Jan. 7, 2003
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech (5-5) returns home for the first time since Dec. 17, hosting Cornell at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Alexander Memorial Coliseum at McDonald’s Center. Tech has dropped three straight games by an average of 16 points, to Syracuse, Maryland and Tulane, all on the road, and has played just once in its home arena since Dec. 1.
The game will not be televised, but will be broadcast on the Georgia Tech-ISP Radio Network. The game can be heard in Atlanta on flagship station WQXI-AM (790), WMGP-FM (98.1), WSNY-FM (100.1) and WLKQ-FM (102.3).
Cornell (4-6) comes into the game with a two-game winning streak after a 69-50 win at Army Friday and an 80-73 home-court win Sunday over Lafayette.
Tech has not lost at home in four tries this season, including an 83-77 win over then-No. 17 Georgia in the second game of the campaign on Nov. 27. The Yellow Jackets have averaged 89.8 points per game at home and outscored their four foes by an average of 22 points. Tech has shot 47.3 percent from the floor and 43.2 percent from three-point range at Alexander Memorial Coliseum, and has a 1.52-1 assist/turnover ratio at home.
“It’s important to be home,” said head coach Paul Hewitt. “On this little rut we’ve been on, we’ve played only two games in the Coliseum since Dec. 1. That’s a long stretch. It’s the way the schedule fell. When you look around the country and see teams like Missouri that haven’t played a game on anybody’s home court until Jan. 3, that can make a difference. I think we’ve been practicing very well. I expect to see us start playing some really good basketball. I think it’s a little like last year when we went through a rut, and it’s only a matter of time before we bust loose.
“It can only turn into a positive down the road, because these guys have responded well and haven’t lost our confidence. I said before the season we would go through some struggles in December. The bottom line is we went through it, the guys haven’t lost their confidence, and they’ve continued to work hard. I recognize an increased effort level and intensity.
“I was very upset after the [Tulane] game, but after watching the tape, we got beat by a team that played extremely well. We played a little above average, but not good enough to win that basketball game.”
Hewitt has used four different starting lineups this season, with freshmen Jarrett Jack, a 6-3 point guard, and Chris Bosh, a 6-10 forward, the only two players to start every game.
B.J. Elder, a 6-4 sophomore who has started the last seven games after missing the season opener with a sore foot, ranks seventh in the ACC in scoring at 16.3 points while hitting 47.4 percent of his field goal attempts (8th in the ACC) and 49.1 percent of his three-point tries (1st in the ACC). Bosh, who is 14-of-19 from the floor in his last two games, averages 15.2 points (10th in the ACC), leads the ACC in field goal percentage (58.6) and is second in rebounding at 9.8 per game.
Marvin Lewis, a 6-4 sharpshooting junior averaging 10.6 points a game, returned to the starting lineup for the last four games and is averaging 11.0 points while hitting 17 of 34 field goal attempts (10-of-24 on threes) during that stretch.
“Marvin has been put in a tough spot by me, asking him to be the team captain and be one of our leading scorers,” said Hewitt. “I’ve asked him to be more vocal, and that’s not his nature. But, unfortunately, we need him to be more vocal. We’ve seen him evolve and talk more on the court, getting guys to do what we need them to do. As his leadership has begun to evolve, we’re starting to see his natural talents come back out.”
Jack, who has struggled recently with his shooting (6-24 overall, 1-9 from three in his last two games), averages 8.3 points and 6.0 assists (fifth in the ACC). Luke Schenscher, Tech’s 7-1 sophomore center, returned to the starting lineup at Maryland and notched season highs of 13 points and nine rebounds (also a career high) while making 6-of-10 from the floor. He averages 6.6 points and 4.5 rebounds for the season and is hitting 56.1 percent of his field goal tries.
Tech gets help off the bench from 6-8 sophomore Ed Nelson, who has started five games and averages 8.6 points and 6.8 rebounds (second on the team, 9th in the ACC), and 6-6 sophomore forward Isma’il Muhammad, who has started six games and averages 7.6 points and 5.0 rebounds. Anthony McHenry, a 6-7 sophomore averaging 2.3 points and 1.4 rebounds, provides excellent defense on the wing. Robert Brooks, a 6-8 junior averaging 0.6 points and 1.3 rebounds per game, and 6-9 freshman Theodis Tarver (2.8 ppg, 1.5 rpg) add depth in the frontcourt.
Jim Nystr?m, a 6-4 freshman from Sweden, scored three points (1-5 FG) in his debut at Maryland, and hopes to boost the Jackets’ perimeter shooting.
The Big Red are led by 6-8 sophomore center Eric Taylor (14.8 points per game, 7.4 rebounds per game), 6-4 sophomore forward Cody Toppert (14.1 ppg), and 6-0 junior point guard Ka’Ron Barnes (11.4 ppg, 3.7 assists per game). Cornell is 2-0 since moving Barnes to the point guard spot.
