Sunday's Game: Clemson at Ga. Tech

Feb 20, 2009, 12:06 PM

Who: Clemson (21-4, 7-4 ACC, No. 13) at Georgia Tech (10-15, 1-11 ACC, RPI No. 160)
When: Sunday, 1 p.m. in the Thrillerdome
Is it on TV: Raycom regional
The Line: Not up yet. Pomeroy likes Clemson by 11
Common foes: Alabama, Virginia, Maryland, Duke, NC State, Boston, Wake, Fla. State, VTech. GTech is 1-10, Clemson is 7-4.

When last we met: Clemson shook off a lopsided loss to UNC, whipping Tech 73-59. But the Tigers went cold in the last 4 minutes, denying tacos to everyone.

GTech watches the rest of the ACC run away...

Out of curiosity, is GTech really that bad? Let's put it this way. They beat Wake, which we couldn't do.GTech also played Florida St. tough on the road, and nearly beat Maryland. There's some real talent there. But like Virginia, it just seems to have a knack of fading at critical moments.

Ugh! You had to bring up Virginia, didn't you? Yep, because until Clemson, GTech was the only ACC win the Hoos had. That shows just how uneven GTech is.

Look back at our game a few weeks ago. Tech took an early lead, then went stone cold. Then the Jackets would rally, then fade. Then they'd press, making the final margin respectible. We weren't at our best in that game, but unless you're playing lousy, Tech will make enough mistakes to lose.

KC says, "You're one weird-looking dude Shumpert!"

Seems they had some decent outside shooting in our game, right? Those came from guard Iman Shumpert (12 ppg, 4 reb, 5 ast, 4 TO) a talented guy who's been forced to play point due to early injuries. As more of those PG duties fall to Maurice Miller (5 ppg, 4 ast) Shumpert has been able to play more of a 2 position, which has improved his stats.

When the Jacket play small you see a lot more of Lewis Clinch (12 ppg, 3 reb, 3 ast) He's very good at getting to loose balls, but not much of a wizard from the outside (26% from 3-point land).

She only beat Gani two out of five games

But all the Tech guards are looking inside. That's where Gani Lawal (15 ppg, 10 reb, 2 blk) is having a solid season. 6-10 Alade Aminu (12 ppg, 8 reb) and senior Zach Peacock (10 ppg, 5 reb, team best 74% from the line) give the Jackets both power and depth down low.

Decent numbers: why isn't their record better? Tech's been unlucky at times, outgunned at others. In games where the defense was solid, the offense was woeful. When the offense was working, the defense was off at Six Flags. Certainly their free throw ineptitude (team 63 pct ... sound familiar?) has cost them a couple of games.

The Jacket bench strength poses problems

But for all their talent, the Jackets have a problem with depth. Get past 6 guys and suddenly you're scraping the bottom of the barrel. Against deeper teams, that means trouble. And I think we can all agree that Clemson is deeper.

Tech likes to use their size to push the ball inside, saving the 3 for a final option. By compatison, Terrence Oglesby has more 3 attempts that Tech's top 2 outside shooters. With the size they have, it doesn't make sense to work outside.

On defense, the Jackets press only when they have to ... mainly to conserve energy or exploit another team's guards. And in the ACC there just aren't many bad guards.

Will the Tigers feast on turnovers?

Overall, Tech turns the ball over more than average, fouls more than average and is prone to steals on offense. All of which plays into Clemson's hands.

Hacking the Tigers: not a good idea

Free throws? Helping Clemson? C'mon! Ahh, you didn't see the 75% effort against Maryland. Truth is, from Jerai Grant (season high game last time we played GTech) to Demontez Stitt (who shredded Tech inside) the Tigers are hitting much better at the line. The old "hack-a-Tiger" strategy is going the way of the two-handed set shot.

Still the inside-outside game is ket for Clemson. Unlike GTech, the Tigers pass inside to set up outside shooting. The first person to see the ball needs to be cult hero Trevor Booker (15 ppg, 9 reb, 2 ast, 3 blk). His prowess with the ball and wallpaper dunks will likely earn him double teams from Tech, which means fewer points ... but also means there's someone open.

Last time against Tech, that someone was Terrence Oglesby (17 points last game vs. Tech). TO's performance against Maryland (including 6 assists vs. 1 turnover) certainly should have gotten GTech's attention. The problem is if Tech drapes TO, they leave KC Rivers (14 ppg, 6 reb, 3 ast) against a smaller foe. Last game, GTech covered KC and TO got the green light. This time, things may be reversed.

Defensively, David Potter (6 ppg) and Tanner Smith (5 ppg) will be called on to deny Tech easy access inside. the more you make Tech work for a shot, the more likely they are to get sloppy with the ball. I expect Clemson to press heavily unless GTech shows they're better at handling the ball than they were last game. With all the tall guys GTech has, you'd theink they could pass over the press, but putting Booker on the point makes those baseball passes a little tougher.

Can the Tigers play in the Thrillerdome? There have been two thirlls there since Christmas for Tech: beating Wake by 2 and beating JawJaw by 5. Even against Wake, the place was a tomb until the closing seconds.

The game boils down to Clemson's ability to force turnovers, then hit from the outside. no one has superb games against Tech inside. It was the inability to hit from outside that cost Wake vs. Tech (as was shown in the rematch, a 20-point mashing at home.)

Sure GTech has revenge as a motive, but if this year's team is looking for revenge against everyone who beat them, they might as well declare jihad against the phone book. In the meantime, Clemson needs to show it can follow up an impressive win with a win of ANY kind.

Second place in the conference and another crucial ACC road win wait for Clemson against a foe that, frankly, we should be able to beat by double digits. All Clemson needs to do is play solid defense, take care of the ball and hit averagly well from outside. There's no superb effort required. Just smart.

And after last week's butterfinger blitz at Virginia, I suspect we'll see a much more focused bunch of Tigers in Atlanta.

And -- finally -- a full week of ACC wins.

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Sunday's Game: Clemson at Ga. Tech

RevDodd bringing his 'A' game yet again!***

Awesome. Some of those pictures are priceless. ******

Better be a lot of ORANGE in the Thrillerdome! C'mon People!***

Do you think someone will explode?

Pomeroy likes Clemson by 11?? I'm thinking the line

The RPI spread right now is about 8.5...***

We will be in Atlanta for the game!!! GO TIGERS!!*****

Re: Sunday's Game: Clemson at Ga. Tech

Naw: Ain't any money in that!***

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