HOKIES HOOPS CENTRAL: Georgia Tech (9-10) At Virginia Tech (12-7) 5PM ACCN
Georgia Tech's on our mind 🔒❤️ #LOVE game🕔 5PM ET📺 ACCN🤝 @carter_bank #StoneByStone x #Hokies pic.twitter.com/ZbW0GWaQ3h— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) January 27, 2024
Georgia Tech (9-10)
At Virginia Tech (12-7)
January 27th, 2024
Cassell Coliseum
5 p.m. ET
ACCN
Virginia Tech Sports Network
ACCN
Play-by-Play: Jay Alter
Analyst: Malcolm Huckaby
Local Radio
Virginia Tech Sports Network
Play-by-Play: Zach Mackey
Analyst: Mike Burnop
Current Spread: Hokies -9.5
Over/Under: -144.5
Techmo Bowl
The Hokies continue the home stand with Georgia Tech after beating Boston College for the first time under Coach Young. Virginia Tech can get back to a winning conference record with a victory defending the Cassell.
The Yellow Jackets are coached by Damon Stoudamire. He began his college coaching career at Rice as an assistant coach in 2008 after a ten-year career in the NBA. Georgia Tech is his second college head coaching job, taking over the job this season. He was head coach at Pacific for five seasons and then spent two years as an NBA assistant coach prior to coming to the Yellow Jackets. He has a 9-10 overall record guiding the Yellow Jackets and an 80-87 overall record.
Georgia Tech is off to a 2-6 start in ACC play. The Yellow Jackets upset Duke in their ACC opener and took Clemson to double overtime for their second victory. Their conference losses are to FSU, BC, ND, Duke, Pitt and UVA. This will be the 32nd meeting between the Hokies and Georgia Tech. The Hokies are 22-9 overall against the Yellow Jackets.
The starting five are Miles Kelly, Kowacie Reeves, Naithan George, Baye Ndongo and the fifth spot has rotated across four different players. The regular four starters are on the court at least 28 minutes per game. Kyle Sturdivant and Dallan Coleman combine to play 40 mpg. They only have two other players averaging more than 15 mpg.
Georgia Tech returned 56.5% of minutes played and 59.4% of scoring return from 2022-23 roster but Stoudamire brought in almost an entirely new team with six incoming transfers and four freshmen. The contributing transfers are Reeves, Tyzhaun Claude, Tafara Gapare and Amaree Abram. The biggest freshman commit was starting forward Baye Ndongo. Ebenezer Dowuona, a transfer forward playing about ten minutes per game missed the last game for an unknown injury so is questionable against the Hokies.
Coach Grant defensively uses man-to-man with his smaller lineup trying to prevent interior passes by playing in front of post players. They surrender significant points from penetrating dribbles from the top of the key. Opponents are also shooting 38% from three in conference play. They are susceptible to screening actions and over-playing the ballhandler leaving either shooters open or offside forwards free paths to backside layups.
Offensively, Coach Grant uses a motion offense with heavy perimeter screening actions. The Yellow Jackets take the most three pointers of any team in the ACC. They are averaging almost 27 attempts per game and shooting 36%. Six players are averaging at least 7.2 points per game but the focus is Kelly and Reeves on the perimeter who shoot over 11 per game. Turnovers and fouls are not much of an issue.
Yellow Jackets Backcourt
Miles Kelly
13 JR G 6-4 171
14.3 Pts, 5.9 Reb, 2.0 Ast
Kowacie Reeves
14 JR G 6-6 182
12.1 Pts, 4.3 Reb, 0.8 Ast
Kyle Sturdivant
1 SR G 6-2 198
8.2 Pts, 2.3 Reb, 2.9 Ast
Naithan George
2 FR G 6-3 180
9.4 Pts, 1.9 Reb, 4.9 Ast
Dallan Coleman
3 JR G 6-6 215
7.2 Pts, 2.6 Reb, 0.7 Ast
Amaree Abram
24 SO G 6-4 190
4.0 Pts, 2.4 Reb, 1.4 Ast
Yellow Jackets Frontcourt
Baye Ndongo
11 FR F 6-9 214
13.1 Pts, 8.6 Reb, 0.9 Ast
Tyzhaun Claude
12 SR F 6-8 240
4.9 Pts, 5.0 Reb, 0.9 Ast
Tafara Gapare
5 SO F 6-9 205
4.4 Pts, 2.1 Reb, 0.4 Ast
What to expect from Georgia Tech?
