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Georgia Tech vs Virginia

Abdoulaye Gueye’s improvement is a big reason for Georgia Tech’s 3-1 ACC start (photo credit to USA Today

Thursday night at McCamish Pavilion, the Virginia Cavaliers, the #2 team in the country, come to town…of course, ice and snow permitting. Virginia is 16-1 on the season and 5-0 in ACC play. They currently sit atop the ACC standings but might be moving back after a battle with the #3 team in the ACC, the Duk…..Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

Leading the Cavaliers is Seth MacFarlane’s long-lost brother, Tony Bennett. The two-time National Coach of the Year and in his 9th season at Virginia, Coach Bennett is the other half of Coach Pastner’s get old, stay old motto with Notre Dame’s Mike Brey. Tony Bennett is known for his grind it out defense and working the clock for a good shot on offense. While this type of game plan does not attract the 1 and done guys, UVA has been able to land those four-star players that are super talented but need 3-4 years of development to go pro or be a really solid college basketball player. So far this year, it is no different. The Cavaliers are still playing rock solid defense, but they added something that was missing in the past…offensive weapons, and even scarier…from multiple different players.

To start it off, I will begin with probably the most notable player on the UVA roster. Even though he has let down thousands of people on Twitter by shaving off his man bun, the 6’2” sophomore #5, Kyle Guy is still a fan favorite. Guy is averaging 15.5 points per game and is shooting 44% from behind the arc. If you need a reference, think of Fletcher Magee from Wofford. He can flat out shoot the ball, plain and simple. Now that you have wiped off your sweat following Magee flashbacks, we can continue breaking down Kyle Guy. He has added a nice pump fake and pull up if you close out too strongly on three-point attempts, along with a nice floater if he gets closer to the rim. Defensively, he has been improving and is now constantly sliding his feet, moving over to take a charge and getting those slap down steals that lead to fast breaks. Due to his size, it will be interesting to see if Tech tries to get Tadric on the block against Guy. Especially with a good defender in Devon Hall focusing on Okogie.

Speaking of Hall, #0, he is one of the biggest pieces for Virginia as a 6’5” redshirt senior. The lefty is averaging 12.5 points per game and is shooting 47% from three. He usually plays the 3 in the lineup and can do a little bit of everything for UVA. Hall has nice court vision, hits open shots, and plays tough defense all game, as you will see is a trend for all these Virginia players. Not much more to say. Hall will play hard and get the job done. Every. Single. Night.

Here comes the “Human Highlight” #21, Domin….Isaiah Wilkins. The 6’7” senior out of Greater Atlanta Christian Academy, previously known as “oh hey, that’s Dominique’s kid” during the first two and half years of his career at UVA, is now a vastly improved, above average ACC player. He has always had the athleticism and energy, but has finally put it all together. If you don’t believe me just look at college hoops and one of GTSwarm’s posters favorite’s, Jon Rothstein’s twitter. Book it. It seems like every game he tweets “Isaiah Wilkins, ultimate glue guy” and that is what he is. His defense is spectacular and at the moment, I say he wins ACC Defensive Player of the Year. Now that he has added an offensive game, he is a serious threat and someone that needs to be held in check.

The other guard for UVA is the 6’5” sophomore out of New York #11, Ty Jerome. Even though he was rated a 4-star by most of the services, I believe he is severely underrated. As you might be shocked, he is sound player that does a lot of things right (they have those at UVA?). He can shoot it, play defense as he loves to get the poke from behind steals, and works the ball around to the open teammate. It seems like he is always the one to make the extra pass to Guy in the corner for the three and assist. Despite not wearing any accessories or having the “off the bus factor”, Ty Jerome is a baller.

The big man for Tony Bennett is #33, Jack Salt. Not only does his name sound like some fake name celebrities use when booking a reservation, but the 6’10” redshirt junior out of New Zealand has a lot of skill. He feeds off of drop-off passes in the paint for the two-handed jam and hits the backside offensive glass for easy put backs. He has a huge frame much like Purdue’s Isaac Haas and is a force down low. You are not going to move him out of the way, and if he boxes you out like he typically does, you might as well start running back on defense. Though, an area where Salt struggles is with fouling. He tends to hack and reach when he does not need to. If Lammers or AD are at the line a lot tonight, Tech should be in an advantageous position.

