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DEL.ICIO.USBottom line? More FTs a must
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
That second half last night — especially the last 10 minutes or so — was agony for Tech fans.
Sure, Tech’s lack of a true point guard showed up as Zam Fredrick had six turnovers in the second half (although he had nine assists for the game), and the Yellow Jackets had problems getting into their offense.
But you know what? There was plenty more to it than that. It didn’t help when J.J. Redick’s knee caught Anthony Morrow in the thigh early in the second half, but Morrow hasn’t helped enough lately even when he hasn’t had a charley horse.
He scored four points last night on one of three shooting, getting two points at the free throw line while shooting two free throws after Coach K. got a technical in the second half.
But when your leading scorer doesn’t get to the free throw line much, and Morrow doesn’t, it can hurt. Lately, it has.
Morrow still leads Tech with an average of 16 points a game, but he’s been to the free throw line just 63 times all year. That’s 2.5 free throw attempts per game! Redick’s been to the FT line 211 times (8.1 per game). I’m not suggesting Morrow can or should be getting to the line that much.
But two a game? He hit his only free throw last Saturday at Maryland, his only FT the game before that at UNC, and didn’t take a free throw the game before that against N.C. State. He hit all four attempts the game before that against Miami, but didn’t get to the line in either of the two games before that.
So in his past eight games, he’s been to the free throw line eight times (two for techs). He’s hit all eight. So what if he gets to the line five or six times per game? They lost by one at FSU, in overtime at Maryland.
“He knows that,” coach Paul Hewitt told me this afternoon. “Anthony needs to get to the line more, and he knows that. We’ve talked about it. He needs to put the ball on the floor more.”
Fredrick, Dickey and sometimes Jeremis Smith (he was very good last night, wasn’t he? At least until back spasms bothered him) can create shots for themselves with some regularity, although each has certain limitations in how they do it.
Tech couldn’t create in the final 8-10 minutes, and started fouling like mad. No gripes, please, about the officiating in this one. Duke didn’t start getting to the line with any regularity until Tech started hacking, prematurely, Hewitt said after the game. And they were hacks. Duke took just two FTs in the first half, missing both.
Permalink | Comments (16) | Categories: Basketball
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By Ga_Tech_92
February 23, 2006 04:56 PM | Link to this
I agree about the officials and everything else. I think we have a hard time creating, including creating FT opportunities. We kept trying to get the ball down to Dickey and Smith (rightly so), but Duke fronted them (or jump in the passing lanes) and we don’t seem to have a clue about how to lob the ball into the post over the front.
amongst other things
I thought we played pretty well all things considered. I just wish we had someone to take over in crunch time (last 5-10 minutes).
By OG-T
February 23, 2006 05:01 PM | Link to this
Hewitt said it the other day … this is the team. There is no trading deadline or supplemental draft coming up. The reality is we have two pseudo-PGs. One is a former walk-on who has a 2G slashing style. The other is a backup SG who may be about 10-15 lbs. too heavy.
Without the proper floor balance, we cannot breakdown the defender and dish to a teammate who gets fouled by a defender trying to catch up.
Occasionally, Zam, West, Clinch and Bell do this, but they don’t have the ability to do it in the last 8 mins of a game when the defense really gets stiff.
I’m hopeful that Javaris and Thaddeus will add these qualities to the mix next year. I think those two additions — and their style of play — could make a world of difference with spacing, and gaining position advantage. This is a good, talented group, just not a complete team at this point.
Lastly, I’ll give it to Hewitt and his staff … the guys never seem to quit… currently, they just don’t have the right talent for the late stages of the game.
By Ryan
February 23, 2006 05:27 PM | Link to this
Its as plain as this. Their team was full of senior and juniors, and we had sophmores and freshmen. Their Varsity team beat our JV team. When they say a team is young, they dont mean that they dont have the talent(GT most certainly does), they want to say that they dont have the strength or the stamina. I think Hewitt should evaluate the team based on this fact. Were not finishing games because we get tired and fatiqued. Once we get this out of our system, the skys the limit.
Bottom line- No one should be critizing their talent because they HAVE it! We were beating the BEST team in the country for 30 minutes for godsakes!… Once we mature physically we will be where we want to be.
By NC
February 23, 2006 07:45 PM | Link to this
really Ryan, they started 2 freshmen:Paulus and McRoberts and the sophmore, DeMarcus Nelson, killed us.
By StingerSplash
February 23, 2006 08:04 PM | Link to this
The Jackets also have two longstanding problems, a lack of blocking out on rebounds and not going after the basketball. Tech players rarely step to meet a pass and they wait for loose balls to come to them or they try to dribble out of the pack with them. Duke players? They get after it and go after it. When the Jackets got their leads on UNC and Duke, it was because they were aggressive on both ends of the floor, especially on offense. When they start playing timid, they get eaten alive.
By MaybeNextTime
February 23, 2006 09:45 PM | Link to this
It must be depressing being a tech sports fan. Even when JJ couldn’t throw the ball into a lake you nerds still lost.
By honest abe
February 23, 2006 10:35 PM | Link to this
wow lot of people intereted in this blog! lol. seriously though name me one other coach that can berate the offical like coach K did last night and not get tossed!!! i mean when coach knight looks like a gentleman when compared to you, you have some serious anger issues….i give coach k some credit though, he works those officials all game long then gets the calls during crunchtime…acc officials need to grow some balls and throw his him and his mutated nose off the court!