The Yellow Jackets will run primarily a four guard, single forward that primarily moves the ball around the perimeter to find the best outside shot. The outside shot represents 47% of their total shots. Nathan George is the primary facilitator for the Jackets offense, averaging 4.2 apg.
The outside threat shooting wise is Reeves, who hits 41% from outside but Kelly is taking 6.6 shots per game although shooting only 28%. The Jackets as a team are averaging 24 points per game from the perimeter which is low considering the take 27 attempts.
Inside the paint, Ndongo does the majority of Georgia Tech's scoring, averaging 11 points in the paint per game. As a team they shoot 55% inside the perimeter in ACC play which is second in the conference and a major concern for the Hokies as that has been a significant weakness in losses this season. They are not consistent at the free throw line, hitting only 68% from the stripe this season on 16 attempts per game.
The Yellow Jackets defensively are a mess. They allow opponents to shoot over 50 percent inside, 38 percent from the perimeter and conference opponents are getting to the line for almost 22 attempts per game. They are terrible on switching or getting around screens, especially against opponents looking to free up perimeter shooters for open looks. One surprising area they do excel defensively is blocked shots. For such a small lineup, they have had five or more blocks in ten of their nineteen games.
In seven of their ten losses, Georgia Tech shot under 39% from the floor. A large part of this is due to getting behind early and being forced to look for threes late in games to catch up. They don't win or lose by large margins, with three early wins by double digits and only three losses so expect a close game at the end.
The Hokies
One area that we have faulted this team this season is the ability to get to the rim on dribble penetration but they have been much more confident taking it to the basket rather than getting caught between a pass and a shot. Its an integral part of winning games in the ACC so need to hope they continue improving.
🤌👀👀👀👀 pic.twitter.com/wiTQ6PtZkq— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) January 26, 2024
The Hokies limited the turnovers against BC to 11 which is a significant improvement over the prior two weeks. Georgia Tech turns opponents over the least amount of any ACC team at 8.5 per game. Avoiding lost possessions should allow the Hokies to build an early lead in this game.
Vegas shows the Hokies by 9.5 point favorites, which seems high even for a home game. The biggest change in recent wins has been getting consistency from all five starters. Against BC, Tech had four starters in double-figures with Beran scoring nine. The injuries/illness limited the bench to only thirteen points.
Rebounding has been a recent concern. Virginia Tech started conference play winning the rebounding battle in five of their first six but in the last two wins its been a drastic difference. Hokies were outrebounded by BC by 11 rebounds. The bigger concern on the boards though are allowing offensive rebounds. They have allowed 10+ in five of their last eight games leading to 10+ second chance points in six of the last eight games.
The biggest weakness that works in the Hokies favor is how often the Jackets leave shooters wide open. If Cattoor and Pedulla get in a groove from outside early, this game could get out of hand. That said, Lynn Kidd has height and weight advantage on Ndongo down low as well so working the inside game can also benefit them by forcing Georgia Tech to provide help underneath.
could not be stopped 😮💨🔥🏹🎯 https://t.co/YIqeB38Z11 pic.twitter.com/osO1AjgiyQ— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) January 25, 2024
In Closing
Can the Hokies take advantage of a weak perimeter defense to hit outside shots early? I would expect Cattoor and Pedulla to combine for at least seven outside shots in this one.
Georgia Tech is good at protecting possessions but not a great jump shot shooting team which has cost them in most of their losses. The Hokies may be the best defense that Georgia Tech has faced all season. Hold GT to at or below 40% from the floor and get a win that pushes the Hokies back into a winning conference record.
Bring your Pepto though as this game likely comes down to a couple of possession game and Hokies will need to win it at the line late.
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Shout out to Cassell Guard. Lots of opposing players here said Cassell is the toughest place to play.
📈📈📈📈🏰🥇 @CassellGuardVT pic.twitter.com/V7mGxt9P0w— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) January 24, 2024
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