Tobacco Road Report

By Chris

How do we best describe this game? Clemson outhustled Georgia, Clemson physically dominated Georgia, Clemson played aggressive wing defense that frustrated Georgia’s guard play, Clemson’s athletic post players controlled Georgia’s less mobile bigs…we could go on.

In a 75-60 victory, Clemson showed it has at least a pretty good basketball team. We are not ready to describe them as a conference leader or even an NCAA worthy team, but the Tigers are clearly improved over last year. Let’s look at the game.

We really only need to examine one statistic from the game to tell the story: turnovers. Georgia committed 26 turnovers for a 35 percent turnover to possession ratio. Clemson committed only 11 turnovers. For those suffering from holiday hangovers, that translates to 15 less scoring chances for Georgia. With an effective field goal percentage of 50 percent, this cost Georgia the game.

The second noticeable statistic is free throws attempted. Clemson shot 22 attempts to Georgia’s 6. These two statistics illustrate the aggression that Clemson played with on both ends of the floor. Neither team was dynamic on offense with Clemson scoring 1 point per possession and Georgia 0.80. It was your typical post-Christmas display of too much turkey and not much stuffing.

The Tigers were balanced on offense with six players scoring between 9 and 14 points. Four players also had 7 rebounds each. In the backcourt, Vernon Hamilton led the Tigers with 7 assists to go with 13 points. On the defensive end, Hamilton had 3 steals, while James Mays had 5.

The Tigers 1-2-2 full court press created some turnovers, but the main trouble for Georgia was in the half court set. Hamilton, Hammonds, and Rivers were effective at pressuring the ball handlers which allowed Mays and Sam Perry to overplay passing lanes. In Georgia’s defense, Sundiata Gaines is hurt and his ball handling was ineffective (6 turnovers) against the faster Tigers. This was not the Georgia team that showed up against Gonzaga or for part of the game against Georgia Tech.

What have we learned?

For Clemson, we like the athleticism of the Tigers, especially down low. Trevor Booker and James Mays are quicker to the ball than most post players in the conference, but they lack size. Still, we believe a team with good post play will exploit them in the paint. For that reason, we cannot yet put them in the upper half of the conference.

Georgia is possibly the worst team in the country at feeding the low block. They have a great post player in Takais Brown, but they lack the will to feed him. Coach Purnell’s press has the tendency to get team’s out of their set offense which may protect his weak middle in conference play.

For Georgia, they need a healthy Sundiata Gaines. Their other guards are all weak with the dribble and are not good at feeding the post. So, Georgia’s success depends on getting the ball into transition off their defense. In the early part of the season, Georgia was in the top 5 nationally in assists per made basket. Why? The Dawg defense was able to force turnovers in the open court, and their guards can finish. In the half-court, Georgia is not effective as they rely on the drive and kick to create shots.