Tobacco Road Report

By Chris

Miami used superior shooting and a hustle advantage to top the youthful Yellow Jackets tonight in the ACC opener for both teams. Miami was led by Jack McClinton (22 points) and Brian Asbury (16 points, 8 boards), while Tech was led by Lewis Clinch (22 points). While both teams executed well on the offensive end, the key for the Hurricanes was their dominance on the glass (37-22) and their superior shooting (56 percent - 44 percent).

Miami played a mixture of man and zone on the defensive end employing a trapping 3-2 zone every few possessions. The zone got Georgia Tech to rely on the jump shot and ignore their inside advantage with Smith and Dickey (see Penn State writeup).

For Tech, Hewitt had the team employ their standard throw-in press and then dropped back into an overly-aggressive man-to-man. Tech’s guards try to mark their man at half court which leads to dribble penetration and reliance on help side defense to stop the drive. Miami was able to exploit the dribble drive as Tech’s help defense left openings for offensive rebounds and wide open shots.

Miami was also able to exploit Tech with high ball screens with their bigs. Tech often got caught with Jeremis Smith guarding the ball handler and Crittenton guarding the post player for the Hurricanes. Nice execution by Miami tonight.

What did this game show us?

1. Miami has more depth than previous seasons. Frank Haith finally has a few players that can contribute off his bench. Perhaps the most critical basket of the game cam from Dwayne Collins after Tech had closed Miami’s lead down to two. Collins grabbed a loose ball and dunked to push the lead back to two possessions. Miami executed well in the half court and was able to ride hot second half shooting to victory.

2. Georgia Tech needs to figure out a rotation. Hewitt needs to find more minutes for Anthony Morrow (12 minutes tonight) and he needs to get Thaddeus Young comfortable on the court. Hotel Hewitt almost has too much talent on the offensive end.

3. Miami is an excellent home club that will do well against teams lacking the will to pound them inside. We are not sure Miami will win away from their home gym, but they will have good match-ups versus several of the smaller ACC teams this season.

4. Tech must improve its half-court defense to finish in the top 3 of the conference. Granted, Miami made several difficult shots tonight, but Tech is allowing too many easy opportunities by losing defensive shape when dribblers get by their man.