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Tech Opens Busy Thanksgiving Week With North Carolina A&T

Nov. 23, 2013

THE FLATS – Looking to bounce back from a disappointing loss to Dayton earlier this week, Georgia Tech begins a stretch of four games in seven days Sunday at 2 p.m. when it hosts North Carolina A&T at McCamish Pavilion.

Complete Game Notes | Gameday Information | Purchase tickets

Single-game tickets are available online, by phone at 888-TECH-TIX or at the McCamish Pavilion ticket office beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Radio coverage of the game will be provided by the Georgia Tech IMG Sports Network and can be heard in Atlanta on WYAY-FM (106.7). There is no television coverage, but the game can be watched online at ESPN3.

Tech (3-1) had dispatched its first three opponents – Presbytertian, Delaware State and Georgia – by an average of 19.5 points before the Flyers came to town and captured an 82-72 win at McCamish on Wednesday night to remain undefeated.

The Jackets are averaging 77 points per game and hitting 46.6 percent of its shots from the floor so far. Tech also has outrebounded each opponent by an average of 7.8 per game and demonstrated vast improvement at the free throw line (77.6 pct.) over last year.

In its third season under head coach Brian Gregory, the Jackets have returned four starters – center Daniel Miller, big forward Robert Carter, Jr., and wings Marcus Georges-Hunt and Chris Bolden – from a team that posted a 16-15 overall record last season and went 6-12 to tie for ninth place in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

North Carolina A&T (1-2), in its second season under head coach Cy Alexander, defeated Greensboro College at home to open the season but has lost consecutive road games to Utah Valley (78-71) and Rhode Island (72-59). The Aggies are hitting 50.7 percent of their shots from the floor, 39.1 percent from three-point range, and have averaged 73.7 points per game.

Following Sunday’s game, Tech hosts Mississippi Valley State Tuesday night and then travels to Brooklyn, N.Y., to play in the Barclays Center Classic Friday (Mississippi) and Saturday (Penn State or St. John’s).

Fast Break Points

• Georgia Tech is home for the second of three straight games in McCamish Pavilion. The Yellow Jackets are 2-1 at home, 1-0 on the road. North Carolina A&T is playing its third straight road game, where they are 0-2, and visits Ole Miss Tuesday night before going back home.

• A win for Tech Sunday would give the Yellow Jackets’ their fifth 4-1 start in the last six years.

• Tech’s three true freshmen – Travis Jorgenson, Rand Rowland and Quinton Stephens – were not yet born the last time the Yellow Jackets and Aggies played.

• This is the first of three games that Tech will play on a Sunday this season.

• Tech is playing its first game without freshman guard Travis Jorgenson, who tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in the Dayton game.

Trae Golden needs 10 points to reach 1,000 for his career. He scored 931 in three seasons at Tennessee.

Daniel Miller needs five rebounds to reach 600 for his career.

Series vs. North Carolina A&T

• Georgia Tech and North Carolina A&T are playing for the seventh time, but this is the first meeting since Feb. 15, 1995.

• Tech has won all six previous meetings between the two schools, and all were played at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. All were played between 1984 and 1995, with Bobby Cremins as the Yellow Jackets’ head coach.

• Tech won the first five meetings by 12 or more points, but won the most recent meeting by just four (85-81). The Jackets have scored at least 81 points in each meeting.

Tech Balanced in its First Three Games

Three Georgia Tech players are averaging in double figures through the first three games. Senior guard Trae Golden leads the Yellow Jackets with 14.8 points per game, having reached double digits in each game. Sophomore forward Marcus Georges-Hunt is No. 2 on the squad in scoring (14.0 ppg) and third in rebounding (6.3), while senior center Daniel Miller is No. 3 in scoring (13.5 ppg) and leads the team in rebounding (8.0 rpg).

• Tech has placed four players in double digits in scoring in three of four games … Four Tech players are hitting better than 50 percent of their shots from the floor, led by Miller (67.7 pct.) and Kammeon Holsey (61.9 pct.).

• Tech has averaged 15 assists per game (2.3 per game better than last season), and has assisted on 55.1 percent of its field goals … Tech has turned the ball over just 12 times per game, fewer than last year’s average … Six Tech players have recorded more assists than turnovers over four games.

• Tech has shot 77.6 percent from the free throw line in four games and has scored an average of 19 points per game from the stripe. Last year, Tech got only 10.3 points per game from the foul line and shot 63.5 percent … Tech’s top four scorers – Trae Golden (21-of-27), Marcus Georges-Hunt (14-of-18), Daniel Miller (12-of-13) and Kammeon Holsey (11-of-13) have combined to hit 81.7 percent of their free throw attempts … Tech has attempted 24.5 free throws per game so far, compared to just 16.2 last season.

• Tech has made 46.6 percent of its field goals in three games, and has scored 248 of its 308 points either in the paint or at the foul line … Tech has shot better than 50 percent twice, and has done so 17 times under Brian Gregory.

• Tech has held three opponents under 40 percent (38.4 percent collectively), extending the total of opponents the Jackets have held under 40 percent to 29 under Gregory.

• Though Brian Gregory does not emphasize steals as a way to fuel transition, Tech’s steal rate is up to 7.5 per game from 5.9 last year.

• Tech has outrebounded each of its opponents, making it 42 times in 66 games under Gregory that the Yellow Jackets have out-rebounded their opponent.

About Georgia Tech Men’s Basketball

Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team is in its third year under head coach Brian Gregory. The Yellow Jackets have been a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference since 1979, won three ACC Championships, played in the NCAA Tournament 16 times and played in two Final Fours (1990, 2004).

Connect with Georgia Tech Men’s Basketball on social media by liking their Facebook Page, or following on Twitter (@GTMBK). For more information on Tech basketball, visit Ramblinwreck.com.

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