SB Nation - Zach Peacock

Ryan Reid Scores 17 Points as Florida State Seminoles Beat Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 66-59 in Overtime

TrueCubbie — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 22:53:53 -0000

More photos » by Stanley Leary - AP

3 days ago: Florida State forward Ryan Reid, left, shoots during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Georgia Tech on Sunday, Dec. 20, 2009 in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Stanley Leary)

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No one would have predicted that Ryan Reid would score more than Gani Lawal and Derrick Favors combined. Florida State's lone senior was on a mission from the very first tip. In 36 minutes, Reid scored 17 points, had 5 rebounds, 3 steals and only one block. His energy under the boards was impressive. More impressive was his ability to step into the lane as the clock ticked down in over time to take a charge. This was Ryan Reid's best performance of his career and it could not have come at a better time.

This game was physical from the start, with both teams trying to establish the paint and demonstrate their athleticism. It was not the best basketball played, but it was certainly a great game to watch. Despite the constant pressure from Georgia Tech, the Seminoles demonstrated more energy and movement on offense than has been demonstrated so far this year. However, Florida State did not shoot the ball well despite numerous open looks at the basket. Chris Singleton went 0 for 6 from behind the arc, but again came through on the defensive end and made a few key baskets down the stretch. Derwin Kitchen passed on many open looks but finished the night 2 for 5 with 7 points and 6 assists. He only turned the ball over once. He hit a key three point shot down the stretch that kept the Noles in the game as the Yellow Jackets had a big run to finish the second half in which Zach Peacock could not miss.

The real heroes in this game were the Seminoles big men in the paint. Solomon Alabi, Ryan Reid and Terrance Shannon played an outstanding collective effort that limited Georgia Tech's highly touted front court. The Noles played great defense with multiple players crashing from the weak side to double on the Yellow Jacket's big men. They frustrated Lawal and Favors. Alabi finished with 9 points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocks. He was only credited for one turnover and was only called for two fouls. Lawal and Favors combined for 12 points, 16 rebounds and 7 blocks. However, Favors had four turnovers.

Florida State's defense held Georgia Tech to their worst shooting night of the season and their second lowest OR% of the year. The Seminoles also slowed the pace down to the Yellow Jackets lowest pace of the year. And despite all of the no calls that Georgia Tech received, the Seminoles were also on the favorable end of the whistle. With only 3 fouls, Chris Singleton had the most of any Seminole, two of which were questionable calls. The Yellow Jackets only had a FTRate of 10%, by far their lowest total of the year.

This was a nail biter and the Seminoles hung in to win this game. it should have been won in regulation, but the Seminoles could not make key free throws down the stretch. Regardless, a road victory in the ACC against a ranked opponent is always a great way to start the regular conference season. There is still significant room for improvement but this was a great effort. The Yellow Jackets dropped out of the top 25 today for the first time all year. The Seminoles are lurking just outside the top 25. Now, the Seminoles will turn their attention to the 1 and 8 Tennessee Martin out of the Ohio Valley Conference who will visit the Tucker Center on Tuesday night. This cannot be a let down game for the Noles.

NCAA Basketball

College Basketball

ACC Power Rankings: 12.21

MRickman84 — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:30:13 -0000

by Charlie Neibergall - AP

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It's time for another exciting edition of ACC Power Rankings. We've had some teams really moving around, so let's see where everyone stacks up.

1.) Duke Blue Devils (9-1, W vs. Gardner-Webb, W vs. Gonzaga) - Duke is really playing well right now. Kyle Singler has picked his game up and Jon Scheyer has been almost mistake free. Duke needs to worry a little bit about their starters' minutes as Scheyer, Singler and Nolan Smith are all playing over 33 minutes a game, and that's with the blowouts included. That notwithstanding, Duke has this spot with a bullet.

2.) North Carolina Tar Heels (8-3, L vs. Texas) - I am almost tempted to drop UNC a little bit further, but there aren't any other teams that have really earned the #2 spot. Regardless, UNC has looked awful in a couple games this year and they definitely have some things to work on. The bigs--Tyler Zeller, Ed Davis and Deon "Miss It" Thompson--are playing well, but the Heels do not play good defense at all and there is literally no guard depth.

