Javian McCollum (2) has connected on 40% of his three-point tries in ACC games. (photo by Danny Karnik)
Georgia Tech’s short bench will now face the team whose bench stretches approximately to the parking lot.
Florida State regularly trots out a 10- and 11-man rotation, full of agile, long-armed, switchable players. The Seminoles use that length to swipe, trap, shoot gaps, deny up the line, and make teams play hurried, helter-skelter basketball.
“They try to force you into chaos,” Damon Stoudamire said succinctly.
Pittsburgh felt the brunt of that scrambling defense, shooting 27% and committing 14 turnovers in the first half of an 82-70 loss on Wednesday. That tracks with some of Georgia Tech’s recent first half numbers:
| Georgia Tech – Last 3 games |
|
| FG% |
TO’s |
|
| 1st half |
29.70% |
10.7 |
| 2nd half |
47.30% |
5.7 |
The Seminoles are at their best when they wear teams down and choke the finesse out of an offense. Tech will need to avoid the forced drives and risky attacks of switches that FSU’s defense likes to create. They’ll also need to be comfortable finishing through contact and length, something they’ve done erratically over the lpast three games. Can Naithan George, who has scored in double figures in five straight games, tidy up his ball security against the Seminoles? He’s committed 12 turnovers over the last two ACC games after only committing 12 in the first five.
Georgia Tech’s two ACC wins have come by a combined 32 points.
Their seven ACC wins last year were by a combined 27 points.
And that includes an 85-76 “rout” over Florida State at McCamish.
Clean looks can be scarce against Florida State’s size, but the Seminoles do have a tendency to give up threes. FSU is allowing the second highest volume of three-pointers in the ACC, and they’ve allowed 40.1% three-point shooting in ACC play. A player like Javian McCollum may need to be assertive looking for his shot.
Asked what Baye Ndongo needed to do to reassert himself, associate head coach Karl Hobbs gave his sophomore a simple checklist: avoid foul trouble and attack the boards.
Do those things, Hobbs insisted, and the scoring would come. Sure enough, Ndongo stayed out of foul trouble and hunted rebounds against Clemson, finishing with 14 points and a season-high 12 boards.
Ndongo scored 15 points and grabbed an ACC-high 14 rebounds in Tech’s win over Florida State last March. He’ll duel with 6-11 forward Malique Ewin (14.1 ppg, 7.9 rpg), who has posted three-straight double-doubles and has some Ian Schieffelin-esque qualities with his body control, touch around the rim, and feel for facilitating.
Rebounding may feel like a chore against Florida State’s length, but it can be done: The Yellow Jackets outrebounded the Seminoles +22 in their win at McCamish last season. They also held Clemson to its lowest offensive rebounding percentage of the season on Tuesday.
