Feb. 24, 2004
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#18/20 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (19-7, 6-6 ACC)vs. #14/19 NC State Wolfpack (17-6, 9-3 ACC)February 25, 2004 * 7 p.m. ETAlexander Memorial Coliseum (9,191), Atlanta, Ga.
TV: ESPN; Mike Patrick, pbp; Brad Daugherty, color
Radio: Georgia Tech/ISP Network (WTSH-FM 107.1); Wes Durham, pbp; Randy Waters, color
Series vs. Georgia Tech: NC State leads, 44-31 In Atlanta: Tech is 19-11 At AMC: Tech is 16-11
Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt: 133-78 (.633), 7th season overall 67-51 (.573), 4th season at Tech 28-32 (.475) vs. the ACC 3-5 vs. NC State (3-0 in Atlanta)
NC State coach Herb Sendek: 207-130 (.614), 11th season overall 144-104 (.581), 8th season at NC State 12-5 vs. Georgia Tech (2-5 in Atlanta)
Next for Georgia Tech: Feb. 28 at Clemson, 12 noon ET Next for NC State: Feb. 29 vs. North Carolina, 5:30 p.m. ET
THE TIP-OFF
> Georgia Tech finishes a two-game homestand Wednesday night by entertaining NC State at 7 p.m. Tech has two of its final three regular-season games on the road, traveling to Clemson Saturday and Duke next Wednesday before closing at home against Florida State.
> Tech (19-7 overall, 6-6 ACC) is still in search of its 20th victory of the season after dropping an 80-76 decision to 15th-ranked Wake Forest Sunday night. NC State (17-6, 9-3 ACC) has won six of its last seven games, including a 77-72 non-conference victory over Washington on Sunday.
> A game and a half separated the Nos. 3-6 teams in the ACC standings heading into this week’s action. Tech and North Carolina are tied for fourth place at 6-6. Duke holds first place at 11-2, followed by NC State at 9-3 and Wake Forest at 7-5. Florida State is in sixth position at 6-7.
> Tech’s 19 wins are the most for the Yellow Jackets under head coach Paul Hewitt, and it is the most wins for Tech in a season since 1997-98, when the Jackets went 19-14 and reached the quarterfinals of the NIT. Tech’s last 20-win season occurred in 1995-96 (24-12).
> Tech is in the Top 25 for the 13th straight week, this week at No. 18 in the Associated Press poll and No. 20 in the ESPN/USA Today poll. Tech debuted in the AP poll at No. 13 (No. 15 in the coaches’ poll) on Dec. 1 following their Preseason NIT wins over No. 1 Connecticut and No. 25 Texas Tech.
> Tech is 11-2 at home this season, and has won 26 of its last 30 games in Alexander Memorial Coliseum. The Jackets were 13-2 at home last season, and Wake Forest was one of two teams to defeat Tech at AMC.
> Tech is playing a Top 25 team for the second straight night, and is 4-3 against Top 25 teams this season, including a 1-2 mark at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
TECH SERIES WITH NC STATE
> NC State leads the overall series, 44-31, having won 12 of the last 16 meetings between the two teams. Prior to that, Tech had won seven in a row.
> The Wolfpack won the teams’ first meeting, 76-72, on Jan. 24 in Raleigh. NC State launched 41 three-point attempts, the most ever attempted against Tech, and made 12 while also controlling the offensive boards (21 rebounds for 24 second-chance points).
> Georgia Tech and NC State have split their regular-season meetings each of the past four years, each team winning at home. The trend continued last year when Tech won, 85-61, in Atlanta on Jan. 11, and the Wolfpack took a 63-57 decision in Raleigh on Feb. 12.
> Tech is 19-11 against the Wolfpack in Atlanta, including one “home-court” meeting that was played at the Omni in 1986, and has won the last four games against NC State in Alexander Memorial Coliseum. The Pack’s last win in the Thrillerdome was a 51-50 decision on Feb. 2, 1999.
> Tech is 3-5 against NC State under head coach Paul Hewitt. Since Herb Sendek took over the reins at NC State, the Jackets are 5-12 against the Wolfpack and averaged just 62.2 points over the 17 meetings. The first meeting this year marked only the third time Tech has managed to score 70 or more points against a Sendek-coached Wolfpack team.
> Tech is just 7-25 in games played in Raleigh, including an 0-5 mark at the RBC Center. The Jackets have lost eight straight times to the Wolfpack on their home court, dating back to Jan. 24, 1996, a 76-71 Tech victory.
