AJC > Sports > Tech > Blog > Archives > 2008 > January > 23
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Jackets digging deeper; controversy rages
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You better have some time if you’re going to read this.
Some might think it strange (not to mention premature) to say, but the mens basketball teams looks like it can do some damage.
Man, this reminds me of a guy I used to hang with frequently back in the late ’80s when I spend too much time in long-dead Buckhead dives like the ACME Bar & Grill and the Orchestra Pit. We’d battle on sports-related points. He’d always say, ‘Don’t jump to conclusions; they don’t set a schedule so you can figure it out before it’s played out.” He was a knucklehead. But he was right, even if more often than not you can case a team by the midway point of its season.
Maybe trying to peg Georgia Tech previously, at least this incarnation of hoopsters, was a mistake, huh?
After a 77-74 win at N.C. State Wednesday night in which Matt Causey again rose from the near-dead (for 18 points after scoring 30 in the win Saturday over Virginia Tech), it’s clear the Jackets are tending to details much better than in their first 15 games. I’m including the 83-82 loss to North Carolina in this thought.
I told some other writers here that Causey this season has had a dislocated knee cap, a sprained ankle, a dislocated shoulder and a dislocated jaw, and they looked at me as if their jaws were going to drop out of place. He’s a freak with, as teammate D’Andre Bell said, “A lot of [plural — I’ll let you guess whats].”
Yes, it looks like the point guards are playing better, chiefly Causey, but players and coach Paul Hewitt are right in my opinion when they say a big part of that reason is because other players are helping them play better. They’re moving better without the ball, much better.
And the Jackets are playing better defense.
In recent games, they’ve done quite a number on three of the seven top scoring players in the ACC, holding Miami’s Jack McClinton, UNC’s Wayne Ellington and VT’s A.D. Vasallo to a combined 18-plus points below their combined averages.
Wednesday was a different challenge, as N.C. State freshman center J.J. Hickson entered the game as the league’s most accurate shooter.
Tech held him to 6 of 14. Gani Lawal did most of the dirty work behind Hickson, his fellow McDonalds All-American from last spring, and blocked five shots. I think four were Hickson’s.
Instead of double-teaming him with another post player, as the Jackets did a week earlier with UNC center Tyler Hansbrough (who nonetheless scored 27) Tech frequently sagged a guard inside much of the time to limit passing lanes to Hickson by fronting him, and to help try to dig the ball out of his hands.
They didn’t shut Hickson down. He finished with 16 points. But the defensive game plan made a difference.
“It was a team effort. Gani did a nice job contesting his shots,” coach Paul Hewitt said. “He could have gotten off another four or five shots [if the Jackets didn’t work. We did big-to-big double against Hansbrough. That was a little bit different than what we’ve done [with high-scoring bigs] in the past.”
It hasn’t always been pretty, but Tech’s playing with a new-found moxie.
There’s a lot to point out, and the first point here is huge.
Anthony Morrow’s four strip-the-cords free throws in the final 19 seconds were extra large. He’s making 85 percent.
But there was much more.
Although N.C. State went to the line eight more times, and made 21 of 28, Tech made 15 of 20, but MOST IMPORTANTLY made its last eight free throws in the final 2:01. Eight of the Jackets’ final 10 points came from the line, Zack Peacock making two, D’Andre Bell two and Morrow four. That was gigantic.
Tech did a good job (and N.C. State did a horrible job defending this) getting the ball into Morrow’s hands late. Again, he’s making 85 percent. Plus, he leads the Jackets in minutes played (528, or 29.3 per game), but has turned the ball over just 18 times, or once every 29 minutes — once per game despite playing more than everybody else.
The offense is operating much more efficiently of late. Tech made 14 of 24 shots in the first half, 15 of 25 in the second, 29 of 49 overall (59.2 percent). That’s tough to beat.
