Jan. 2, 2004
ATLANTA –
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Georgia Tech begins the New Year by playing its oldest rival Saturday when the No. 3 Yellow Jackets visit Athens to play Georgia at 3 p.m. in Stegeman Coliseum.
The Yellow Jackets, 12-0 and off to their best start ever after defeating VCU, 86-65, Monday, will attempt to win their first game in Athens since 1976 in a contest regionally televised on Fox Sports Net South. Radio coverage can be heard on WQXI-AM (790) in Atlanta. The Bulldogs are 7-3 following a 76-55 loss at No. 15 Pittsburgh Tuesday night.
Tech has lost nine straight games in Stegeman Coliseum, four of those coming since the series returned to campus sites in 1995. Overall, Tech is 3-5 against Georgia since then.
Saturday’s game is Tech’s first out of the city of Atlanta since Dec. 3, when the Jackets visited Ohio State. Tech is 5-0 away from home this season and has won seven of its last nine games away from home dating back to last season. A win for Tech Saturday would be its first in Athens since 1976. A loss would extend the Bulldogs’ winning streak over Tech in Stegeman Coliseum to 10 games.
“It’s hard to look beyond the fact that this is a big game with a lot of emotion,” said Yellow Jackets head coach Paul Hewitt. “It’s the first time in this rivalry for Dennis Felton, and I’m sure it’s important to him as it is to us.”
Tech has outscored its opponents by 25.9 points a game, a figure which leads the ACC and ranks second in the nation. Tech’s closest games have been 13-point decisions over Saint Louis (75-62) and St. John’s (79-66), and the Jackets have won two games by 50 points or more.
Tech’s opponents are shooting just 34.9 percent from the floor (only Saint Louis and VCU have shot 40 percent in a game against Tech this season) and 27.1 percent from three-point range. Tech ranks first in the ACC in scoring defense (55.5 ppg), scoring margin and field goal percentage defense, and is second in three-point percentage defense.
“We’re practicing very well,” said Hewitt. “There are times during the season when you’re not practicing well, and you hope you play well. It’s not foolproof that you play well if you’re practicing well, but I like my chances. The players are enthusiastic, they’re excited. They’re getting better. I know we’re going to go out and play solid.”
Hewitt has employed the same starting lineup for every game this season — 6-3 Jarrett Jack at point guard, 6-4 Marvin Lewis and 6-4 B.J. Elder on the wings, 6-7 Anthony McHenry at the strong forward spot and 7-1 Luke Schenscher at center.
Four Jackets have scoring averages in double figures for the season, led by Elder at 15.1 points per game. Elder, a junior, ranks seventh in the ACC in scoring, has hit 32.8 percent of his three-point attempts and is shooting 42.8 percent overall.
Jack has been impressive in many respects, averaging 12.7 points a game (second on the team, 19th in the ACC) and 7.1 assists per game (2nd in the ACC) while hitting 52.1 percent of his field goal tries and 36.4 percent of his three-point attempts. He is also Tech’s second-leading rebounder (5.5 per game), ranks second in the ACC in steals (2.83 per game) and fifth assist/turnover ratio (2.43-1).
Lewis, a senior, averages 12.3 points a game to rank fourth on the Tech squad. He broke a brief slump Monday night with 19 points against VCU, hitting 5-of-9 three-point shots. He has shot 44.2 percent from the floor and 36.5 percent from three-point range (11th in the ACC) this season, and ranks fourth in the ACC in three-pointers per game (2.25).
Schenscher, a junior, has played extremely well of late, averaging 12.1 points and 6.3 rebounds while hitting nearly 69 percent of his field goals (22 of 32). He averages 9.3 points and 5.9 rebounds a game while hitting 55.3 percent of his shots for the season. McHenry, a junior playing strong forward, has been solid all season averaging 3.9 points and 4.3 rebounds per game while blocking a team-high 11 shots and hitting 50 percent of his field goals.