> Tech is 2-3 against NC State in ACC Tournament games, the last meeting occurring in 2003 in a 71-65 Wolfpack victory in Greensboro. The Jackets won first-round games in 1996 in Greensboro (88-73) and 1990 in Charlotte (76-67).
COACH HEWITT SAYS
On shaking off the loss to Wake forest — “We’ve been playing better basketball. Obviously [Sunday] night we got off to a slow start. They did a much better job of closing the game out. Their team executed better than we did at the end. But we can’t dwell on that one. We’ve got another very difficult team that is playing great basketball. Herb is doing a great coaching job up there.
On the defensive job Tech has done on NC State’s Julius Hodge — “We don’t do anything special against him. We just try to guard hard every night. But he’s capable of going for a big number on anybody.
On the play of B.J. Elder — “B.J.’s a great player. I think sometimes he’s under-appreciated. He picked up a couple of fouls early in the game that hampered him, or maybe the night could’ve been better for him.
On NC State — “Herb deserves a tremendous amount of credit for what he’s done with his guys. Also, they play with a certain level of confidence, especially going to the conference finals the last two years. They feel like they know they’re going to win. They feel like they belong in the upper echelon of this league, and that can do a lot for you, especially in close games.
On Tech’s defense — “When we guard and rebound, we’re pretty good. Offense will come and go on a given night. Your defense has to be consistent, and it wasn’t consistent early. We’re very fortunate to have guards like B.J. Elder, Marvin Lewis and Jarrett Jack who don’t mind sharing the ball. It’s led us to having a lot of success this year.
IN THE WAKE
From Georgia Tech’s 80-76 loss to No. 15 Wake Forest Sunday night:
> Tech fell behind 21-4 in the first five minutes of the game, continuing a slow-starting trend that has plagued the Jackets in each of their losses this season. The lone exception was the Duke game, when the Jackets surged to an early 17-10 lead.
> Wake Forest shot 57.4 percent in the game, the highest percentage shot against Tech this season. Wake was just the second team to shoot 50 percent against the Jackets. That included a 63.2-percent first half by Wake Forest.
> For the second straight time (Virginia on Feb. 14 included) in a loss, Tech scored 50 points or more in the second half to rally from a significant deficit, but were unable to pull out a victory.
> Giving up 80 points in a game has resulted in a loss for Tech every time this season (five times). NC State is the only team to defeat Tech this season without scoring 80 points (76-72). The Jackets are 6-24 in the Paul Hewitt tenure when they give up 80 points.
> Tech’s 16 bench points marked the second fewest for the Jackets in an ACC game this season.
> Tech was called for 28 fouls, matching a season high called against Tech in road games at Georgia and North Carolina. In two games against Wake Forest, Tech has been called for 54 fouls.
QUICK LOOK AT TECH
Five Tech players are averaging in double figures this season, led by 6-4 junior B.J. Elder at 16.4 points a game, 6-3 sophomore Jarrett Jack (12.6 ppg), 6-4 senior Marvin Lewis (11.2 ppg), 6-0 junior Will Bynum (10.8 ppg) and 6-6 junior Isma’il Muhammad (10.2 ppg).
For the last six games, Tech has used the starting lineup with which it played the first 13 games of the season — Jack, Lewis and Elder at the guards, 6-7 junior Anthony McHenry at forward and 7-1 junior Luke Schenscher at center. The Jackets are 15-4 with this lineup.
Elder is playing the best basketball of his career at this point of the season, averaging 21.8 points in his last five games, including 30 against North Carolina on Feb. 10 and 27 Sunday night against Wake Forest. He leads Tech and ranks fourth in the ACC in scoring. He has improved his shooting percentages for the season to 42.1 percent overall and 37.7 percent from three-point range, and has shot 40.8 percent from three against the league.
Jack, who has scored 21 points in each of Tech’s last two games, is third in the ACC in assist average (5.81 per game) and fifth in steals (2.08 per game), while shooting 47.9 percent from the floor. Schenscher averages 8.3 points and a team-high 6.5 rebounds overall this season (8.4 ppg and 7.7 rpg vs. the ACC), hits 54.2 percent of his shots and ranks fourth in the league in blocks (1.58 per game). Jack and Schenscher are the only two players to start every game for Tech this season.
Lewis has struggled with foul trouble in the last two games and scored just four points, but is shooting 44.1 percent from the floor and 39.9 percent from three-point range. He has shot 41.8 percent from three-point range against the ACC. McHenry, Tech’s primary defensive specialist who has started 21 of Tech’s 26 games this season, averages 2.6 points and 3.1 rebounds.
Tech uses four primary reserves, including Muhammad, a 6-6 defensive whiz who has made 61.6 percent of his field goal attempts this season and is second-best rebounder at 5.0 per game.
