Coach Stoudamore joked on his radio show Monday that Kowacie Reeves, Jr., could raise his fortunes with a hair color change. (photo by Danny Karnik)
Their defense remains solid, but scoring remains a grind for Notre Dame, which sprays threes at one of the higher rates in the ACC yet ranks last in the league in offensive efficiency.
Like last month, the Irish are led by guard Markus Burton (16.2 ppg), a 5-11 hummingbird who earned ACC Rookie of the Week honors following an 18-point, 8-assist, 6-steal performance in Notre Dame’s win over Virginia Tech. Burton flits around the perimeter constantly, keeping his dribble active while looking for bursts to the paint or stop-on-a-dime pull-ups. Tech, however, held him to 4 of 18 shooting at McCamish, his second lowest field goal percentage in a game this season.
The Fighting Irish overcame that thanks to a career-high 25 points (5-9 3pt.) from freshman guard Braeden Shrewsberry (9.4 ppg), a cerebral catch-and-shoot artist who moves well off the ball. The Irish are still turnover-prone – Tech recorded a season-high +16 in points off turnovers in January – but they make up for it by being dogged offensive rebounders.
Georgia Tech – Points off TO’s
- vs. Notre Dame: +16
- vs. Rest of ACC: -71
According to Stoudamire, Tech did a good job staying home on ball screens and not overcommitting on Notre Dame’s ballhandlers. Can they speed up the Irish’s sets and squeeze out stops against a Notre Dame team that’s coming off a 49 percent shooting performance against Virginia Tech?
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After an off-kilter week in which he shot 1-of-14, including his first scoreless game of the year versus Louisville, Damon Stoudamire believes he’s found the answer to changing Kowacie Reeves’ fortunes.
“I said, man, you gotta color your eyebrows and color your hair back,” Stoudamire joked on his radio show. “I hadn’t seen him with the black hair since he got here.”
That shouldn’t be a problem for Reeves, whose kaleidoscopic cranium has been a hit with Georgia Tech fans. Last month Reeves came to McCamish Pavilion sporting a magenta-and-black dotted hair style; it turns out he dyed it in the time between the Yellow Jackets’ shootaround and his return to the arena. His ranginess could be needed against the likes of 6-7 J.R. Konieczny, 6-10 Carey Booth and 6-9 Tae Davis, who had a double-double against the Jackets in January.
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Now that we’re prepared, we hope you are as well. Join us for pregame coverage starting at 6:30 p.m. ET on the Georgia Tech Sports Network from Legends Sports. See you in South Bend.
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