Jackets Visit Alabama for Exhibition

Georgia Tech Preseason Game Notes  |  Live stats  |  Coach Pastner interview

THE FLATS  –  Georgia Tech’s basketball team takes the court for its second and final exhibition game at 1 p.m. Eastern time Sunday when the Yellow Jackets visit Alabama for a charity game at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa. Proceeds will benefit the American Red Cross Hurricane Dorian Relief Fund.

Tech (14-18, 6-12 ACC in 2018-19), about to begin its fourth season under head coach Josh Pastner, returns all five players who started the final two games of last season, and eight players who started a total of 123 games. Tech returns its top three scorers from the 2018-19 season – 6-foot junior guard Jose Alvarado, 6-9 senior center James Banks III and 6-4 sophomore guard Michael Devoe – who accounted for 48.4 percent of the Yellow Jackets’ points, 41.6 percent of the rebounds and 47.2 percent of the minutes.

Altogether, Tech returns eight of its top 11 players, who combined for 73.2 percent of its points, 66.4 percent of its points and 73.7 percent of its minutes. Most promising among the rest of the returning group is 6-9 junior forward Moses Wright, who reached double figures in four of his last five games, including a career-high 25 vs. Notre Dame in the ACC Tournament, 19 at Miami and 18 at NC State. He averaged 15.6 points (36-of-58 FG) and 6.2 rebounds over that stretch.

Alabama finished 18-16 overall last season, and tied for ninth in the Southeastern Conference at 8-10, but the Crimson Tide made a coaching change in the off-season, bringing in former Buffalo head coach Nate Oats, who was 96-43 with three conference championships with the Bulls.

There is no television coverage or live streaming of Sunday’s game.

SERIES VS. ALABAMA

Georgia Tech and Alabama were longtime rivals in the Southeastern Conference who have continued to play occasionally since the Yellow Jackets left the conference following the 1963-64 season. The teams last met in a regular season game on Jan. 3, 2012 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, a 73-48 Crimson Tide victory at State Farm Arena.

Alabama has won 10 of the 13 meetings between the two teams since Tech left the SEC, and has a 41-28 all-time series lead in games that count. The Jackets are 5-23 in games played in Tuscaloosa; dropping an 88-77 decision on Jan, 3, 2009 in the last meeting at Coleman Coliseum.

JACKETS DOWN GEORGIA COLLEGE IN EXHIBITION

Fifty-two percent field-goal shooting, 48-percent shooting from downtown, and a 15-0 second-half run led Georgia Tech men’s basketball to a hot start to its preseason exhibitions as it routed Georgia College 98-76 last Sunday afternoon at McCamish Pavilion.
Thanks largely to terrific ball movement (21 assists on 35 made field goals), the Yellow Jackets were led by six double-digit scorers on the afternoon, topped by junior Bubba Parham’s 15 (5-for-5 from three), while the Bobcats were led by junior guard Jordan Thomas (26 points). Also reaching double digits for Tech offensively was Jose Alvarado (14), Khalid Moore and Evan Cole (13) and Moses Wright (12).
Cole finished with a double-double, leading Tech with 11 rebounds as the Jackets showed real prowess down low. The Jackets won the rebounding game overall 51-26, while also getting 16 second-chance points on the day as well.

• Georgia Tech starting lineup: Jose Alvarado, Shembari Phillips, Khalid Moore, Moses Wright, James Banks III
• Tech’s starting five in the game combined to hit 19-of-32 shots from the floor. Wright was 5-of-6, Moore was 3-of-4, Banks was 4-of-6 and Alvarado was 6-of-10.
• All 10 of Georgia Tech’s available scholarship players competed in the opening half. Michael Devoe, who missed the first three weeks of preseason practice rehabbing a toe injury, was held out as a precaution. Jordan Usher, a transfer from Southern California, is not eligible to play until Dec. 18 vs. Ball State.
• All 10 scholarship players scored at least one field goal, and five players reached double figures in scoring.
• Georgia Tech knocked down its first six field goal attempts in the game and finished the first half at 58.8 percent, and 52.2 percent for the game from the floor.
• Tech connected on 11 three-point field goals in the game, made by five different players. The Jackets hit double digits in threes twice last season – 12 in the opener vs. Lamar and 11 at Virginia Tech. Against Georgia College, their threes were split nearly evenly by half, five in the first, six in the second.

HEAD COACH JOSH PASTNER SAYS

ACC Network has launched!

The ACC Network is a linear and digital platform dedicated to 24/7 coverage of ACC sports that launched on Aug. 22, 2019. It will exclusively televise approximately 450 live events each year, including 40 football games (beginning with Georgia Tech’s 2019 season opener at Clemson on Aug. 29), as well as 150 men’s and women’s basketball contests.

Don’t get shut out! For more information and to learn if your cable/satellite/digital provider is carrying the ACC Network, visit GetACCN.com. Georgia Tech fans whose cable/satellite/digital providers aren’t carrying the ACC Network are urged to contact their providers and ask for the ACC Network to be a part of their subscription.

ABOUT GEORGIA TECH MEN’S BASKETBALL

Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team is in its fourth year under head coach Josh Pastner. Tech has been a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference since 1979, won three ACC Championships (1985, 1990, 1993), 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 (@GTMBB) and Instagram. For more information on Tech basketball, visit Ramblinwreck.com.

Season tickets for men’s basketball can be purchased here.