Bynum, Tech’s backup point guard, has given the Jackets a big lift off the bench since becoming eligible on Dec. 13, averaging 10.8 points per game for the season and 12.6 points per game against the league. Clarence Moore, a 6-5 senior, averages 6.4 points and 4.8 rebounds for the season, and has hit 44.6 percent from three-point range. Theodis Tarver, a 6-9 sophomore postman who missed the first 13 games of the season with a knee injury, is averaging 1.5 points and 1.8 rebounds as Schenscher’s backup.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL’S BIGGEST SECRET BUSTS OUT
B.J. Elder, who has developed into one of the best all-around players in the ACC over the last couple of seasons, has put together the best stretch of his career in Tech’s last five games, averaging 21.8 points against Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland.
It is the best five-game stretch for any Tech player since Tony Akins closed his senior year with 111 points in his last five games. He scored 132 in his last six games.
Elder overcame foul trouble Sunday night to score 27 points against Wake Forest, 26 of those in the second half. He also scored 22 at Virginia Feb. 14, hitting 7 of 16 shots overall and 5 of 10 from three-point range. He scored 30 points against the Tar Heels on Feb. 10, hitting a career-high seven three-point field goals, five of them in succession in one second-half stretch. He scored 20 at Tennessee on Feb. 7, hitting eight of 14 shots from the floor.
The 6-4 junior has been Tech’s leading scorer all season, but has struggled to convert a high percentage of his shots from the floor until recently. In Tech’s last five games, however, Elder has made 50 percent of his shots from the floor and 53.1 percent from three-point range.
Going back to his 36-point performance against Clemson on Jan. 27, Elder has shot 47.4 percent from the floor (54-of-115) and averaged 14.4 shot attempts per game. He had attempted less than 10 per game in the five games prior to that and made only 30.6 percent.
One of 30 players named to the John Wooden Award’s mid-season list of candidates for its national player of the year honor on Jan. 27, he celebrated the news by pouring in a career-high 36 points against Clemson, 11 more than his previous best and the top scoring performance by an ACC player this year. He went 12-for-20 from the floor and 6-for-10 from three-point range in that game.
DEFENSE STILL TECH’S FOUNDATION
Defensive pressure, both half-court and full-court, continues to be the catalyst for Tech and creates the offensive opportunities that have the Yellow Jackets averaging 79.1 points a game (fourth in the ACC, best in Paul Hewitt’s four years at Tech) and shooting 47.1 percent from the floor (second in the ACC, also Tech’s best under Hewitt).
> The Jackets have allowed only nine teams to shoot 40 percent or better this season, and only two to shoot 50 percent, while limiting opponents to 38.3 percent collectively and 29.4 percent from three-point range.
> Tech ranks first in the ACC in field goal percentage defense in all games, second in league games only, and is the fifth-best in NCAA Division I basketball. Tech ranks second in the ACC in three-point percentage defense in all games, third in league games only.
> Tech’s FG percentage allowance of 38.3 percent would be the fourth lowest in school history if the season ended today, and the three-point yield would be a school-record low.
> Tech is 19-1 this season when it holds its opponent to less than 80 points.
HIGH SCORERS FIND GOING TOUGH
Georgia Tech’s defensive efforts have, for the most part, been highly effective against the leading scorers of its opponents this season. The Yellow Jackets are also vastly improved in their defense on the perimeter and against opposing three-point shooters. Only 10 leading scorers among Tech’s opponents have managed to match or beat their season averages against the Jackets, and Tech has held 14 of those players to single digits.
Tech was able to limit Maryland’s John Gilchrist, who scored 27 points in the teams’ first meeting on Jan. 17, to just four points on 1-of-7 shooting from the floor Thursday night.
The Jackets made life difficult for Tennessee’s Scotter McFadgon, the SEC’s leading scorer at 19.1 points a game coming in. McFadgon scored eight points against Tech on Feb. 7 and hit just 2 of 13 shots from the floor (1-for-7 from three). Tech had a similar effort against the ACC’s leading scorer earlier this season, holding NC State’s Julius Hodge (18.1 ppg at the time) to just two points on Jan. 24.
OFFENSIVE EFFICIENCY IMPROVES
Georgia Tech’s offensive execution, especially in the halfcourt, has improved markedly since the Yellow Jackets’ loss at Florida State on Feb. 3.
In the last five games, in which it has averaged 79.2 points a game, Tech has shot 48.9 percent from the floor and 45.3 percent from three-point range. Tech has averaged 15.6 assists, getting an assist on 60.4 percent of its baskets during this stretch. Tech has also gone to the free throw line 132 times (26.4 per game) and made 72.0 percent.
