AJC > Sports > Tech > Blog > Archives > 2007 > February > 14
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Crittenton ‘unreal’ in win at FSU
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sorry I didn’t blog yesterday. Travel nightmares (four delays, eventual flight change) — although at least nothing hit my plane.
If you didn’t get to see Tech’s game at Florida State, you missed something special. Javaris Crittenton was unreal with 10 of 17 shooting, 6 of 7 from the free throw line, a few of his shots going just before the shot clock. Quite a bit of that’s in the paper, though, and I have to catch another plane (I hope) so I’ll hit some other stuff.
• Whether it’s coaching adjustments or something else (or both), Tech’s second-half defense has been fantastic in the past four game (all wins). FSU hit 6 of 23 shots last night. UConn hit 10 of 35. N.C. State hit 6 of 18 (going 14 minutes without a field goal), and Clemson hit 12 of 33. That’s a combined 34 of 109 (31.2 percent). That’ll help.
• Last night’s plan with FSU point guard Toney Douglas injured, was to keep the ball out of senior forward Al Thornton’s hands. And why not? His average of 22.3 points per ACC game leads the league. It worked. He hit 1 of 2 shots in the first half, picked up his third and fourth fouls in the first 2:53 of the second (there were 44 fouls called in this game), and got hot very late to hit 4 of 7 in the second half.
“I think he and [BC’s Jared] Dudley are the two best players in the league, and I told our guys we just can’t allow him to get a touch because a double team just doesn’t matter to him right now; he’s blowing right through double teams and scoring,” coach Paul Hewitt said. “Our whole thing was to do anything we can to stop him from touching the ball.
“[Isiah] Swann got us with [23], but you’ve got to give something to get something. We gambled, I just feel a lot better not seeing the ball in Al Thornton’s hands. He’s a great player, one of the best players I’ve seen in my seven years here.”
• In the spirit of everybody pitching in, there may not have been any obvious efforts Tuesday night like D’Andre Bell and Alade Aminu of late, but while Anthony Morrow was making just 1 of 10 shots, he also was pulling seven rebounds.
• Also, while center Ra’Sean Dickey made a couple bad plays (that foul in the backcourt very late when the last thing Tech wanted to do was foul a team that leads the league with an 80.8 FT percentage), he scored eight points and grabbed five rebounds in 25 minutes despite being sick. “He had some stomach problems,” Hewitt said. “He was in and out of the game. There were a couple times he asked out. We tried to get him in there offensively.”
• Hewitt subbed as madly as ever. It was hard to keep track.
• The foul trouble hurt FSU more than Tech, what with Thornton’s problems. Plus, FSU’s other starting big, Uche Echefu, had four, and scored just 2 points with four rebounds in a mere 15 minutes.
• After Thornton’s rebound and stickback pulled FSU within 52-50 with 1:39 left, Tech made a lot of very solid plays (other than that foul). Crittenton made 5 of 6 free throws after that, Morrow 4 of 4. But what about Jeremis Smith hitting a shot clock-beating 3 pointer with 31 seconds left for a 57-50 lead?
• Although Mario West pumped his fist hard on the court when Crittenton rebounded FSU’s last miss, there was little or no obvious celebration. It was like they’d planned on winning this, whether that reaction was coached or not. “The environment is different,” in road games, West said. “I really think it’s just a mental block, nothing physical. We’ve always had a wonderful game plan, but we just don’t go out there and execute all the time.”
• Crittenton, in a four-game ACC losing streak that preceded this four-game winning streak, averaged 8.0 points on 23.9 percent shooting (11 of 46) with 2.5 rebounds, four assists, 4.3 turnovers, and 1.8 steals per game. In the win streak, he’s averaged 22.3 points on 55.5 percent shooting (30 of 54) with 5.5 rebounds
“The big thing for me now is to remind him to talk to his teammates because he’s the guy they are going to look to. I think they’re realizing he’s good enough to lead us,” Hewitt said. “He’s a freshman point guard. People talk about the great rookies in this league, and there are some, but I’m not sure anybody is in a tougher spot because of all he has to do for our team statistically but also as a point guard.”
Thaddeus Young (1 of 10 shooting) said, “He’s doing a much better job telling us what to do. Tonight was his night. He was making shots, and we told him to keep making them and he did.”
Tech’s off today so no news unless I can find something when I get back to Atlanta.
Permalink | Comments (14) | Post your comment | Categories: Basketball
