Jan. 13, 2003
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech completes a three-game homestand Tuesday night at 9 p.m. with an Atlantic Coast Conference game against Florida State at Alexander Memorial Coliseum at McDonald’s Center.
Tech (7-5, 1-1 ACC) has won two straight games, including an 85-61 triumph over NC State last Saturday, while Florida State comes in at 9-4, 0-2 in the ACC following an 89-62 loss Saturday at Maryland.
The game will be regionally televised throughout the ACC region on Fox Sports Net South (in Atlanta and Georgia, as well as the Carolinas), the Sunshine Network (in Florida) and Comcast Sports Net (Virginia and Maryland). Radio coverage can be heard on the Georgia Tech-ISP Network, including WQXI-AM (790), WMGP-FM (98.1), WSNY-FM (100.1), WLKQ-FM (102.3) and WTSH-FM (107.1).
Tickets, priced at $25, are still available.
Tech has not lost at home in six tries this season, including an 83-77 win over then-No. 17 Georgia in the second game of the campaign on Nov. 27 the victory over NC State. The Yellow Jackets have won seven straight home games and nine of 10 since last season (only loss was to Duke in that stretch). The Yellow Jackets have averaged 87.5 points per game at home and outscored their guests by an average of 23 points. Tech has shot 49 percent from the floor and 47 percent from three-point range at Alexander Memorial Coliseum, and has a 1.56-1 assist/turnover ratio at home.
Tech has won eight of 11 ACC games since last season’s 0-7 start. A win Tuesday would give the Jackets their best start in conference play since beginning the 1995-96 season 3-0.
“We have been practicing very well, and I saw signs that suggested we were beginning to play good basketball,” head coach Paul Hewitt said of his team. “Florida State will be a tough game for us, and I’m sure they’ll be eager to bounce back after their game at Maryland.”
Georgia Tech’s starting five for the last four games has been 6-3 freshman Jarrett Jack, 6-4 junior Marvin Lewis, 6-4 sophomore B.J. Elder, 6-10 freshman Chris Bosh and 7-1 sophomore Luke Schenscher. The Yellow Jackets have used four different starting lineups this season, with Jack and Bosh the only two players to start every game.
Elder ranks sixth in the ACC in scoring at 16.5 points while hitting 49.6 percent of his field goal attempts (6th in the ACC) and 47.7 percent of his three-point tries (1st in the ACC). Bosh, who is 25-of-37 from the floor in his last three games, averages 15.3 points (10th in the ACC), leads the ACC in field goal percentage (59.0) and is second in rebounding at 9.8 per game.
Lewis, a sharpshooting junior averaging 11.8 points a game, has averaged 15 points and shot nearly 57 percent from the floor in his last four games, and is hitting 41.3 percent of his three-point attempts (4th in the ACC). Jack, who scored 11 points with four assists and just one turnover against NC State, averages 7.9 points and 6.1 assists (fifth in the ACC).
Schenscher, who has started the last four games for Tech, averages 6.5 points and 4.5 rebounds for the season and is hitting 55.1 percent of his field goal tries.
Tech gets help off the bench from 6-8 sophomore Ed Nelson, who averages 8.3 points and 6.3 rebounds (second on the team, 10th in the ACC), and 6-6 sophomore forward Isma’il Muhammad, who averages 7.6 points and 4.6 rebounds. Anthony McHenry, a 6-7 sophomore averaging 2.4 points and 1.4 rebounds, provides excellent defense on the wing.
Robert Brooks, a 6-8 junior averaging 0.5 points and 1.1 rebounds per game, and 6-9 freshman Theodis Tarver (2.0 ppg, 1.3 rpg) add depth in the frontcourt, while Jim Nystr?m, a 6-4 freshman from Sweden, is 3-of-8 from three-point range since he became eligible on Dec. 29.
Defensively, Tech has held its last two opponents, Cornell and NC State to a combined 38.1 percent from the floor on a combined 105 shots.
“We’ve been pretty good defensively all year, and that hasn’t been a problem,” said Hewitt. “Every time we step out on the floor, we can hang our hat on the fact that we’re going to hold people down in terms of their field goal percentage and limit then to one shot each time down.”