The wild card for Virginia is the redshirt freshman out of Philly #12, De’Andre Hunter. The 6’7” wing who was upset that he had to redshirt last year, has come out with a mission in his first campaign. If you could go to a factory and design a body type for a wing, Hunter would be the model to use. With the help of his athleticism, he has brought some needed change of pace and high-flying action to Charlottesville to go along with the great defense and ball movement already established.

The two other players that typically round out the UVA rotation are 6’1” grad transfer from Rutgers #23, Nigel Johnson, along with 6’9” redshirt sophomore #25, Mamadi Diakite. Out of the two Johnson is the shooter and Diakite is the slasher. Diakite’s jump shot is still a work in progress, but his vertical needs no work. Like Hunter, he comes off the bench with energy and tries to get some fast break dunks to extend the lead while the starters get a little rest. When Johnson comes in, he is in there to keep the offense moving, make the smart upperclassmen choices with the ball, and hit the open shot when available.

Prediction: Georgia Tech will have a lot on their plate, but offensively it is setting up for Tadric Jackson to break out. He is due, and I have a “Boston College from last year” feeling about this game. If he can slash and get into the lane, or on the block/high post against Guy, I like Tech’s chances. Georgia Tech will also need Alston and Alvarado to hit open threes on the wing when we swing it, along with Haywood when he is in there. I will be surprised if Okogie has a big game, but if he does, I will feel confident in a W. With all this considered, I still can’t bring myself to picking them…them as in Virginia. Tech by 6. *cue Pastner pumping up the crowd as he walks into the tunnel after the game*

 
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Gold1

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I've learned uva fans suck and their team is boring as hell. This offense that we run has got to change
 

jbix80

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Typical Virginia game. They are tough to score on and they're disciplined on offense. Man, I would love to do to UNC what we did last year (except this year's on the road).
 

GTbball2016

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I've learned uva fans suck and their team is boring as hell. This offense that we run has got to change

They aren't a good shooting team but they play incredibly slow. Just a bad mixture and will be difficult to recruit studs who want to play fast.
 

CuseJacket

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We'll be ok.

One new thought is I'm a little agitated about our lack of creativity on O and D beyond the half court. On offense it seems we play our motions and actions to a fault. Well, UVA is going to get us out of rhythm. We should have gone to Jax + Okogie driving downhill much sooner. P&R at most... let them go and use their athleticism to score or create for others.

Defensively, I'm ok for the most part today, however 1) we got outhustled and 2) this is the 2nd time this year I was wondering, do we even have a press? I mean, under what circumstances are we going to apply real full court pressure? Grambling was the first wtf for me on that.
 

Fatmike91

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Defensively, I'm ok for the most part today, however 1) we got outhustled and 2) this is the 2nd time this year I was wondering, do we even have a press? I mean, under what circumstances are we going to apply real full court pressure? Grambling was the first wtf for me on that.

Agree - it's interesting that we never trap out of the 1-3-1.

/
 

jbix80

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We'll be ok.

One new thought is I'm a little agitated about our lack of creativity on O and D beyond the half court. On offense it seems we play our motions and actions to a fault. Well, UVA is going to get us out of rhythm. We should have gone to Jax + Okogie driving downhill much sooner. P&R at most... let them go and use their athleticism to score or create for others.

Defensively, I'm ok for the most part today, however 1) we got outhustled and 2) this is the 2nd time this year I was wondering, do we even have a press? I mean, under what circumstances are we going to apply real full court pressure? Grambling was the first wtf for me on that.
Yeah, they dominated the 50/50 balls, and I know that is something CJP preaches. UVA is a well-coached and disciplined team.
 

ilovetheoption

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They aren't a good shooting team but they play incredibly slow. Just a bad mixture and will be difficult to recruit studs who want to play fast.
The thing is, this is true. We're a system team, and more often than not we're going to have to rely on 3 and low four Star guys, who have been in the weight room and work for 3 years or 4 years to where they are good as upper upperclassman. Guys like Devon Hall, or guys like Malcolm Brogdon. Does this maybe limit us a little bit from being the very elite elite elite Best of the Best? Yeah probably a little bit.

