Dec. 9, 2011
Complete game notes
Gregory video interview
Good Sign for Gregory
ATLANTA – Looking to build momentum following a 12-point win at Georgia Wednesday night, Georgia Tech completes a three-game road trip Saturday with a 6 p.m. game against Savannah State at Tiger Arena in Savannah, Ga. It is the Yellow Jackets’ first trip to Savannah for a basketball game since 1928.
There is no television coverage, but the Tech radio broadcast can be heard in Atlanta is on flagship station 790 the Zone (790 AM) and True Oldies 106.7 FM, as well as nationally on Sirius channel 117 and XM channel 196.
Tech (5-4), in its first year under head coach Brian Gregory, snapped a modest two-game losing streak by defeating the Bulldogs, 68-56, Wednesday night at Stegeman Coliseum. It was the Yellow Jackets’ first win on an opponent’s home floor this season and the first win for Tech in Athens since 1976, breaking a string of 13 straight losses to Georgia at Stegeman.
Savannah State, in its seventh season under former Georgetown great Horace Brodnax, is 3-6 with road losses to the Hoyas, Indiana and Chattanooga, but also defeated Jacksonville in its only home game to date. The Tigers split their first two games in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, and are playing for the first time since last Saturday.
Following Saturday’s game, Tech has the next eight days off for fall semester exams. The Yellow Jackets complete their pre-Christmas schedule with a pair of home games against Alabama A&M (Dec. 19) and Mercer (Dec. 22).
Tech has hung its hat on solid defense early in the season. The Yellow Jackets rank third in the ACC in field goal percentage defense (37.0 pct.) and fourth in scoring defense (58.8 ppg), and have limited seven of their nine opponents under 40 percent from the field. Only Northwestern has managed 70 points or more against the Yellow Jackets.
Offensively, Tech is averaging 65.6 points a game, 10th in the ACC, and hitting 45.9 percent of its field goal tries (6th). The Yellow Jackets have shot 50 percent or better from the floor five times, including Wednesday night in Athens.
Three Yellow Jackets are averaging in double figures in scoring, led by 6-5 junior Glen Rice, Jr., of Marietta, Ga., who is scoring 14.3 points per game and and grabbing 6.7 rebounds per game, second on the team. Mfon Udofia, a 6-2 junior from Stone Mountain, Ga., averages 11.3 points per game, while Kammeon Holsey, a 6-8 sophomore forward, averages 10.6. Jason Morris, a 6-5 sophomore from Augusta, Ga. (9.1 ppg for the season), has averaged 16.0 points per game off the bench to lead the Yellow Jackets in each of their last three games.
Tech and Savannah State
• Georgia Tech and Savannah State played each other for the first time last December in Atlanta, and the Yellow Jackets prevailed 69-59 at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
• Saturday will be Tech’s third game against a school from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference this year, after having defeated Florida A&M and Delaware State to begin this season. The Yellow Jackets are 25-0 all-time against members of the MEAC.
• Saturday is the second of three games Tech will play this year at the home arena of a non-BCS conference member. Tech lost, 57-52, last week at Tulane, and will visit Fordham on Dec. 29.
• Saturday marks Tech’s first visit to Savannah for a men’s basketball game since Dec. 27, 1928, when the Yellow Jackets defeated Savannah JEA, 34-26.