Tech has been able to do this despite allowing 78 offensive rebounds and a minus-11 turnover margin.
EXTRA CREDIT
While Georgia Tech has defended the three-point shot much better this season, it is also shooting the three far better than last year.
Most recently, Tech went 7-of-19 against Wake Forest, 5-of-11 from bonus range at Maryland, 10-of-24 at Virginia, 13-of-25 against North Carolina and 8-of-16 at Tennessee. Collectively, the Yellow Jackets have shot 45.3 percent from three-point range in those five games.
The Jackets have shot threes at a 37.9-percent rate for the entire season and have made 7.46 per game, which rank second and third, respectively, in the ACC rankings. Tech ranked sixth in the ACC last season in three-point field goal percentage (35.2), and eighth in three-pointers per game (5.74).
In ACC games only, Tech has shot 39.3 percent from three-point range, which leads the conference, and made 7.83 per game, which ranks third.
Individually, Marvin Lewis is at a career-best 39.9 percent, 41.8 percent against the league, while B.J. Elder has made threes at a 37.7-percent clip overall, 40.8 percent against the ACC. Will Bynum and Jarrett Jack also have been threats from long range, combining to make 35.0 percent in all games and 37.7 percent in ACC games.
LEWIS AND ELDER KEY SCORING PUNCH
When wing guards Marvin Lewis and B.J. Elder both are scoring well, it is good news for Georgia Tech. When both players score in double figures this season, the Yellow Jackets are 12-2.
In those 14 games, Tech has averaged 81.4 points. In the other 12 games, Tech is 7-5 and has averaged 76.5 points.
Since ACC play began, both players have reached double figures against North Carolina (both meetings), Virginia (both meetings), Wake Forest, Clemson and Tennessee, and Tech is 5-2 in those games.
No player has shown a more dramatic swing in their statistical numbers between Tech’s wins and losses as have those of Lewis. In Tech’s 19 victories, Lewis has averaged 12.2 points, shot 47.8 percent from the floor and 42.9 percent from three-point land, compared to 8.3 ppg, 33.9% FG and 30.3% 3FG in Tech’s losses.
TECH IS PH-BALANCED
Just about anyway you slice it, Georgia Tech has produced a balance offensive attack this season. If the Yellow Jackets keep up their current ways, they will post the highest team scoring averaging since the 1995-96 season (80.2 ppg) and place five players in double figures for the season for the first time since 1991-92.
> In all games, five players are averaging in double figures, and seven average six points a game or more.
> In ACC games, three Tech players are averaging in double figures, six averaging 8.4 or higher. Five players have averaged in double figures in Tech’s six ACC road games.
> Against Top 25 opposition, five players are averaging in double figures and seven are at 6.3 points per game or higher.
> In Tech’s ACC victories this season, five players are averaging in double figures, and seven at 6.8 or higher. In its ACC losses, only three players are averaging in double figures, but six are at 8.7 points per game or higher.
BENCH KEY COMPONENT OF TECH SUCCESS
For proof of the importance of Georgia Tech’s bench, look no further than the face that the Yellow Jackets’ leading scorer has come off the bench nine times this season. In the last 14 games, Tech has had 17 players score in double figures off the bench.
Tech is getting 27.7 points per game from its bench this season, the best in the tenure of head coach Paul Hewitt. The Jackets have averaged 27.2 bench points in ACC games. Tech averaged 16.5 points from its bench last season, 22.2 points per game in 2001-02, and 20.6 in Hewitt’s first season.
Tech’s primary reserves, forwards Clarence Moore and Isma’il Muhammad and guard Will Bynum, have combined to average 27.4 points a game this season and shoot 49.7 percent from the floor. They also provide the Jackets a high level of energy and defensive intensity when they come onto the floor.
TECH AGAINST RANKED TEAMS
Georgia Tech is 14-24 against nationally-ranked opponents in three-plus seasons under Paul Hewitt. That includes a 4-3 mark this year (see list on page 4).
Tech has defeated (rankings at the time of the game) No. 1 Connecticut, No. 25 Texas Tech, No. 10 Wake Forest and No. 14 North Carolina (second meeting of the season at home), with losses to No. 1 Duke, No. 12 North Carolina (first meeting in Chapel Hill) and No. 15 Wake Forest (second meeting at home).
At home, Tech is 6-9 against top 25 opposition under Hewitt, and 8-10 against ranked teams in Atlanta (including games at Philips Arena and the Georgia Dome).
