvester Ogbonda  14.1 .478 .417 .000 18.2  19.3  0.0 0.1  0.2    .159  -1.6  3.9   2.3
9         Moses Wright  12.6 .467 .463 .185 10.8  11.4  0.0 0.5  0.5    .115  -3.7  2.9  -0.8
10   Shembari Phillips   4.7 .481 .433 .433  6.5  27.5 -0.2 0.4  0.2    .058  -4.9  2.6  -2.2
11           Evan Cole   7.0 .381 .125 .250  8.8  14.5  0.0 0.1  0.1    .082  -6.9  4.2  -2.8
12    Kristian Sjolund -10.1 .279 .188 .875  9.5  30.9 -0.1 0.1 -0.1   -.080 -11.3 -0.3 -11.7
13        Malachi Rice -29.6 .000 .000 .000  0.0   0.0  0.0 0.0  0.0   -.286 -22.8 -4.0 -26.8

Provided by CBB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 12/18/2018.