3.) Clemson Tigers (10-2, W vs. ECU, W vs. CofC) - Clemson has all the pieces. But they're Clemson. Trevor Booker is a very good player and the combination of Tanner Smith, Andre Young and Demontez Stitt aren't pretty, but they get the job done. Plus their defense can keep them in any game.

4.) Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (8-2, W vs. Chattanooga, W vs. AR Pine Bluff, L vs. Florida State) - Despite the loss to FSU, Tech is up here because they have a lot of talent and everyone knew they'd have some bumps along the way. Gani Lawal, Derrick Favors and Zach Peacock bring it most of the time, but with Iman Shumpert out, GT has to rely on freshman Mfon Udofia at the point. He's a gifted player, but he's still a freshman. Tech will have big wins and dumb losses (a lot like a certain team from last year).

5.) Miami Hurricanes (10-2, W vs. Stetson, W vs. Florida Atlantic) - The next few teams are kind of a jumbled mess, but right now I feel like the 'Canes have the edge. Their only blemish was the extremely close loss to Boston College. In all their other games they have won by an average of 22.7 points. Dwayne Collins is averaging 13 and 9, and the James Dews, Malcolm Grand and Durand Scott combo of guards are chipping in 31.4 a game.

6.) Florida State Seminoles (10-2, W vs. Georgia State, W vs. Auburn, W vs. Georgia Tech) - FSU's win over GT was a bit of a statement. The 'Noles had a few decent wins but no real statement win to their credit. This win helps them out and solidifies them as a tough, physical basketball team. Solomon Alabi and Chris Singleton are a real force and Derwin Kitchen is a well-rounded player. Ryan Reid is always capable of showing spurts as well.

7.) Wake Forest Demon Deacons (8-2, W vs. UNC-W, W vs. NC State) - Ok, I'll move the Deacs up. They are on a four game winning streak and the wins over Gonzaga, UNC-W and State are games they needed to win, but still look pretty good. If Al-Farouq Aminu can hold onto the basketball, he could average 20+ a game, but as it stands right now, he's still a beast. The key to Wake is whether or not they can get solid play out of their bigs at all--right now, they haven't.

8.) Virginia Tech Hokies (9-1, W vs. Charleston Southern) - VT's record is gaudy, but there aren't any wins that really stick out to me right now. But still, I love how Malcolm Delaney plays and Jeff Allen has done a good job so far. The problem is, there isn't a whole lot more there outside of Dorenzo Hudson and Victor Davila.

9.) Boston College Eagles (7-4, W vs. Bryant) - After back to back losses to Harvard and Rhode Island, where does BC stand? There's a good core there with Joe Trapani, Corey Raji and Reggie Jackson. Tyler Roche gives good minutes. Rakim Sanders is an explosive player. But BC needs to figure things out before ACC play before they can move up the list.

10.) Maryland Terrapins (6-3, DNP) - Remember when everyone was slobbering all over Maryland and Greivis Vasquez? Well, he is shooting 34.6% and 28.2% from deep. Sean Mosley and Landon Milbourne are good players and we all know about Eric Hayes, but Maryland has no good wins and they've lost to the good teams they've played. They need to prove something.

11.) N.C. State Wolfpack (8-2, W vs. Elon, L vs. Wake Forest) - State is an ugly basketball team. They almost lost to Elon and then looked just downright bad against Wake. They have no identity and no real players outside of Javi Gonzalez and Tracy Smith. That win against Marquette is still strange, and the rest of their wins aren't anything to write home about. The Wolfpack have a long road ahead of them when conference play gets going.

12.) Virginia Cavaliers (4-4, DNP) - The best thing to happen to UVA last week was that they got snowed in and didn't play. I wholeheartedly believe that UNC-W would have beaten them. This team is Sylven Landesberg and not much else--Mike Scott is ok, Mustapha Farrakhan shows promise and Sammy Zeglinski is Eric Hayes Part Deux, but the Cavs are not good. Their four wins are against Longwood, Rider, Oral Roberts and Cleveland State.

ACC Power Rankings: 12.8

MRickman84 — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:30:14 -0000

So this probably should have been done yesterday, but I really want to get in the habit of doing power rankings throughout the season. UNC occupies the top spot this week, with Duke coming in second, as both are coming off tough losses last week to strong opponents.

