Tobacco Road Report

It is hard to call any Thursday game a classic in the ACC tournament, but Wake and Georgia Tech put on an offensive show on Thursday night/Friday morning. Wake Forest’s guards put on a show led by Harvey Hale’s 21 points in the two overtime sessions, including a few shots that defy explanation. The Deacons were also led by Ishmael Smith with 13 points and 15 assists. As TRR advised, the Deacons also got to the foul line 48 times. The lead in the game exchanged hands 16 times with the last overtime ending when Anthony Morrows jumper rolled in and then off the rim.

This game will not go down in any record books for defense as the teams combined for 66 fouls and 83 foul shots, but rather, this game will be remembered for offensive execution. Both teams had runs that featured their key players. In the first half, Thaddeus Young scored the majority of his 30 points with elbow jumpers and dribble penetration to the rim. Wake Forest adopted the strategy of getting the ball away from Crittenton and then running a post player at him in the half court to prevent penetration. Tech exposed this attack by reversing the ball to Young who had his career high as a Jacket. For the Deacons, Ishmael Smith was able to penetrate and pull Jacket defenders creating open space for the deep ball. In the second half, the Deacons went on 9-2 run by creating space for Robert Drum to deliver a barrage of threes. Georgia Tech was hedging to slow Smith and did not close out well on the perimeter. This same problem would return in overtime. Late in the game, the Deacons quit denying Crittenton as LW Williams and Jamie Skeen were in foul trouble. The result was Crittenton taking over to get Tech to overtime.

In the extra periods, Harvey Hale and Anthony Morrow dueled from the outside and finally Tech blinked. TRR salutes one of the most entertaining first round games in tournament memory. Now, let’s look at the tempo-free statistics:

In a double-over time game with 94 possessions, Wake averaged 1.19 points per possession while Tech averaged 1.17. Adding to the offensive display, Wake shot an effective field goal percentage of 79% which sets the high mark in the league this season. Adding to the Deacons offensive explosion was a 16-23 three point shooting display. This all came from a team that averaged 47% EFG and 0.93 points per possession during the regular season.

What does it mean?
Tech’s tournament standing just got a little cloudy. TRR is a little surprised that Tech did not take care of business with a lack of discipline on the defensive end. For Wake, this may be a preview of things to come. Replacing Visser will be very difficult, but the Deacon guards are fun to watch. Of course, Mr. Dowdell from Virginia Tech plays a little better defense than Georgia Tech provided on Thursday. We just hope that the Deacons have a little left in the tank.