That said, it's a nice problem to have. We were crappy. So if I have to choose between crappy but with a potential to be the best of the best of the best, or just really really good all the damn time and maybe we'll get lucky and win a title or two, sort of like Syracuse does with their system, I'll take it.
 

YlJacket

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We aren't ready to play with them yet. Like Bama in FB they just get control of the game and squeeze you to death in the second half.

They ended up with 16 more shots than we did - mostly due to 9 more TOs and 5 more steals on their part. Everything else was relatively even (rebounds, shooting %, etc.)

The officiating was consistent but favored the hell out of them. They were pushing Lammers and chucking cutters all day long. We never adjusted.

Lammers either died in the second half, had his ankle come back and bite him or just didn't have it in the second half. They mauled him and he couldn't respond on the offensive end.

Tadric played hard but no one helped. To beat them you have to get them to collapse and hit 3's. We didn't do that. Tadric made some drives but not enough.

CJP tried to go with 5 guys but got that decision handed back to him. Not just Lammers but we died as a team in the second half.

We aren't as bad as we looked at times tonight. For most other teams the defense we played tonight would be enough to win or at least keep things close. Not tonight.
 

CLM

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If we had some depth, I think you have to press some more and just try to increase the pace. West Virginia does this and they are the only team that beat UVA so far.

Also, I think we could have played better but the guys tried hard and just made some really mental mistakes that they need to fix.

I do think when we play really good teams like this it shows that Josh Okogie will probably be a 4 year player with us and Lammers might have a hard time playing in the NBA. I am not saying either of them can’t be NBA players but UVA is able to exploit the weakness of players. It’s a good opportunity for them to watch film and try to improve on areas like shooting, low post moves, etc. Haywood looks like his shot might be back which would be huge for our team in future games.

Hard to have to play in less than 48 hours at UNC now.
 

orientalnc

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If we had some depth, I think you have to press some more and just try to increase the pace. West Virginia does this and they are the only team that beat UVA so far.

Also, I think we could have played better but the guys tried hard and just made some really mental mistakes that they need to fix.

I do think when we play really good teams like this it shows that Josh Okogie will probably be a 4 year player with us and Lammers might have a hard time playing in the NBA. I am not saying either of them can’t be NBA players but UVA is able to exploit the weakness of players. It’s a good opportunity for them to watch film and try to improve on areas like shooting, low post moves, etc. Haywood looks like his shot might be back which would be huge for our team in future games.

Hard to have to play in less than 48 hours at UNC now.
A very different kind of war in Chapel Hill. Run our legs off will be their game plan.
 

YlJacket

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A very different kind of war in Chapel Hill. Run our legs off will be their game plan.

Yep but they don't play near the same D. Nor do they grind things out like tonight. While the pace may be faster Saturday I would be a lot they are more tired tonight than they will be Sat. Just hard to keep grinding on both ends the way UVA makes you play.

I think we have a decent (not great) shot on Sat
 

GTbball2016

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The thing is, this is true. We're a system team, and more often than not we're going to have to rely on 3 and low four Star guys, who have been in the weight room and work for 3 years or 4 years to where they are good as upper upperclassman. Guys like Devon Hall, or guys like Malcolm Brogdon. Does this maybe limit us a little bit from being the very elite elite elite Best of the Best? Yeah probably a little bit.

That said, it's a nice problem to have. We were crappy. So if I have to choose between crappy but with a potential to be the best of the best of the best, or just really really good all the damn time and maybe we'll get lucky and win a title or two, sort of like Syracuse does with their system, I'll take it.

Ha, I was referring to GT. I love Bennett though. If you can win at Wash St, you can win anywhere
 

Buzzbomb

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I disagree with “Alvarado was not prepared” for this game. He and CGB on the court together absorbing minutes, not 20 games into their first season vs. a team that “gets old, stays old.” When Okogie missed most of the early games, we tend to overlook he’s only been through one complete season in our program. Yes, he’s a talent-but sometimes a more experienced group playing at a different pace disrupts your back court guys who are more inexperienced than Guy, Jerome, Hall, etc.

Not to make excuses, although the records do speak to the challenge of playing one of the top two teams in the country. I thought coming in that UVA would have more poise, experience and disrupt any momentum we might sustain within their system.
 
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