AJC > Sports > Tech > Blog > Archives > 2009 > January > 26
Monday, January 26, 2009
Reviewing Clemson
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I’m guessing not many of you are particularly surprised at how the game turned out last night. The Jackets were in it in the first half, and even came back from down seven in the first to take a 32-29 lead before Clemson closed out the half on an 8-2 run.
The game effectively ended when Clemson started off on a 19-4 tear in the first nine-plus minutes. Tech helped by rushing shots offensively and getting broken down defensively. Lewis Clinch said “it’s like we were panicking.”
Iman Shumpert said the team didn’t fight the way it wanted to in the second half. Tech rallied late, getting some easy baskets off the press, but not enough to matter.
Ultimately, Clemson was a better basketball team and should have won. Tigers coach Oliver Purnell said as much after the game. It’s not by accident that Clemson is 17-2.
Also…
1) Tech was out-rebounded for the seventh time in the season. Tech is 2-5 in those games. Of Tech’s big men, Purnell said the strategy was “just go at ‘em. We just wanted to occupy their big guys and keep them off the glass. That was pretty much it.”
2) Tech shot 10-for-14 from the free-throw line. The Jackets are actually shooting 75.5 percent from the free-throw line in their last three games. (Also, they were a lot better at inbounding the ball - a flaw that has aggravated a lot of you. They actually got some shots out of it.)
3) Tech made two more baskets than Clemson - 23 to 21 - but the Tigers shot 8-for-23 from three-point range and Tech was 3-for-14. Moe Miller, Clinch and Shumpert shot 4-for-22 from the field and 3-for-10 from three-point range. (Shumpert was 2-for-3.)
4) Hewitt started Miller in place of forward Alade Aminu in hopes of giving Tech more ballhandlers against the press. By my count, Tech turned the ball over three times against the press in the first half, and four times in the second. (Although, pressed by deadline, I stopped taking possession-by-possession notes with about four minutes left.)
5) Hewitt didn’t call Miller out by name, but clearly wasn’t happy with some shot choices of his early in the second half. Miller drove the lane twice and was blocked by Jerai Grant. Grant is 6-foot-8. Miller is 6-foot-2. Hewitt: “A couple of those blocked shots, we just went up weak. You knew it was going to happen. You saw the matchup, you saw the block coming a mile away.”
I think that typified the play that bothered Hewitt the most - that when Clemson came at Tech early in the second half, the Jackets couldn’t - or didn’t know how to - respond. Said Hewitt, “There are times when we just act so young.”
5) Tech’s point total (59) is its third-lowest of the season, after Duke (70-56) and USC (76-57).
6) Tech is under .500 for the first time this season. (9-10) Barring a revival of the 2001-02 variety (when Tech started ACC play 0-7 and then won seven of its last nine), the Jackets are looking at their second consecutive sub-.500 season and their fourth in Hewitt’s nine seasons.
I’m wondering if you were upset, or are past caring, or just figured they would lose because they were playing a much better team.
