Dec. 6, 2005
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech (3-2), which snapped a two-game slide Sunday with a 63-54 victory in its ACC opener with Virginia, visits Athens, Ga., for its annual game with in-state rival Georgia at 7 p.m. Wednesday night at Stegeman Coliseum.
The Yellow Jackets will be looking for win No. 100 for head coach Paul Hewitt at Georgia Tech and win No. 100 in their all-time series with Georgia. The game will be televised regionally on FSN South. Radio coverage is provided by the Georgia Tech/ISP Sports Network, locally on WQXI-AM (790) and WTSH-FM (107.1). The Tech broadcast can also be heard nationally on XM Satellite Radio Ch. 192, or on www.ramblinwreck.com.
Tech is looking for its first win in Athens since 1976, having lost 10 straight at Stegeman Coliseum, including five in a row since the series moved back to the campuses in 1995.
The Yellow Jackets have used the same starting lineup for its first five games — 6-0 sophomore Zam Fredrick at point guard, 6-4 junior Mario West and 6-5 sophomore Anthony Morrow on the wings, 6-6 sophomore Jeremis Smith at forward, and 6-9 sophomore Ra’Sean Dickey at center.
Morrow, a Charlotte, N.C., native who is Tech’s top returning scorer from last season, leads the Jackets and ranks 15th in the ACC in scoring at 14.8 points a game. He has shot 48.1 percent (13-for-27) from three-point range (9th in the ACC) and is fourth in the conference in three-point field goals (2.6 per game). He is one of four Tech players averaging in double digits, including Dickey (14.0), Fredrick (11.4) and Smith (11.2).
Morrow is joined in the starting backcourt by West, an outstanding athlete from Douglas, Ga., with high energy and excellent defensive skills (2.6 steals per game, 3rd in ACC) who is averaging 7.4 points a game and making 56.5 percent of his shots from the floor, and Fredrick, a former South Carolina Mr. Basketball from St. Matthews, S.C., who has scored in double digits in four straight games and shot 43.2 percent in the last three.
Up front, Dickey and Smith both had career games at Michigan State. Dickey, a center from Clio, S.C., scored 24 points on 11-of-16 shooting from the floor, all career highs. He ranks 20th in the ACC in scoring, 10th in field goal percentage (58.8) and 12th in rebounding (7.0). Smith, who missed 17 games last year after dislocating his right kneecap, posted his first career double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds) against the Spartans and followed that with 17 and 9 against Virginia. He ranks 10th in the ACC with 7.8 boards per game.
Freshmen Lewis Clinch (7.4 ppg, 2.2 rpg), a 6-3 guard from Cordele, Ga., and D’Andre Bell (2.2 ppg, 1.4 rpg), a 6-5 guard/forward from Los Angeles, Calif., both high-scoring players in the prep ranks, are strong physically and boost Tech’s firepower from the perimeter off the bench.
Theodis Tarver, a 6-9 senior from Monroe, La., figures in heavily in the post as the most experienced player on Tech’s team, and has averaged 2.2 points and 3.0 rebounds per game thus far. Freshman Alade Aminu, a 6-9 player with good offensive skills and shot-blocking capabilities, has averaged 1.2 points and 1.6 rebounds.
Series vs. Georgia
> Tech is looking for its 100th victory in the series which began in 1906. The Yellow Jackets lead 99-82. Georgia was the opponent for Hewitt’s 100th career victory overall, an 83-77 triumph at Alexander Memorial Coliseum on Nov. 27, 2002.
> Tech is just 28-48 in games played in Athens, and 3-22 at Stegeman Coliseum, including five straight losses in the building since the series moved back to the campuses. The Yellow Jackets lost a double-overtime thriller, 83-80, on their last visit on Jan. 3, 2004, and have not won at Stegeman since a 64-43 victory on Nov. 26, 1976, when Dwane Morrison was Tech’s head coach.
> Tech won last year’s meeting in Atlanta by 38 points, 87-49, opening the second half with 12 straight points while the Bulldogs missed their first seven shots. Five Tech players reached double figures, and the Yellow Jackets shot 53.6 percent from the floor. Georgia won the last meeting in Athens, 83-80 in double-overtime, tagging third-ranked Tech with its first loss of the 2003-04 season after a 12-0 start.
> The series has been played alternately on the respective schools’ campus since the 1995-96 season, and the Bulldogs have won six of those 10 games.
> Since the series moved back to the campuses, the home team has won all but one of the 10 meetings. The exception was Georgia’s 75-70 win at Alexander Memorial Coliseum on Dec. 6, 2000. The Yellow Jackets have lost all five meetings with Georgia in Athens since the series returned to campus sites in 1995.
