Jan. 29, 2010
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech’s 22nd-ranked (AP) basketball team concludes the month of January with non-conference home game against Kentucky State Saturday (1 p.m.). It is the Yellow Jackets’ final non-league game of the regular season.
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (15-5, 4-3 ACC) vs.
Kentucky State Thorobreds (4-12, 4-11 SIAC)
Date: Saturday, January 30, 2010
Tipoff: 1 p.m. Eastern time
Site: Alexander Memorial Coliseum at the Henry F. McCamish, Jr., Basketball Complex
Television: none
Radio: Georgia Tech/ISP Sports Network, live on flagship station WQXI-AM (790 the Zone) and WYAY-FM (106.7). Wes Durham play-by-play, Randy Waters color.
Satellite Radio: XM 191
On the web: Audio and live stats available at Ramblinwreck.com.
Tickets for Tech home games: available at www.Ramblinwreck.com/tickets
Series History: first meeting
Tech at Alexander Memorial Coliseum: Tech has a 542-188 record in its home arena.
National Rankings: Tech is ranked No. 22 in both the Associated Press poll and the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll. Kentucky State is unranked.
Tech is 15-5 overall, 4-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, tied for fifth place in the ACC standings. The Yellow Jackets have their best record through 20 games since the 2003-04 season and has beaten three top-25 teams this month, including a 71-67 win over No. 5 Duke on Jan. 9, a 73-71 triumph at No. 12 North Carolina Jan. 16 and a 66-64 win over No. 17 Clemson on Jan. 19.
The Jackets had played three consecutive games decided by two points before capturing a surprisingly easy win (79-58) Thursday night at home against Wake Forest. Tech is 10-1 at home this season, 3-1 in ACC games.
Kentucky State, a Division II member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, is 4-12 overall and 4-11 in conference games. The Thorobreds, who defeated Stillman College, 92-91, Thursday night, are coached by Clarence Moore, a senior member of Tech’s 2004 Final Four team and a 2004 graduate in Management.
The Jackets have been one of the better defensive teams in the ACC and the nation so far, ranking third in the ACC and sixth in the nation in field goal percentage defense (37.0 pct.) in all games, first in the ACC in league games only (39.5 pct.). Tech ranks third in the conference and 28th nationally in lowest three-point percentage yield (.288) in all games, fourth in the ACC in league games only (28.0 pct.).
In its four ACC wins, Tech has held its opponent to an average of 15.5 points under its season scoring average (Duke 19 points under, North Carolina 12 under, Clemson 13 and Wake Forest 18). The Yellow Jackets have allowed 70 points in a game only three times in the last 15 games.
Tech returned to full strength Jan. 2 when Iman Shumpert, the sophomore guard, returned from a six-game absence due to surgery to repair a damaged meniscus in his right knee. Shumpert, who has played an average of 33 minutes in his eight games back, has averaged 12.0 points and 3.6 assists in that stretch.
The Yellow Jackets are ranked 22nd in both national polls this week after beginning the year 22nd in the Associated Press poll of writers and 20th in the ESPN/USA today poll of coaches.
Tech in the Thrillerdome
Georgia Tech is playing its 53rd season of basketball at Alexander Memorial Coliseum (capacity 9,191), and has a record of 542-188 (.742) in the building, which opened Nov. 30, 1956 with a 71-61 Tech loss to Duke. Known as the “Thrillerdome,” the Coliseum is the second-oldest arena in use in the ACC, behind Cameron Indoor Stadium at Duke.
Tech set school records for wins (16-1 record) and home games played during the 2006-07 season. Since the 1981-82 season, Tech is 300-87 (.775) in its on-campus home, and the Jackets are 106-40 (.726) at home under head coach Paul Hewitt.
Tech is 170-13 against non-conference foes at Alexander Memorial Coliseum since the beginning of the 1981-82 season, including Penn State and UIC last season, each of whom have beaten the Jackets twice since 1981. From 1981 through last season, the only other non-ACC teams to win at the Thrillerdome have been Penn, Tulane and IUPUI (all in the 2001-02 season), Georgia (2000), College of Charleston (1993), Louisville (1989), and Richmond (1987).
Playing the Margins
With its 79-58 win over Wake Forest, its largest victory margin in the history of the series, Georgia Tech nearly doubled the winning margin of its ACC games this year. Tech’s first five ACC games were decided by a total of 24 points, including three straight two-point decisions.
The 21-point margin was the largest since the Yellow Jackets defeated Clemson on the road, 74-50, on Feb. 6, 2003, and Tech’s third-largest winning margin in an ACC game under Paul Hewitt. Tech’s top winning margin in an ACC game under Hewitt is 31 points, a 77-46 win over Florida State on Jan. 30, 2003.
Additional note: The Florida State win in 2003 snapped an 0-7 start in ACC play that year. It started a three-game winning streak in which it defeated North Carolina by 12 (86-74) and Clemson (74-50).
