What Georgia Tech has done to become one of the ACC's top defenses
Within the first five possessions of Georgia Tech’s upset of No. 6 Florida State on Wednesday, the Yellow Jackets had shown the Seminoles a man-to-man defense, a 2-3 zone and a 1-3-1 zone. They applied a half-court trap and used guard Corey Heyward to pressure full court.
The various looks, executed with effort and precision, set the stage for one of the more unlikely results of the ACC season, a near shutdown of Florida State’s highly efficient offense that scored but 15 points in the first half. Tech’s offensive numbers were, by most standards, decent, but it was the defense that drove the 78-56 rout.
“I think we had the highest field-goal shooting percentage in the ACC, and we look up, we shoot 17 percent in the first half,” FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. “And I think that’s to their credit. I know we had some point-blank layups and some open looks that we normally make, but I think that their mixing defenses up, I thought, made our kids a little tentative.”
About the Author
Ken Sugiura is a sports columnist at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Formerly the Georgia Tech beat reporter, Sugiura started at the AJC in 1998 and has covered a variety of beats, mostly within sports.