> Tech is 2-3 against the Bulldogs under head coach Paul Hewitt, with both wins coming at home.
> Before the December 1995 meeting in Athens, the teams played 14 straight years at the Omni in downtown Atlanta, which was located on the site of the current Philips Arena. Tech went 8-6 against the Bulldogs in the facility, including eight of the last 10 before the neutral series ended. The teams have played on neutral sites other than the SEC or Southern Intercollegiate championships only one other time, that comng at the 1960 Gator Bowl Tournament in Jacksonville, Fla.
> Twelve of the last 25 meetings have been decided by five points or fewer, 18 by 10 points or less. Three games have gone to overtime, one to three overtimes and one to two. Seven of the 10 games that have been played since the series moved back to campus sites have been decided by less than 10 points, and two of them have gone to overtime.
Tech Takes Conference Opener
Jeremis Smith led four Tech players in double figures by scoring 17 points with nine rebounds to lead the Yellow Jackets to a 63-54 victory over Virginia Sunday night in the ACC opener for both teams. Anthony Morrow chipped in 13 points, while Ra’Sean Dickey and Zam Fredrick each scored 11.
After leading 29-17 at halftime, Tech built an 18-point lead early in the second half before a 5-minute, 39-second field goal drought and some excellent offensive rebounding by Virginia helped the Cavaliers shave the lead to four. The Jackets salted away the win by making nine of 10 free throws in the final 1:55.
Virginia shot just 27.5 percent from the floor and missed all 13 of its three-point attempts, but the Yellow Jackets weren’t much better, hitting just 40 percent from the floor and 1-of-7 threes. The Cavaliers took 28 offensive rebounds, but scored just 16 second-chance points.
Head coach Paul Hewitt said – “We have the capability of being a much better shooting team. That’s going to come. We were a little bit disjointed tonight. I thought the effort was pretty good for the most part, but we’ve got to keep building on what we’re trying to do. Going into the second half, we had played three pretty good halves of basketball, and that’s how I’m trying to judge this team. Then in the second half tonight, we’re capable of playing better. I thought in the first half, we showed a nice carry-over from Wednesday night, but I can’t quite explain what happened in the second half. Their energy level and effort was better than ours in the second half and they just absolutely dominated us on the boards.”
From the Stat Sheet
> Tech has placed at least four players in double figures in scoring in four of its five games. The lone exception was Illinois-Chicago, which it lost by 22 points. Four Tech players are averaging in double figures for the season.
> Tech shot better than 50 percent at Michigan State (47.6 percent from three-point range), the only time the Jackets have shot 50 percent in a game this year, and lost. Tech followed that up by shooting 40 percent (1-for-7 from three) against Virginia and won.
> Tech is shooting 30.1 percent from three-point range, 23.1 percent if the Michigan State numbers are removed.
> Tech has recorded more assists than turnovers in only one game (Michigan State).
> Opponents have made just 17-of-72 three-point attempts against Tech (23.6 percent).
> Tech has forced 92 turnovers and turned them into 103 points.
> Jeremis Smith has established career highs in scoring for two straight games, getting 14 points (with 10 rebounds) at Michigan State and 17 (with nine boards) against Virginia. He is 12-for-22 from the floor and 7-for-10 from the foul line in those two games.
> Smith, who plays power forward and is Tech’s leading rebounder at 7.8 per game, also has 10 assists (2.0 per game) and 12 steals (2.4 per game).
> Zam Fredrick has 12 assists and nine turnovers in his last two games after posting six and 13 in the first three games. He has reached double figures in four straight games.
> Anthony Morrow went 6-for-8 against UNC Asheville and began the Elon game by making 6-of-7. In the next three halves he was 4-for-15 (1-for-7 from three), then went 8-for-17 at Michigan State (7-11 from three).
> Ra’Sean Dickey’s 24 points at Michigan State were the most by a Tech center since Alvin Jones scored 26 in back-to-back games against Clemson and Florida State in 2001.
> Lewis Clinch reached double figures off the bench in each of the first two games, but has scored a total of 10 points (5-for-22 FG) in the last three games.
> Mario West, a career 36.7-percent shooter, is 13-for-23 (56.5 percent) this season. He leads the team in steals (13) and is second in assists (13).
> Backup center Theodis Tarver had one of the better games of his career against UIC, scoring six points with five rebounds, two steals and five blocked shots (one off his career-best).
> Eight Tech players are averaging double figures in minutes.
> Tech is averaging 35.6 points in the paint. UIC is the only team to beat Tech in points in the paint (36 to 34) this year.