By brewerfaninATL
February 24, 2006 06:46 AM | Link to this
Honest Abe: Man, you’re a bit harsh, huh? Look around, just about every coach from every team rails on the officials each and every game, it’s just a matter if they say that magic word, such as an F-bomb! Come on, he got a T and you got your 2 freebie points! Trust me, you got beat by the better team, not the officials!
By Ga_Tech_92
February 24, 2006 08:44 AM | Link to this
StingerSplash, I agree with you. Those come down to hustle and effort plays in my book….hustle and effort are not age dependent…they are HEART dependent. Does this team have the heart or not? Sure, we might not be fast or skilled enough to break down the defense…but it doesn’t take skill to dive for the ball every time it’s on the floor…or to box out…or to out hustle.
Sometimes we do outhustle the other team, when that happens we look like we can beat anyone, even with our lack of playmaking. Too bad we can’t seem to get that sort of energy for 40 minutes. I don’t think it’s because of youth either…look at Dukes PG…that dude is a freshman and hustled every second on the floor. Every man on the floor needs to hustle like the game is on the line every possession…because that is in fact the situation.
By Rambin'Man
February 24, 2006 01:26 PM | Link to this
yeah, but Duke’s PG is a blue chip all american recruit. Our PG….well, he isn’t a PG, and is often confused about is role. We think too much out there. That is a product of trying to fill in major holes at the guard position. nothing flows naturally out there when defenses clamp down in last phases of the game.
i still think any team can win the ACC Tourney this year. We have played more close games than any team in the conference both away and home and i only see us getting better by tourney time. don’t be surprised if we get to finals….that’s all i’m saying.
By old Tech Fan (in NC)
February 24, 2006 01:41 PM | Link to this
As a retired engineer, this blogger is also confused about the seemingly routine reversal of play by this Tech team towards the end of a game. We start most games by playing as good (or better) as others and then something happens…what is it that happens? Many seem to know the answer but there are so many answers it appears we do not know for sure. Maybe some of the grad students could run a Failure Modes and Effects Analysis…and help Coach H??? Tech now has the ACC thinking we are dead…hopefully the tourn will awaken a sleeping giant! Hey, it can happen!
By Ga_Tech_92
February 24, 2006 02:06 PM | Link to this
I think we can beat anyone any day also…let’s hope that we start doing that and keep doing it in the tourneyment…what a nice ending to a horrible season that would be :)
One thing about the point guard pressure….I’m no point guard…but I can D up anyone anytime…it just takes trying to do it…our guys don’t look always as if they are trying to D up the other teams point guard full court…we make things too easy for the other guys sometimes.
By arktechfan
February 24, 2006 02:10 PM | Link to this
To get fouled, you have to be doing something instead of hanging around the perimeter hoping to shot a three. Redick gets fouled because he is going to the hoop!! How many times have you seen Morrow drive??
I
By George
February 24, 2006 02:37 PM | Link to this
Morrow doesn’t have the handle or quickness to put it on the floor. Also, a good chunk of those free throws Redick shoots is when Duke has the lead and the other team has to foul. I know your new, so I’ll let you know that Tech hasn’t had many leads late in games.
By GM
February 24, 2006 04:33 PM | Link to this
Against Duke and UNC in the first halves, it reminded me of 2 years ago when we came out and stomped UConn and T.Tech. We’re seeing more of that type of aggressiveness and hustle (and even small doses of domination) than earlier in the year. Hopefully the team will put it all together by next year with the addition of Crittenton and Young. I don’t think this team fully believes in themselves yet, but they’re getting better.
By Matt Winkeljohn
February 24, 2006 04:43 PM | Link to this
George,
This is not a reference to Georgia Tech’s overall negative disparity in terms of team free throws attempted.
The point is any team’s leading scorer needs to get to the line more than once per game, as Morrow has over the past eight games. He’s taken 315 shots this season, and just 63 free throws. To argue that he doesn’t need to get to the line more seems far-fetched at best.
Jeremis Smith has taken 208 shots, and been to the free throw line 159 times.
Is Jeremis a renowned driver? No. But he drives to the basket some, and he leads the team in offensive rebounds, when you either go back up with it and score, get it blocked or get fouled.
Morrow’s a forward, albeit a shooting forward. He needs to put the ball on the floor more AND get more offensive rebounds (he has just 39 offensive rebounds all season, 50 fewer than Smith despite playing 184 more minutes).
I’m not even suggesting that he needs to get to the free throw line as much as Jeremis, who spends most of his time in rebounding position.
When I bounced my theory off coach Hewitt, here’s what he said: “It’s something he’s got to work on. You’ve got to put the ball on the floor, drive, get offensive rebounds because when you get offensive rebounds then you force the defense to give up a layup or they’re going to foul you. There are definitely some things that he can do. He’s working at it.”
Sure, Tech has hacked a lot down the stretch of a lot of games. Overall, though, you create a lot of your own free throw opportunities by being aggressive on offense and forcing the defense to foul. Tech’s premier offensive threat in the post, Dickey, has been to the line just 83 times. That’s a better ratio, but not fantastic. For a guy who scores as easily as he sometimes does in the paint, he doesn’t draw hard contact as often as you’d think.
Matt