March 4, 2011
By Matt Winkeljohn
Sting Daily
– There was what may be a sliver of good news Friday when we spoke with Paul Hewitt, as the Georgia Tech men’s basketball coach said that sophomore Brian Oliver may yet play this season.
With wires recently removed from his surgically repaired wrist, Oliver may play Thursday in the first round of the ACC Tournament. Hewitt said Oliver is not expected to play against Miami in Sunday’s regular season finale, the last game in Alexander Memorial Coliseum before it is rebuilt into McCamish Pavilion.
In a season such as this, you take good news of any kind wherever, however, it comes. Otherwise, the Tech coach would’ve probably had an answer different than when asked what mementos he might like to take from AMC before it is scrapped. Hewitt repeated Friday what he said earlier in the week: “A win.”
Lance Storrs, who like fellow senior Moe Miller will play Sunday for the last time on Tech’s campus – at least while wearing a Jackets uniform – said the same thing.
So Storrs may have to come up big . . . literally.
When the Hurricanes beat Tech 59-57 at their place earlier in the season, Miami post man Reggie Johnson seemed to eat the Jackets alive.
He finished with a modest nine points yet made all four of his shots. He grabbed 10 rebounds, and Hewitt said at times, “He was like a kid stealing our lunch money.”
Storrs came to Tech to be a shooter, a small forward, and more often than not that’s what he’s been albeit in a more limited role than he envisioned.
But with Oliver’s wrist injury and freshman post player Kammeon Holsey struggling recently with his legs in general and his surgically-repaired knee in specific, Storrs has been on the floor more.
That may leave him matching up at times Sunday with a player who’s listed as 6-feet-10, 303 pounds. That’s probably being a bit kind. Johnson’s bio says that he has a 7-foot-2 inch wingspan and notes that he has lost approximately 40 pounds since becoming a Hurricane. Perhaps he’s gained some of it back.
“I got to do what I got to do,” Storrs said. “If that means I got to go with a 300-pound, 6-9 guy, I’ll do it.”
Storrs, who goes about 6-5 or so and 225 pounds, has always been that way at Tech. More tomorrow on him and Miller before their home swan song.