Let's take a look at who is where after the jump...

1.) UNC-- [W vs. Michigan State, L vs. Kentucky] UNC is getting better as was expected. The young guys are playing well and Larry Drew II looks a lot more comfortable. I'm still concerned about the Heels' bench, as Strickland looks a little lost out there and Henson just does not know what to do with his body. The Wear twins are eating up a ton of minutes without a lot of productivity. Tyler Zeller is a great player for them though and really makes the perfect sixth man. UNC gets another tough test when they head to Dallas to play Texas at the Cowboys stadium next week.

2.) Duke -- [L vs. Wisconsin, W vs. St. John's] I thought this Duke team was supposed to be able to shoot? Kyle Singler is looking average at best so far this year and is taking a LOT of shots. You know what you're getting out of Jon Scheyer week in and week out and that is a great stabilizer. Andre Dawkins has been spectacular so far and we are going to be seeing a lot more of him as Duke enters ACC play. Duke's big weakness is still down low--Zoubek and Thomas are just bad, but the Plumlees work hard and are good players.

3.) GT [W vs. Siena, W vs. USC] The Jackets were left out of the Challenge this year because of their finish last season, and that really is a shame as I believe they would have won their matchup and turned the tide for the ACC. Instead, Tech put a whooping on Siena and USC last week. GT is stellar in the frontcourt with Lawal, Peacock and Favors, but losing Iman Shumpert is going to be sidelined for 3-6 weeks with a knee injury.

4.) Clemson [L vs. Illinois, W vs. South Carolina] Clemson is looking like bi-polar Clemson again, surprise! This is a good, solid basketball team. They have 5 players averaging at least 9 points per game and Trevor Booker is almost averaging a double-double (13 and 9). Their problem is that they just lose focus (as seen by the terrible collapse against Illinois). I think they are a better team than Georgia Tech, but they just can't pass them until they show some consistency.

5.) Miami [W vs. Minnesota, L vs. BC] Yes, I know they lost their first conference game. But it was very close and came down to the buzzer. They picked up a great non-con win over Minnesota, but still have not really been challenged other than their last two contests. Dwayne Collins is very good, but there's a lot of pressure on him coming into conference play since two of Miami's three strong guards are newcomers (Malcolm Grant from Villinova and freshman Durand Scott.) James Dews can get it done too, but we will see just how much the 'Canes miss Jack McClinton after the 1st of the year.

6.) Wake Forest [L vs. Purdue, W vs. Gonzaga] After a disappointing loss at home to William & Mary, the Deacs took to the road for two very tough tests. After a hard-fought loss to Purdue, the Deacs looked like they finally clicked in a win over Gonzaga at the Kennel. If the Demon Deacons can use this as a momentum builder, they could enter the new year at 10-2. They will be tested by UNC-W, who has played some good teams tough, as well as Richmond, which received votes in the polls this week. Freshmen C.J. Harris and Ari Stewart are looking like the real deal, but the Deacs absolutely need to get consistency from their bigs and from Al-Farouq Aminu.

7.) Virginia Tech [W vs. Iowa, W vs. Georgia] I like VT. They're better than they look on paper, and their loss to Temple is not a bad one--the Owls almost pulled off the upset against Georgetown a few games ago. They easily could finish anywhere between 6th and 10th, but the combo of Malcolm Delaney and Jeff Allen should be good for at least 6 conference wins.

8.) Maryland [W vs. Indiana, L vs. Villanova] I've seen Maryland play 4 times now this year and I'm sorry, I just don't think they are very good. Greivis Vasquez takes way too many ill-advised shots and he is shooting 32%. Sean Mosley and Landon Milbourne are the strong points to this team and Eric Hayes keeps them calm sometimes, but they aren't deep and I'm not sold on their front court. The Terps were a hot pick to start the season, but they have to prove something to me before they can move up the board.

9.) Boston College [W vs. Michigan, W vs. Miami] Here we go again. It's the same old story every year. BC looks sparse on paper and then Al Skinner does a great job coaching his team to overachieve. It'll probably happen again this year and their last two wins are a big indicator of this. Reggie Jackson could be a great player, and BC gets bumped up a spot just from his nasty dunk against the 'Canes (on a terrible offensive foul call in the last 30 seconds) and his clutch FTs to seal the win. Raji, Jackson, Trapani is a great combo and they get a good effort out of Josh Southern too.