Snicker if you want, but be warned that snickering recently has been a foolish play. Tech is in play for the NCAA tournament, but with plenty of work to do. The Jackets’ strength of schedule (No. 7 in the nation AFTER last night’s game) has plenty to do with Tech’s 9-9 record. If they can win seven of their final 12, and win two games in the ACC tournament, they’re going to probably be on the bottom of the NCAA tournament bubble. That would make them 18-15, a push. If they go 8-4, and win one game, they’ll be 18-14. They’d be viable. They go 8-4 and win two, and they’re in at 19-14. Why?
Tech jumped to No. 64 in the projected RPI last night. Very importantly, the Jackets are 5-5 in road/neutral games, with wins at Tennessee Tech, Georgia State, and N.C. State and neutral wins over Notre Dame (No. 47 in the RPI) and UNC Charlotte (No. 79). That’s not earth-shaking, but not small potatoes. Lord knows the Jackets are going to have more chances on the road, where they’ll play four of their next five. Overall, they still have road games at Virginia, Wake Forest, UConn, Clemson, Virginia Tech, Duke and Boston College. Win three of those seven, and they’ll have a huge jump if they take care of business at home (Maryland, Miami, Virginia, Wake and Clemson). Look at some of their losses: No. 2 North Carolina, No. 3 Kansas, No. 12 Vanderbilt, No. 25 Indiana. They were very respectable in all but the Vandy game. Working against Tech: The Jackets are 0-2 against teams currently ranked 101-200 (Georgia, at 117, and UNC-Greensboro 120). Tech is 1-5 against teams currently in the top 50 (Notre Dame 47). Chances await to improve.
Moving on …
Tech turned the ball over just three times in the second half.
Gani Lawal is becoming quite a shot blocker, which may help lead to more press defense with him as the safety. Hewitt would prefer to play more press.
Rip Bell if you want, and at risk of being a fool. He played a team-high 34 minutes, scored 13. Yes, he had four turnovers, three in the first half. But he’s attacking the basket more, and he helps Tech’s perimeter defense. No Tech player is more mindful of details. I just don’t think he needs to play PG, which he didn’t Wednesday, unless there is an emergency.
Hotel Hewitt has shortened his rotation to nine players, with a very brief appearance by Lance Storrs against Va. Tech the only exception in the past five games. I think this helps chemistry, rhythm, role understanding. Starters played more than the first five minutes Wednesday before a substitution (Causey, Clinch).
N.C. State could have used a timeout late, but didn’t have any. Coach Sidney Lowe and the Wolfpack burned a few in the first half, and carried just two to the second half. Hewitt used only one in the first half, with 17 seconds left to set up a final play that did not work (and why not? Had he not used it, he could not have carried it to the second half). He had all he needed down the stretch, which as some well know, is a luxury he doesn’t always afford himself. He was uncommonly patient as N.C. State made a run or two in the second half, trusting that his guys would hold on, or until a pending TV timeout. Much improvement in this area.
Finally, my favorite …
I have to admit that I was, for lack of another word, disappointed in Matt Causey early in the season. I heard last season while he was sitting out after his transfer about his spunky nature, and that he could shoot. There wasn’t much evidence early. He was slow, a grab-and-clutch defender, and could hardly move left or right. He was a straight-line player with a good eye. His knee cap and ankle have healed somewhat, and he’s clearly a pretty good player. Not a defensive straightjacket, but easy to underestimate. He forces some bad plays by opponents. Annoys.
And he battles his butt off. I made the comment here last week that Tech could use more players built like him. Some commented sarcastically that, sure, the Jackets could use more 5-11, slow, white guys who can’t jump. It’s not white, or black, folks. It’s gray. This cat rolls in the gray. He has intangibles. He’s built the right way inside.
I asked teammates about him tonight. Nobody said it better than Morrow.
“That’s my home boy right there. He’s just one of those rowdy guys, scrappy,” Morrow said. “I knew he was crazy when he and Javaris [Crittenton] would get into it last year in practice. They’d go back and forth, and get into little scuffles. It was all out of competition. That’s when I knew he was a very competitive kid, and he was going to be able to go at anybody in the ACC.”
Nobody doe more with less athleticism than those two, Morrow and Causey. Every team needs players built like them.
Matt
P.S. Sorry about the controversy headline; just wanted to build in an extra reason to keep you reading.
