Turtledroppings.com – Maryland Football And Basketball Blog

Since this is our second go around with GT, I am not going to rehash all the fun things about them.  What I am going to discuss is where they are in comparison to the last time we saw them.  When they came to Comcast they were looking for their first ACC win.  Now that we are on our way there, they are looking for their second ACC win.  They are a team that has trouble finishing games.  Game after game they have had leads in the first half only to fall short.  They have lost several games in overtime as well.  Here are the reasons I see for the collapses.  They shoot 61% from the free throw line.  By the way, that is last in the ACC.  They are last in 3 point fg% ( I thought for sure they would be ahead of Maryland) at 29%.  Here is the one that stands out the most to me.  They are averaging 17 turnovers per game, also last in the ACC.  When a coach preaches about the things you need to do well in order to win, it is usually make free throws, and protect the ball.  Tech does neither of them well, and they don’t shoot well enough from three to make up for all the empty possessions. 

One change they made over the last few games is bringing Alade Aminu off the bench.  Moe Miller has been starting as they have gone to a slightly smaller lineup.  It may have helped as they beat Wake Forrest last weekend.  Iman Shumpert hit a game winning jumper in the lane in that game to give Tech its first conference win. 

This is a game they have to be careful with.  Tech is always tough at home, and they have been in almost every game they have played.  For that point, they have had leads in almost every game they played at the half.  The key for the Terps is force the tempo.   If they can get up and down the court on offense like they did against UNC, they should be able to win this one.  They also need to slap on the press and go after the ball handler.  Tech is prone to the turnover, and with the press they should be able to force them into even more.  This is a game where Cilff Tucker can use his speed and athleticism on both ends of the court to wreak havoc with the Wreck from Georgia Tech.  Go Terps.

Extra Droppings

So I am watching the BC and Wake game here and a Honey Nut Cheerios Commercial comes on.  No big deal, but then I notice the guy talking about the health benefits is no other than Garret who tried to rape Donna Martin on 90210!  I guess it goes to show, even if you play a rapist on TV, you aren’t going to get that next big break!

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 8th, 2009 at 4:39 pm and is filed under Maryland Terps Basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.