Naithan George’s career highs in assists (11) and points (24) both came against Notre Dame last year. (photo by Danny Karnik)
The best guard Georgia Tech faced in the ACC last year?
Not North Carolina’s R.J. Davis or Duke’s Jeremy Roach according to Damon Stoudamire. Not even Notre Dame’s quicksilver point guard Markus Burton, the reigning ACC Rookie of the Year who remains out with a knee injury.
In Stoudamire’s mind, the trickiest cover was Burton’s backcourt mate, 6-4 sophomore Braeden Shrewsberry, who leads the Irish in scoring (16.5 ppg). The son of head coach Micah Shrewsberry, the younger Shrewsberry scored a career-high 25 points (5-9 3pt.) against Tech at McCamish, then poured in 23 more (5-8 3pt.) at the ACC Tournament. He’s a cunning catch-and-shoot artist who moves well off the ball and plays with loads of gamesmanship around screens.
Tech will have to keep high levels of alertness and fight over screens to clog Shrewsberry’s catches and turn him into a driver. Pay attention as well to 6-9 forward Tae Davis (15.8 ppg, 53% FG), who has stepped up in Burton’s absence and gives Notre Dame an athletic right-handed driver. In many ways he was the X factor in Notre Dame’s wins last year:
Tae Davis 2023-24
- Season average: 9.2 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 44.1%
- vs. Georgia Tech: 13.0 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 51.7%
Expect Notre Dame to layer in flares, back screens, fake DHO’s, and plenty of two-man action in its halfcourt offense. They’ll even invert their pick-and-roll action and use Davis as a ballhandler and Shrewsberry as a screener. They may not have a hyperkinetic breakdown artist like Burton, but the Jackets will have to be well-spaced and not get stretched out by Notre Dame’s ball rotation.
With a celebration worthy of a March Madness game winner, Georgia Tech’s bench erupted after walk-ons Emmer Nichols and Marcos San Miguel scored their first career points in the waning minutes against Alabama A&M.
Walk-ons often toil in anonymity, but Stoudamire actually knew about San Miguel, a product of nearby Campbell High School in Smyrna, not long after he arrived at Georgia Tech.
It turns out his former player with the Boston Celtics, Al Horford, is close friends with San Miguel’s family.
“When I got this job here, he had already gotten accepted to Georgia Tech. He was coming to Tech but he wanted to walk on the basketball team. Al talked to me about bringing him in,” Stoudamire said on his radio show.
Notre Dame finished 13-20 last year, but don’t pin that on suspect defense – the Fighting Irish ranked an impressive 39th nationally in defensive efficiency.
Stoudamire says the Irish resemble Northwestern in the way they pack the paint, commit hard, and recover on shooters. They also excel at limiting clean looks from three – opponents are shooting 29.6% from three-point range, good for fourth in the ACC.
“We have to be prepared to make the next read,” Stoudamire said.
An 82% assist rate against Alabama A&M should give Tech a good template heading into Tuesday’s matchup. Can the Jackets work the second side, avoid over-penetrating, and play well out of pocket passes? Naithan George has labored through 25% field goal shooting in Tech’s two ACC games, but the sophomore dropped in a career-high 24 points against Notre Dame at the ACC Tournament and a career-high 11 assists against the Irish at McCamish. With his ability to hit from the midrange and spray passes to shooters, could Notre Dame – stingy defense and all – provide the ideal conditions for a bounce back?
