Dec. 16, 2010
Game Notes in PDF Format
Moe Miller Interview | Radio Affiliates
ATLANTA – In its first game following fall semester final exams, Georgia Tech visits Paradise Island in the Bahamas to face Richmond at 5 p.m. Saturday in the Battle At Atlantis.
Virginia Tech will take on Mississippi State in the nightcap of the event, which is the inaugural Division I Men’s college basketball doubleheader hosted at the famed Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island, Bahamas.
Tech (5-4) snapped a three-game skid Saturday with a 69-59 victory over Savannah State. The Yellow Jackets are looking for their second win away from home against the Spiders, having lost games at Kennesaw State and Northwestern while defeating UTEP.
Head coach Paul Hewitt’s team returns two starters and eight letterwinners from a team that won three games in last year’s ACC Tournament to reach the championship game, then won their first-round game in the NCAA Tournament. Tech has been picked to finish ninth in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Richmond (8-2) has forged a solid resume early in the season, defeating No. 8 Purdue away from home and Arizona State in Tempe. The Spiders’ only losses have occurred at Iona in double-overtime and at state-rival Old Dominion.
Following Saturday’s game, Tech has one more road game before Christmas, next Wednesday at Siena. The Yellow Jackets return home for a three-game homestand immediately after the break against Fordham, Mercer and Charlotte.
Hewitt is in his 11th season at Tech, the third-longest tenure of any ACC head coach behind Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski (30th season) and Maryland’s Gary Williams (22nd season), and has a record of 182-148.
Game Data
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (5-4, 0-0 ACC) vs. Richmond Spiders (8-2, 0-0 Atlantic 10)
Date: Saturday, December 18, 2010
Tipoff: 5 p.m. Eastern time
Site: Atlantis Resort Sports Facility(capacity 4,500), Paradise Island, Bahamas.
Television: none; Richmond is offering a live video stream on its wevbsite (www.richmondspiders.com), a subscription rate is charged.
Radio: Georgia Tech/ISP Sports Network, live on flagship station WQXI-AM (790 the Zone) and WYAY-FM (106.7) – Randy Waters, play-by-play.
Satellite Radio: Sirius Ch. 214, XM Ch. 190
On the web: www.Ramblinwreck.com; www.twitter/com/gtathletics; www.facebook.com/gtathletics
Tech Record Breakdown: 4-1 at home, 0-2 on the road, 1-1 neutral
Series History: Tech leads, 5-4
Inaugural Battle At Atlantis
Georgia Tech and Richmond, Virginia Tech and Mississippi State are taking part in the inaugural Battle at Atlantis Saturday, which is being hosted at the famed Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island, Bahamas.
The four teams will play in a new 4,500-seat arena to be unveiled in the 60,000 square-foot conference center. The half-million dollar temporary stadium will boast state-of-the-art regulation facilities at the epicenter of the world’s largest open-air marine habitat complete with lavish guest accommodations, restaurants, bars, spa, lounges, waterslides and the largest casino in the Bahamas. In addition to enjoying appearances by former NCAA All-American, NBA Star and current ESPN/CBS Sports Analyst Len Elmore, fans will enjoy over-the-top prizes including a collection of high stake half-court shots with payouts in the six figures.
This will be the fourth trip off the mainland of the United States for Tech’s basketball team since the 2006-07 season, when the Yellow Jackets played in the EA Sports Maui Invitational. Hewitt’s team also has played in the 2007 Paradise Jam in the St. Thomas, USVI, and the 2009 O’reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off.
This not Tech’s first regular-season competition out of the country, however. The Yellow Jackets participated in an event called the Suntory Ball in Tokyo, Japan in December of 1986, defeating Boston College and SMU.
Series History – Tech vs. Richmond
Georgia Tech and Richmond haven’t played each other since 1993, but the teams were familiar rivals during the late 1980s and early 1990s. All nine games in the series took place between 1985 and 1993.
The Yellow Jackets hold a 5-4 edge by winning the most recent two meetings, an 82-75 win at Alexander Memorial Coliseum in 1992 and a 65-60 triumph at the Robins Center in Richmond in 1993.
Saturday’s game will be the second neutral-floor meeting between the Yellow Jackets and Spiders. Richmond eliminated Tech from the 1988 NCAA Tournament with a 59-55 victory in the East Regional second round at Hartford, Conn.
Though Tech has not faced Richmond since 1993, it has faced the Spiders’ head coach Chris Mooney. Mooney was head coach at Air Force for one year (2004-05) before moving to Richmond, and the Yellow Jackets captured a 64-42 victory over the Falcons at Philips Arena on Dec. 11 that season.
Tech Back in the Win Column
Iman Shumpert scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, Daniel Miller had a career-best 14 points as Georgia Tech defeated Savannah State 69-59 on Saturday to snap a three-game losing streak.
The Yellow Jackets placed four players in double figures. Brian Oliver had 17 points and Mfon Udofia scored 12 for Georgia Tech, which led by as many as 21 points in the first half.
Tech committed a season-low 6 turnovers and hit 26-of-36 free throw tries to offset shooting 35.1 percent from the floor and a 43-34 rebounding deficit. For the first time in the Paul Hewitt era, Tech got no points from its bench.