10.) Florida State [L vs. Ohio State, W vs. FIU] Florida State looked downright ugly against Ohio State. And downright ugly against Florida. But that win against Marquette was big, so they have that in them. Alabi, Singleton and Kitchen are a nice 1-2-3, but the 'Noles need to be getting more out of Xavier Gibson and Ryan Reid.

11.) NC State [L vs. Northwestern, W. vs Marquette] After their loss to Northwestern, I didn't think at all that the Wolfpack would beat Marquette. It was the furthest thing from my mind. State is 6-1, but they are a mess and there is just not much there.

12.) Virginia [L vs. Penn State, L vs. Auburn] Hey, at least Virginia has beaten Cleveland State, something Wake wasn't able to do last year. Sylven Landesberg is a heck of a player, but when your next two leading scorers are Mike Scott and Sammy Zeglinski, there's a problem there. Virginia is not very good.

Around the ACC: 11.23.09

MRickman84 — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:43:15 -0000

First off, in non-ACC news, congrats to Tom Izzo for tying the Michigan State record for wins. The guy is a heck of a coach and his team is a buzz saw this year. The ACC had a pretty good day yesterday after a rough Saturday. This is still a really deep conference and is definitely far and above the SEC, Pac 10 and Big 12 outside of Kansas.

Georgia Tech 85, Boston Unversity 67
This game was tied at halftime, but Zach Peacock absolutely dominated, going 10-11 for 22 points. Blogger So Dear has been a fan of Peacock for awhile and we really like his athleticism. If Georgia Tech is going to have success this year, he is going to be a vital part for when Lawal gets doubled and Favors has his freshman bumps. The Yellow Jackets also got a strong performance from Mfon Udofia, who added 15. BU's leading scorer was John Holland with 23 and 5 rebounds. Favors had 14 and 10 and Gani Lawal tossed in 17 himself. Between the, Peacock, Udofia, Favors and Lawal had 68 of Tech's 85 points.

Miami 85, South Carolina 70

Miami hasn't played the cream of the crop so far, so their 5-0 start might be a bit misleading, but with wins against Tulane, UNC-W and South Carolina, the wins are at least a little significant and a good indicator of what Miami's team will be made up of. And it is safe to say that the Hurricanes will be very dangerous this year. Dwayne Collins is averaging just under 10 rebounds per game, and he looks to be a real catalyst. Collins had 17 and 15 in the win, and James Dews tossed in 22 on 8-11 shooting that included 3-3 from deep. The Gamecocks were down just 3 at the half, but Miami pulled away in the second half.

NC State 60, Auburn 58
State is going to have ups and downs this year, but close wins like this really help a team grow quickly. And this was a spectacular way to do it, as Tracy Smith hit a shot with 1.3 seconds to play to win the game. Smith was just 4 for 18, but one of those 4 was the biggest shot of the game. State was 4-0 in the Glen Wilkes Classic, with wins over Georgia State, Akron, Austin Peay as well as Auburn. Senior Dennis Horner chipped in 16 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists in the victory.

ACC Tournament: GT vs FSU Recap

MRickman84 — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 21:01:08 -0000

After a fantasic, albeit controversial, finish to the first game of the day, it was no surprise that the second quarterfinal between the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and Florida State Seminoles went down to the wire.

In a game that was a slugfest from the get-go, the officials opted to let both teams play. Florida State shot just six free throws on the day and both teams combined for only two more free throws than UNC shot in their game earlier today.

The game was close the whole game, with Florida State leading by as much as 10, but every time they went on a run, Georgia Tech answered right back, meaning that both the Tech fans and the remaining Carolina fans in the building were cheering loud. With just under 30 seconds remaining, Zach Peacock put GT up one on a gutsy shot over his defender, just his second basket of the game.

Florida State seemed to panic a bit and got it to Toney Douglas in the corner who was trapped, but he wisely called timeout allowing Head Coach Leonard Hamilton to draw up a play.

