Michael Devoe has bounced back from single-digit games with 20-point efforts three times this season. (photo by Danny Karnik)
Clemson may play again Wednesday without leading scorer P.J. Hall (15.5 ppg), who has missed the last two games after re-aggravating a foot injury. The 6-10 sophomore scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds against Tech in Atlanta, showing a variety of artisanal post moves from the elbow and block. It’s unclear whether he and 6-8 Hunter Tyson (10.4 ppg), who has missed the last six games with a broken clavicle, will be available Wednesday.
Clemson entered last week in the doldrums of a six-game losing streak, a situation made bleaker by Hall’s injury. Yet the Tigers have won their first two full games without Hall, upsetting Wake Forest 80-69 and knocking off Boston College 70-60. Their offensive efficiency ratings in those games were two of their six highest in ACC play.
So why have the Tigers looked reborn offensively? For one, they’ve put more playmaking trust in guards Chase Hunter and Al-Amir Dawes. Hunter, a long-armed, athletic junior, has scored 44 points on 17-of-21 shooting over his last two games. Dawes (11.6 ppg) drilled six three-pointers against Tech at McCamish and made the Jackets pay for laying underneath screens. The Tigers have also incorporated more Princeton-style passing and cutting in the halfcourt with freshman forwards Ben Middlebrooks and Ian Schiefflein, rather than pounding it ceaselessly into the post with Hall.
Georgia Tech hassled Clemson into a 25.3-percent turnover rate last month, the Tigers’ worst percentage in their last 20 games. The Jackets’ zone was especially sharp in that game, their energy and hand activity leading to bad-angle passes and reluctant decision-making from Clemson’s guards. Not coincidentally, it led to a bounty of transition points: Georgia Tech has outscored Clemson plus-33 in fast break points in its last three meetings (45-12). Can Tech find some of those transition baskets after getting shut out in fast break points for the first time all season against Notre Dame?
*****
Every leading scorer is entitled to the occasional off shooting night. Michael Devoe hasn’t been immune – but he’s also shown an impressive ability to bounce back. The senior mustered just seven points against Notre Dame, the fourth time this year that Devoe was held to single-digit points.
He’s averaging 21.7 points in the following game.
- Georgia State: 8 pts. – Next game: 23 pts. vs. Louisville
- North Carolina: 2 pts. – Next game: 22 pts. vs. Wake Forest
- Clemson: 3 pts. – Next game: 20 pts. vs. Miami
Clemson did a good job loading the ball side against Devoe, though Pastner praised his passing and decision-making in the second half. He and Tech will face a Clemson team that’s played more zone defense in its last two games, a tactic owing partly to its thin frontcourt. Look for the Tigers to use a token three-quarters-court press that sags back into a 1-2-2 zone, which threw off Wake Forest last week. Tech will once again play without Deivon Smith, who had his best game of the season against Clemson (16 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists). Which guard can replicate Smith’s rebounding and quick first step on cuts?
*****
Jordan Usher has made his last 12 free throws but only one of his last 11 three-pointers. The senior could have a cure for the latter: he’s a career 45-percent three-point shooter against Clemson.
