Nov. 14, 2009
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ATLANTA (AP) – Iman Shumpert scored 18 points and capped a decisive run in the first half, and No. 22 Georgia Tech showed off its freshmen in its 100-59 win over Florida A&M on Saturday night.
Derrick Favors, the biggest name in Georgia Tech’s heralded freshman class, started and had 10 points and eight rebounds. Another freshman, Brian Oliver, had 12 points, all in the second half.
Junior Gani Lawal added 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Shumpert, a sophomore guard, led the Yellow Jackets (1-0) in scoring despite playing only 19 minutes.
Christopher Walker led Florida A&M (0-1) with 15 points. Brandon Bryant added 14.
Georgia Tech led 16-8 before pulling away with the 14 unanswered points. Shumpert had the final four points in the run.
A basket by Lawal pushed the lead to 30 points at 46-16 late in the first half.
The first sign of Georgia Tech’s new look came when senior Zach Peacock didn’t make the opening lineup. Peacock, a 6-foot-8 forward, started every game last season. Favors and Lawal were the starting forwards in coach Paul Hewitt’s three-guard lineup.
Peacock finished with eight points.
Favors was joined by another freshman, point guard Mfon Udofia, in the starting five.
Georgia Tech, which finished 12-19 overall and only 2-14 in the Atlantic Coast Conference last season, is expected to rebound on the strength of a freshman class that also includes Oliver and Glen Rice Jr.
Udofia had nine points. Rice, the son of the former Michigan star and 15-year NBA veteran, had seven.
Oliver had four 3-pointers in the final 10 minutes.
NOTES: Running back Jonathan Dwyer, receiver Demaryius Thomas and other members of Georgia Tech’s football team were given a halftime ovation. The football team clinched a spot in the ACC championship game with a 49-10 win at Duke Saturday. Georgia Tech guard D’Andre Bell, who missed last season after he was diagnosed with spinal stenosis, a congenital condition, returned to the starting job he held two seasons ago.