That play went away from Douglas, who GT keyed on, and to Derwin Kitchin, who curled around a screen and took it right to the rack for a score and one, putting FSU back up two.

Iman Shumpert took the ball with seven seconds left and got a great look at the hoop but it rattled off the back iron and out and as he collapsed to the floor, Florida State celebrated.

Lewis Clinch was red hot the last month of the season and, after scoring 32 in the win against Clemson, followed that up by putting up 25 points today. The real ACC Player of the Year, Douglas, went 11-16 from the floor and matched Clinch with 25 of his own.

Freshman Solomon Alabi had 14 points on 7-10 shooting and pulled down six big rebounds. On the other side, Gani Lawal had 11 and seven and Iman Shumpert had 11, five rebounds, two assists and four steals.

The 'Noles certainly earned the right to play UNC tomorrow, who might be without Ty Lawson again as Roy Williams mentioned that he is feeling better but still is uncertain. A Lawsonless Heels team might be challenged by FSU, who slows the tempo down to begin with and provides a lot of size and matchup problems for UNC. It should be a heck of a semi-final.

ACC Tournament: Clemson vs. Georgia Tech Recap

MRickman84 — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:57:56 -0000

Georgia Tech and Head Coach Paul Hewitt, who had won only three games in all of 2009, knew that the ACC Tournament is a welcome fresh start. Using that logic and the magic that Georgia teams have seemed to have in the Georgia Dome the last two years, the Yellow Jackets were able to blitz the Clemson Tigers by a final score of 86-81.

Behind a career-high 32 points from Lewis Clinch, and a maskless Maurice Miller, who provided eight assists, the Yellow Jackets used solid defense and effectively broke the Clemson press to give the 12 seed in the ACC tournament their third win against the five seed in the last four seasons. TO, fresh off his contract signing with the Buffalo Bills, was in attendance and was just munching on some popcorn during the game.

Georgia Tech did an incredible job down low, with 42 points in the paint and 22 second chance points, but set the tone with 33 fast break points--showing just how much of a double-edged sword Clemson's press has been all year. When it works, it works well, but when teams break it consistently, the defense has no time to get set and guys can get free for uncontested look, something that Gani Lawa used time and again on his way to 20 points for the game.

I've said it all year, but it bears repeating: Georgia Tech is not a bad basketball team. Lawal, Clinch, Zach Peacock, Iman Shumpert, Miller and Alade Aminu are all good ACC players. I joked with Dan Collins after the game and he said that this year's Tech team just might be the best two win ACC team ever.

The game came down to the wire, as Clemson caught fire from deep near the end, paced by Terrence Oglesby who was just launching it near the end of the game. He finished with 11 points, as did K.C. Rivers, Demontez Stitt and Raymond Sykes. Trevor Booker finished with 17 points and nine rebounds. Clemson, who backed into the tournament after losing four of their last five conference games, continued their woes, and has seen their NCAA seeding plummet in the last two weeks. It will be interesting to see what their seed ends up being and whether or not they can bounce back come next week.

For Georgia Tech, their next foe is Florida State, who they match up well against, and hey, in the ACC Tournament, anything can happen, especially in the Georgia Dome.

I'll be back to talk about tonight's games, but leave your impressions about the first half of Thursday's action below.

Wake Forest vs Georgia Tech Matchups

RPhilpott — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 04:34:21 -0000

Breakdowns to follow:

Backcourt: Jeff Teague/LD Williams vs Maurice Miller/Iman Shumpert/Lewis Clinch: Wake wins a tough category to judge considering Georgia Tech has been using a three guard lineup. Combined GT's 3 guards average 29 points combined, while LD and Teague also combine for exactly 29 ppg. Typically the Yellow Jacket guards struggle with turnovers. Miller with 2.9, Shumpert at 3.8, and Clinch at 2.4. Wake is a team that likes to get steals and run off of them. Both Teague and Williams shoot 50% or higher from the floor. On the other hand Georgia Tech's guards rundown is: Shumpert-40.1%; Clinch-31.6%; Miller-26.4%. Overall, Wake Forest sends out a better combination of guards while Georgia Tech sends out more.

