Pilchard
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The Deacs travel to Atlanta to take on GT tomorrow. WF has not won a men's basketball game at Tech since an 80-76 win in 2004. Justin Gray, who is now 34, was WF's leading scorer that year; Jarret Jack and BJ Elder played for GT (who played for the Natty that April). George W Bush was in his first term as President, and Donald Trump was coming off divorce #2, and starting his first year on the Apprentice. A simpler time. Since that win on Sunday February 22, 2004, WF is 0-12 at GT, evenly spread among: Prosser (0-3), Gaudio (0-3), [] (0-3), Manning (0-3). Last year, WF led in the final 10 minutes, but collapsed late (shocker) to lose 64-56. Crawford was WF's leading scorer with 22 (and 8 TOs). Okogie led GT with 22 as well.
Record: Josh Pastner has led GT to 8-5 OOC record heading into ACC play. KP #98. GT is 1-6 against teams ranked in the top 200 (WF is #153). With home losses to Gardner-Webb (#166 -- sound familiar?) and UGA (#101). Tech's best win, by far was a 4 point upset at Arkansas (#53) on December 19. Other than that outlier win, GT 's next best win was over #243 Texas Rio Grande Valley. Like WF, GT has played a pathetic OOC schedule (#315).
Offense: Worst in the conference by a mile #228. This is a terrible offensive team. GT shoots poorly (30.5% from 3 #297), turns the ball over a lot (TOs on 20.5 % of their possessions - #261), and they don't offensive rebound well (#214); this is against a bad schedule. The Jackets do get to the line fairly often (#79 in FTA/FGA). They play at a moderate tempo (#166).
Defense: Excellent. KP #24. Pastner has his team playing hard on D; they play mostly man. They are #11 in effective FG% (43%), and they have been particularly strong at defending the 3 (27% #7). They have also excelled at defending the paint holding opponents to 44% on 2 point shots (#26). GT also forces TOs (#62). The one weakness of GT's aggressive D is that they foul often (#293 in FTA/FGA; WF's primary offensive strength has been getting to the line as WF is #4 in the nation in FTA/FGA offense).
Lineup: Like WF, GT is young. They return only one player that started against WF last year, Evan Cole (he is coming off an injury, but played well against SC-Upstate on Wednesday) . In GT's last game, they started 2 frosh, 2 sophs and 1 junior: PG 6-0 So. Jose Alvarado, 2G 6-4 SG Fr. Michael Devoe, 6-6 SG Fr. Khalid Moore, 6-9 PF So. Moses Wright and 6-9 Jr. C James Banks (transfer from Texas). Pastner likes to use his bench, and with Cole back, GT will go 9 or 10 deep. GT's bigs are not a threat from 3. GT best two 3 point shooters, Brandon Alston (45%) and Curtis Haywood (36%) have been coming off the bench. PG Jose Alvarado takes a lot of 3s and misses a lot of them 25% on 67 attempts. James Banks has been very effective inside for the Jackets as he shoots 58% from the field, gets to the line a lot, and has been a strong rebounder. In the win over Arkansas, Banks had 14 points and 14 boards. He is going to be a tough match up for Smart and Sarr.
Bottom Line: KP projects a 72-64 GT win. The game shapes up to be a low scoring defensive struggle. Excepting the win over historically putrid Pitt last year, WF has not won an ACC road game since John Collins led WF to a win at VT on March 4, 2017. WF is 0-2 on the road this year. Given WF recent and historic road woes, hard to find any reason to think WF is going to win tomorrow. With that said, have a hunch WF may steal one tomorrow. Even if that happens, there is a major reality check ahead as WF will be double digit dogs and massively outclassed in its next 5 games.
Record: Josh Pastner has led GT to 8-5 OOC record heading into ACC play. KP #98. GT is 1-6 against teams ranked in the top 200 (WF is #153). With home losses to Gardner-Webb (#166 -- sound familiar?) and UGA (#101). Tech's best win, by far was a 4 point upset at Arkansas (#53) on December 19. Other than that outlier win, GT 's next best win was over #243 Texas Rio Grande Valley. Like WF, GT has played a pathetic OOC schedule (#315).
Offense: Worst in the conference by a mile #228. This is a terrible offensive team. GT shoots poorly (30.5% from 3 #297), turns the ball over a lot (TOs on 20.5 % of their possessions - #261), and they don't offensive rebound well (#214); this is against a bad schedule. The Jackets do get to the line fairly often (#79 in FTA/FGA). They play at a moderate tempo (#166).
Defense: Excellent. KP #24. Pastner has his team playing hard on D; they play mostly man. They are #11 in effective FG% (43%), and they have been particularly strong at defending the 3 (27% #7). They have also excelled at defending the paint holding opponents to 44% on 2 point shots (#26). GT also forces TOs (#62). The one weakness of GT's aggressive D is that they foul often (#293 in FTA/FGA; WF's primary offensive strength has been getting to the line as WF is #4 in the nation in FTA/FGA offense).
Lineup: Like WF, GT is young. They return only one player that started against WF last year, Evan Cole (he is coming off an injury, but played well against SC-Upstate on Wednesday) . In GT's last game, they started 2 frosh, 2 sophs and 1 junior: PG 6-0 So. Jose Alvarado, 2G 6-4 SG Fr. Michael Devoe, 6-6 SG Fr. Khalid Moore, 6-9 PF So. Moses Wright and 6-9 Jr. C James Banks (transfer from Texas). Pastner likes to use his bench, and with Cole back, GT will go 9 or 10 deep. GT's bigs are not a threat from 3. GT best two 3 point shooters, Brandon Alston (45%) and Curtis Haywood (36%) have been coming off the bench. PG Jose Alvarado takes a lot of 3s and misses a lot of them 25% on 67 attempts. James Banks has been very effective inside for the Jackets as he shoots 58% from the field, gets to the line a lot, and has been a strong rebounder. In the win over Arkansas, Banks had 14 points and 14 boards. He is going to be a tough match up for Smart and Sarr.
Bottom Line: KP projects a 72-64 GT win. The game shapes up to be a low scoring defensive struggle. Excepting the win over historically putrid Pitt last year, WF has not won an ACC road game since John Collins led WF to a win at VT on March 4, 2017. WF is 0-2 on the road this year. Given WF recent and historic road woes, hard to find any reason to think WF is going to win tomorrow. With that said, have a hunch WF may steal one tomorrow. Even if that happens, there is a major reality check ahead as WF will be double digit dogs and massively outclassed in its next 5 games.
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