SERIES VS. CORNELL (TECH LEADS 1-0)
oGeorgia Tech won its only previous meeting with Cornell, 86-68, on Jan. 2 of last season at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. Tony Akins led Tech in that game with 22 points and 10 assists, while Marvin Lewis and B.J. Elder added 13 and 12 points, respectively. Anthony McHenry notched his career-high in points with 13 off the bench.
oWednesday night’s game will be Tech’s 13th game against a member of the Ivy League. The Yellow Jackets are 6-6 all-time against the conference.
oTech and Cornell have one common opponent this season, Syracuse. The Orangemen defeated the Yellow Jackets, 92-65, two weeks after dispatching the Big Red, 85-63.
THE ROAD UNKIND
Georgia Tech hopes a return home will cure its ills of the past month, in which the Yellow Jackets have played six games away from Alexander Memorial Coliseum and lost five of them. Tech’s only win away from home this season is a 67-53 decision against Marist at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 7.
Tech is shooting just 39.8 percent from the floor and 29.2 percent from three-point range in road games this season, compared with 47.3 percent from the floor and 43.2 percent from three-point range at home. The Jackets have a plus-1.5 turnover margin at home, and a minus-5.3 on the road. Tech also has been to the free throw line almost twice as many times as its opponents at home (107-55), and is on the short end (81-74) on the road.
Defensively, Tech is limiting its guests at home to 38.8 shooting from the floor and 31.1 percent from three-point range. But its hosts on the road have hit 45.2 percent from the floor and 42.9 percent from behind the arc.
TWO MORE NON-CONFERENCE TILTS LEFT
Georgia Tech has two non-conference games left on its schedule, including Wednesday night’s game against Cornell and a Jan. 22 meeting with Elon, both at home.
Tech is 5-4 in its non-ACC games thus far, 4-0 at home, 0-3 on the road and 1-1 in neutral court games. The Yellow Jackets were 8-7 out of the league last year, and 9-5 in Paul Hewitt’s first season at Tech.
TECH STRUGGLING ON OFFENSE
Save for solid shooting efforts against Marist (49.1 percent) and Troy State (55.2 percent), Georgia Tech has struggled offensively since its 3-0 start. Tech has averaged 70.7 points in the last seven games, 67.8 points in the five road games during that stretch.
In the last seven games, Tech has shot 44.3 percent from the floor, close to its seasonal average, but has taken just 60 shots per game, compared to 72.3 shots in its first three games. The Yellow Jackets have shot 39.5 percent in road games, compared to 47.4 percent in home and neutral games.
LEWIS RETURNING TO FORM
Junior guard Marvin Lewis, Tech’s most experienced player and its best outside shooter, has begun to shoot the ball better in the Yellow Jackets’ last four games after a slump that took him out of the starting lineup.
The 6-4 Lewis has averaged 11.0 points in Tech’s last four games, hitting 15-of-32 shots from the floor (46.9 percent) and 10-of-24 (41.7 percent) from three-point range.
Lewis played inspired basketball in his return home at Maryland, scoring 12 points, and followed that with 13 at Tulane, his highest total since his season-opening 28 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. In Tech’s losses at Maryland and Tulane, Lewis hit 10 of 17 shots and 5-of-11 from three-point range.
Lewis, who had been the ACC’s top returning three-point shooter (1.74 per game, 39.1 percent) has creeped back into the ACC rankings in three-point field goals per game, hitting 1.90 per game to rank ninth, and his percentage for the season has risen to 36.5.
He also is one of the ACC’s top marksmen from the foul line, hitting 87.0 percent for his career. He has missed just 18 free throws in his career, going 120-for-138, but has not gone to the line at all in his last six games. Lewis was 10-of-11 in the first two games of the season, but just 1-of-2 since.
BOSH M’GOSH
Freshman Chris Bosh has begun to re-assert himself offensively for the Yellow Jackets, hitting 14-of-19 shots in his last two games and scoring 16 points at Maryland and 18 at Tulane.
The 6-10 rookie, who twice was been named ACC Rookie of the Week in December, leads the ACC in field goal percentage (58.6). [John Salley is the last, and only, Tech player to lead the ACC in field goal percentage, 62.7 percent in 1985.]
Bosh ranks 10th in scoring (15.2) and second in rebounding (9.8). He leads all freshmen in rebounding and is third among rookies in scoring. The Texas native has scored more points than any Tech player this season (152), but has taken fewer shots (87) than any of Tech’s top four scorers.
He began this season in impressive fashion, scoring a double-double in the first five games, and he has missed two others by one rebound. He has led Tech in rebounding in all but one game, has just 19 turnovers in 304 minutes of court time, and ranks fourth in the ACC in blocked shots.
FOUR MAKE FALL SEMESTER DEAN’S LIST
Four of Georgia Tech’s basketball players made the fall semester Dean’s List, led by junior point guard David Nelson, who posted a 3.76 grade-point average in electrical engineering.
Also making the grade were junior guard Marvin Lewis (3.6), sophomore forward Isma’il Muhammad (3.38) and sophomore center Luke Schenscher (3.0), all management majors.