Frontcourt: James Johnson/Al-Farouq Aminu/Chas McFarland vs Gani Lawal/Zachery Peacock: Georgia Tech definitely has a very solid starting front line. Lawal torched Wake Forest for 25/10 last meeting, and averages 15 points and 10 rebounds on the year. Peacock comes in at 10 points and five rebounds per game. Lawal is coming off a tough game against NC State with seven points, three rebounds, and four fouls.

Johnson is also coming off a game where he was stuck in foul trouble. After starting hot, James picked up a few fouls and ended up being stuck on the bench for the majority of the game. Aminu put up 17/5 last game and is averaging 13/8 on the year. Chas had a solid second half and could be putting his season back together after his averages have slipped to 8.9 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. On the whole, Wake has a better frontline, but Lawal is a player that Wake will have to do a better job of defending this game.

3 PT Shooting: The first push we have given out in our pre-game matchups. Both teams are not good at three-point shooting and don't particularly use it very much. GT is 12^th in the conference in 3 pt percentage and 7^th for 3 pt percentage defense. Wake is 9^th in the conference for 3 pt % but 1^st in 3 pt percent defense. In their three most recent ACC road games Georgia Tech has shot 4/18, 2/15, and 3/14 from deep. Basically, both teams are inept three-point shooters so we couldn't give either team the category.

Free Throws: Last game, Georgia Tech dominated Wake Forest at the free throw line, getting there 30 times and hitting on 23 of their chances. This is an anomaly for Georgia Tech as they average shooting 62.9 percent as a team from the free-throw line. Lawal who was 11-14 is usually a 55 percent free-throw shooter. Wake gets to the free-throw line more often than Georgia Tech in general and shoots more than eight percent better when they get there. For this reason, Wake takes down the category.

Rebounding: Another easy category to decide for the two teams. Wake comes in at 132^nd in offensive rebounding percentage and 86^th in defensive rebounding percentage in the country according to KenPom. The Yellow Jackets are better in both categories at 64^th in offensive rebounding percentage and 62^nd in defensive rebounding percentage. The Demon Deacons did better against Florida State in their last game but on the whole Georgia Tech has been a better rebounding team.

Defense: Wake Forest is coming off a great defensive game against Florida State, holding the Seminoles to 63 points on 38 percent shooting from the floor and a mere 18.2 percent from three. On the year, Wake is still 8^th in the KenPom rankings for defensive efficiency. Georgia Tech is a very solid 34^th in the same category. But unlike Wake, Georgia Tech is coming off an 86 point barrage from NC State on Georgia Tech's home court. Right now, Wake is a better defensive team, but don't count Georgia Tech out because they gave Wake trouble last game.

Depth: Ish Smith is coming off a good game for Wake Forest and seems to be improving. In addition, Tony Woods and David Weaver provide some good size off the bench. The problem for Woods is, if he doesn't get the ball and dunk it immediately, he usually gets called for a travel or a charge. Georgia Tech takes this category primarily because of their ability to bring Alade Aminu who is averaging nearly 12/8.5 on the year after starting much of the year. Storrs is a legit shooting threat off the bench as well shooting 38% from three on the year.

Coach: When it comes down to it, Paul Hewitt can recruit his butt off but isn't all that great of an in-game coach. Wake is playing at home where, just like the players, Dino looks a lot more comfortable. Dino made good adjustments at the half against Florida State which gave Wake a good victory over a ranked opponent.

Intangibles: There are a few main reasons Wake Forest gets this category. 1) Wake is coming off a big win while Georgia Tech is coming off a slew of losses. 2) Wake is at home where they have played much better this season. 3) This is a redemption game for Wake who lost on a last second shot by Georgia Tech last game. Georgia Tech will have a little bit of confidence knowing that they have already beaten them, but the majority of the intangibles swing to the Deacons.

Overall: Georgia Tech has already taken down Wake Forest this year which should be cause for concern for Deacon fans. But Georgia Tech is still 10-14 (1-10). This is a team that Wake Forest should handle at home with the motivation to atone for a loss that had to leave a sour taste in their mouth. Wake is the better team from top to bottom and as long as Dino can motivate them (which shouldn't be a problem), Wake Forest should be able to win this game without any real problem. But all Georgia Tech fans have to say is "That's why they play the games."