Tech’s top reserve has been junior forward Isma’il Muhammad, a 6-6 defensive whiz who has become a force offensively, averaging 12.3 points (third on the team, 21st in the ACC) while leading the conference in field goal percentage (65.6). He has led Tech in scoring off the bench twice this season and has reached double figures eight times.
The other primary players off the bench include Clarence Moore, a 6-5 senior forward averaging 6.6 points and 4.2 rebounds (season high 14 pts., vs. VCU); Robert Brooks, a 6-8 senior postman averaging 3.0 points and 2.7 rebounds; and 6-0 junior Will Bynum, who became eligible Dec. 13 against Saint Louis and has averaged 6.4 points and 3.2 assists.
“There are teams that play five guys just as effectively as some teams play nine guys,” said Hewitt of the Bulldogs. “I look at individuals, and they’ve got a point guard in Rashad Wright who is as good a point guard as I’ve seen play against Georgia Tech. We’ve played some great point guards in the ACC. This guy, all he’s ever done is win, right from his first year when he banked in a shot at halftime the first time I ever saw him.
“So they’re depth is not be a factor because they have an experienced point guard and some other experienced players. Jonas Hayes is playing well, Damien Wilkins is playing well, and Chris Daniels is having a phenomenal start to the season.”
“They’re going to be strong defensively. They execute very well and get the ball inside effectively. It’s a combination of a good coach in Dennis Felton and a veteran basketball team. They know how to play with a purpose.”
Tech Series vs. Georgia
Georgia Tech and Georgia are meeting for the 180th time Saturday, and the Yellow Jackets hold a 98-81 lead in a series which began in 1906 (see page 139 in the Tech media guide for more complete information on the Tech-Georgia basketball history).
Tech won last year’s meeting, 83-77, in Atlanta on the night before Thanksgiving, when Georgia was ranked 17th in the nation. B.J. Elder, who had missed Tech’s season-opener with an injury, came off the bench to score 24 points, leading four Jackets in double figures. Freshmen Jarrett Jack (16 points) and Chris Bosh (15) acquitted themselves well in their first big game, while Marvin Lewis added 10.
Tech, which is 3-21 all-time in Stegeman Coliseum, has lost all four meetings with Georgia in Athens since the series returned to campus sites in 1995. The Jackets have lost those four games by an average of 11.3 points, including a 95-82 loss in Tech’s last visit on Dec. 9, 2001. Tech’s last win at Stegeman Coliseum was a 64-43 decision on Nov. 26, 1976, and the Jackets have lost nine straight games in the building.
Tech head coach Paul Hewitt is 1-2 against Georgia, while Saturday’s game will be the first against the Yellow Jackets for Georgia top man Dennis Felton.
Despite two lopsided losses for Tech (94-70 in 1005 and the aforementioned 13-point loss), the series has generally been closely contested since the 1981-82 season, when the teams began a 14-year run of neutral site games at the Omni. Since then, 11 of the 23 meetings have been decided by five points or fewer, 17 by 10 points or less. Two games have gone to overtime, one to three overtimes.
#3/3 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (12-0, 0-0 ACC)vs. Georgia (7-3, 0-0 SEC)January 3, 2004 * 3 p.m. ETStegeman Coliseum, Athens, Ga. (10,523)
TV: Fox Sports Net South; Dave Neal, pbp; Barry Booker, color Radio: Georgia Tech/ISP Network (flagship WQXI-AM 790); Randy Waters, pbp; Larry Shyatt, color
Tech Record Breakdown: Home: 7-0; Away: 2-0; Neutral: 3-0
Series vs. Georgia: Tech leads 98-81 overall In Athens: Tech is 28-47 At Stegeman Coliseum: Tech is 3-21
Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt: 126-71 (.640), 7th season overall 60-44 (.577), 4th season at Tech 1-2 vs. Georgia (0-1 in Athens)
Georgia coach Dennis Felton: 107-57 (.652), 6th season overall 7-3 (.700), 1st season at UGA 0-0 vs. Georgia Tech
Next for Georgia Tech: Jan. 11 at North Carolina, 8 p.m. ET Next for Georgia: Jan. 7 at Tennessee, 7:30 p.m. ET
