Dec. 10, 2010
By Jon Cooper
Sting Daily
– Georgia Tech Leading Scorer: Iman Shumpert (14.3)
Savannah State Leading Scorer: Jovonni Shuler (17.0)
Georgia Tech Leading Rebounder: Brian Oliver (6.4)
Savannah State Leading Rebounders: Jyles Smith (6.4)
Georgia Tech Scoring: 70.0 ppg.
Opponent Scoring: 65.8 ppg.
Savannah State Scoring: 54.2 ppg.
Opponent Scoring: 59.2 ppg.
This is the first meeting between the schools.
Georgia Tech (4-4) is looking to break a three-game losing streak as it closes out the pre-finals portion of its 2010 schedule, hosting Savannah State at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. Tip-off is at 4 p.m.
The Yellow Jackets dropped a tough 73-72 decision to Georgia in their last game, Tuesday night at AMC. Iman Shumpert led Tech with 18 points. Brian Oliver (14) and Glen Rice, Jr. (10) also hit for double-figures.
Savannah State enters the game having dropped their last nine games, since a successful opening-night win against Brewton Parker College. Coached by former Georgetown great Horace Broadnax, the Tigers are coming off a 79-57 loss at Indiana, but their previous eight losses were by an average of seven points.
Here now, the Starting Five for today’s game.
Pleased to Meet You: Tonight’s game is the third time this season that Georgia Tech is hosting a team for the first time. The other two first-time visitors to Thrillerdome were Albany and Niagara. The Jackets are hoping that the precedent set in the first two games continues, as they wiped out both teams, by remarkably similar scores, dispatching Albany, 78-51, then Niagara, 77-51. Tech’s only road game against a first-time foe wasn’t as pleasant, a 91-71 loss at Northwestern in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
Miller Time: Freshman Daniel Miller may have turned a corner in Tuesday night’s game against Georgia. Miller had seven points and a career-best nine rebounds in 28 minutes against the Bulldogs. He had two blocks and two assists and played strong defense against All-SEC forward Trey Thompkins. UGA was Miller’s fifth multi-block game. He’s had at least one block and one steal in six of Tech’s first eight games.
Half Right: The loss to UGA was the first time this season that Georgia Tech lost a game when leading at half time. They’d been 3-0 prior to Tuesday. To show how rare such a loss is, Tech has a 144-33 record (an .814 winning percentage) when leading after 20 minutes in the Paul Hewitt Era.
The Big 550: A win today would be the 550th for Tech at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. That’s a .743 winning percentage. Only Cameron Indoor Stadium, which has been in use since 1940, has been in existence longer than AMC, which opened Nov. 30, 1956.
Captain Consistent: Captain Iman Shumpert has scored in double figures in Tech’s last seven games, during which he’s averaging 15.6 points per game. Last season, Shumpert’s longest streak of double-digit-scoring games was two, done on three seaparate occasions. He already has two 20-point games, already matching the number he had all last season.
The Sixth Man: Tech’s sixth man, Moe Miller, has been smoking of late. He’s totaled 20 points in his last two games and has been especially hot from three, where he’s shooting 3-for-7 (.429) over his last three games. That’s quite a step up from Miller’s first four games, where he was 0-for-5. Miller’s also been taken superb care of the ball, as, for the season, he has 21 assists against 12 turnovers. Over his last five games, Miller has a nearly 3:1 assist-to-turnover ratio (15 assists, 6 turnovers).
