Jan. 25, 2006
ATLANTA –
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Georgia Tech’s basketball attempts to rebound from three straight losses when it hosts 18th-ranked Maryland at 7 p.m. Wednesday in a nationally televised Atlantic Coast Conference game at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. The Yellow Jackets are 8-2 at home this season.
The game air nationally on ESPN, the second of four appearances for the Yellow Jackets on the sports cable network this year. The Georgia Tech-ISP Network provides the radio coverage, which can be heard in the Atlanta area on WQXI-AM (790), WTSH-FM (107.1) and WREK-FM (91.1). The Tech broadcast can also be heard nationally on XM Satellite Radio (Ch. 191).
Tech (9-7 overall, 2-3 ACC this season) dropped into a three-way tie for ninth place in the ACC standings following its 73-63 homecourt loss to Clemson Saturday. Nine teams are within 1-1/2 games of each other in the current standings.
Maryland (13-4, 3-2), the ACC’s top scoring team at 82.4 points per game, moved into a tie for third in the standings following its 81-72 win over Virginia Tech Saturday night, and the Terrapins have won their last two games.
A win Wednesday would be the 500th for Tech in the Thrillerdome. The Yellow Jackets have an all-time record of 499-168 (.749) in their home arena, 64-20 under head coach Paul Hewitt.
Tech has won three of the last four meetings with Maryland, and the Terps are one of four conference members against whom the Yellow Jackets have an all-time winning record (33-29). The Jackets’ 33-25 mark against Maryland as an ACC member is their best against any conference foe.
After a five-game period in which the Jackets had played very good defense (58.8 ppg), they have given up an average of 82 points in their losses to NC State, Wake Forest and Clemson. Those three opponents collectively shot 48.7 percent from the floor, 50 percent from three-point range.
Tech, meanwhile, has short-circuited itself with turnovers in the last two games (49), while making just 42 percent of its field goal tries. The Yellow Jackets are shooting 46.4 percent from the floor for the season, 35.9 percent from three-point range.
The Yellow Jackets received good news Saturday when junior guard Mario West returned to the court, putting Tech at full strength for the first time since Dec. 7. Tech has used five different starting lineups this season, and eight players have started at least two games.
Anthony Morrow, the ACC’s seventh-leading scorer, and Jeremis Smith, the conference’s second-leading rebounder, have formed a potent inside-outside combination for the Yellow Jackets this season and are the only Tech players to start every game.
Morrow, a 6-5 guard from Charlotte, N.C., has averaged 17.5 points a game overall. He leads the ACC with a 43.1-percent success rate from three-point range and is third in the conference in three-point field goals (2.94 per game). One of three Tech players averaging in double figures, Morrow has averaged 17.6 points and shoots 41.7 percent from three-point range in ACC games.
Smith, from Fort Worth, Texas, has transformed himself into a force in the paint on both ends of the floor this season, posting seven double-doubles. Fully recovered from a dislocated kneecap that sidelined him for 17 games last year, Smith averages 13.6 points and 9.0 rebounds per game while hitting 50.7 percent of his field goal tries.
Zam Fredrick, a 6-0 guard from St. Matthews, S.C., has started 14 of Tech’s 16 games at point guard, ranks eighth in the ACC in assist average with 4.1 per game while averaging 9.9 points. D’Andre Bell, a 6-5 wingman from Los Angeles, Calif., has started Tech’s last nine games at the other wing spot, averaging 6.1 points in those games, and averages 4.4 points and 2.1 rebounds for the season.
Theodis Tarver, a 6-9 senior from from Monroe, La., and Ra’Sean Dickey, a 6-9 sophomore from Clio, S.C., man the post for Tech. Tarver has started eight of Tech’s last 10 games, averaging 4.9 points and 3.1 rebounds while making 50 percent of his field goal tries in those games. He averages 3.9 points and 3.1 rebounds for the season.
Dickey, who has started the other eight games, leads Tech in field goal percentage (57.6) while averaging 10.6 points and 6.8 rebounds.
Off the bench, freshman Lewis Clinch, a 6-3 guard from Cordele, Ga., has played well since missing five games with a stress fracture in his left leg. He has four double-figure scoring games this season and averages 7.3 points a game. Paco Diaw, a 6-6 freshman from Dakar, Senegal, is the backup point guard (1.2 ppg, 1.8 apg), while freshman Alade Aminu, a 6-9 player with good athletic ability and shot-blocking skills, has averaged 2.6 points and 2.1 rebounds as Tech’s other post reserve.
Comments from head coach Paul Hewitt from Monday’s ACC Teleconference
“We’ve got to find that positive flow that we were in about seven or eight games ago. Over the last two games, we’ve regressed in terms of being an efficient basketball team. I thought we played pretty well in the NC State game, but the last two games, we’ve taken some steps backwards.”
[On Jeremis Smith] – “He’s playing to the level that I thought he was capable of when we recruited him. One of the things that has been tricky with him is that we need to watch his weight. When he gets up to 238 or 239, he’s not as explosive as he normally is. But for the most parthe’s done a good job with that. He’s had an outstanding year for us. He plays very hard every single time he hits the floor, whether it’s practice or games, and he’s become one of our leaders.
“He plays so hard. You don’t have to worry about his effort level. That’s overlooked by a lot of players as a skill.”
[On Zam Fredrick] – He’s improved an awful lot. Early in the year, he was fighting the battle of when to take his shot or run the club. He’s starting to understand now how important it is to run the basketball team. He’s improved as much as anybody on our team.”
[On the difficulty of the conference schedule] – “I think it makes you better for March. When you play against top-quality teams in all types of circumstances, because you never know who you’re going to play in the tournament, and you have a one-day prep if you’re fortunate enough to advance.”
[On the overall balance of the ACC] – “I think these next five games or so, I think you’re going to see some separation. Early in the year, everybody’s pretty fired up and healthy, and you take care of home court. These six or eight games will usually tell, as everyone kinds of separates from each other. We put ourselves in a very difficult spot losing a game at home Saturday. You’ve got to take care of home court to have a chance to keep up, and try to steal one or two on the road to pull away.
“NC State is one of the best teams we’ve played all year. We haven’t played Duke, but watching them on TV, they’re obviously an outstanding team as well. After that, I think we’re all in the mix together.”
[On pinpointing regression of last two games] – “We haven’t taken care of the basketball. We’ve rebounded the ball well, and we’re doing some things very well. I think our teams continues to improve in terms of shot selection and getting the ball in the right places. But we have not valued the basketball. We had 27 turnovers against Clemson, and that came against their half-court defense, not their full-court pressure. I thought we handled their full-court pressure exceptionally well. We’ve just been a little loose with the ball. It’s something that is very correctable.”