The Seminoles, under first-year head coach Leonard Hamilton, have three players averaging in double figures, led by 6-4 junior guard Tim Pickett (18.0 points per game), 6-7 sophomore forward Anthony Richardson (11.7) and 6-7 reserve junior forward Michael Joiner (11.0). The rest of the FSU starting lineup includes 6-8 sophomore forward Adam Waleskowski (4.0), 6-11 senior center Trevor Harvey (7.7), and 6-3 junior guard Nate Johnson (4.7).
“Defensively, Leonard’s teams have always been strong. At the seven- or eight-game mark, they were No. 1 in the nation in field goal percentage defense,” said Hewitt. “The difference now is they’re trying to force more turnovers. They’ve got a young man, Tim Pickett, a junior college transfer, who is scoring an awful lot of points for them, and he’s different from anybody we’ve faced. Leonard has a lot of faith in him to give him all the opportunities he gets, and we’ve got to know where he is when we’re on defense.”
TECH SERIES VS. FLORIDA STATE
oGeorgia Tech has won 11 of the last 17 meetings in its series with Florida State, but the Seminoles still hold a 26-21 lead in the all-time series which dates back to 1963.
oThe teams had split the regular-season series five straight years (1997-2001) before Tech won both games last season (the only team the Jackets swept). In that span, FSU also won the schools’ only ACC Tournament meeting (63-62) in 2000.
oTech defeated FSU, 77-46, last year at home on Jan. 30, the largest margin of victory ever against an ACC opponent. The Jackets completed the season sweep with an 86-78 decision in Tallahassee on Mar. 2.
oSince FSU joined the ACC, the Seminoles have won 12 of 23 meetings, including the first six in a row. Tech followed by winning five straight, and is 6-6 against the Seminoles since then.
oIn those 23 games, 10 have been decided by four points or less, 14 by 10 points or less. One of those games went to double-overtime, which the Yellow Jackets won 110-108 on Feb. 11, 1999 in Tallahassee.
oTech and Florida State were both members of the old Metro Conference from 1976-78, and the Seminoles won three of those four meetings.
AN OFFENSIVE BURST
It could be the comforts of home, but Georgia Tech shook off its offensive doldrums at least temporarily in its last two games, shooting a combined 53 percent in wins over Cornell and NC State, including 53.7 percent (22-of-41) from three-point range.
The Yellow Jackets shot 57.7 percent against NC State, their best single-game effort in more than three years, and blistered the nets for 64.5 percent in a 53-point second half. Tech also posted a strong second half against the Big Red (58.6 percent), and hit 49.2 percent for the game.
From behind the three-point line, Tech was 14-of-27 against Cornell and 8-of-14 against NC State.
Save for solid shooting efforts against Marist (49.1 percent), Troy State (55.2 percent), Tech had struggled offensively in December since its 3-0 start, averaging less than 70 points a game during that stretch.
TECH PUTS CLAMPS ON CORNELL, NC STATE
Save for a five-minute barrage of threes at the end of the first half, Georgia Tech recorded its best defensive effort since Dec. 7 against Cornell Wednesday night in an 81-55 victory, limiting the Big Red to 36.4 percent from the floor, 55 points in all. In the second half, Tech limited Cornell to 31 percent overall and just 2-of-13 from three-point range.
The Yellow Jackets continued their strong defense against NC State, holding the Wolfpack to 40 percent from the floor, 35.7 percent after halftime in their 85-61 win.
Tech is 24-1 under Paul Hewitt when the opponent shoots less than 40 percent from the floor, and 34-11 when the opponent fails to score 80 points.
A BETTER START
Georgia Tech, looking for a better start to this year’s ACC schedule than it had last season, has won eight of its last 11 conference games since beginning last season 0-7 in league play.
The Yellow Jackets finished the 2001-02 ACC slate at 7-9, which was the biggest turnaround in conference history. Tech’s seven ACC wins broke the previous record of four straight wins by a team beginning the season 0-7 or worse, held by NC State in 1996-97 and Florida State in 2001-02. Tech wound up defeating every team in the ACC during the season except Duke and Maryland, who handed the Jackets their only two losses after January.
The Jackets closed the first trip through the ACC with a 77-46 home-court rout of Florida State, which started Tech’s resurgence through the second half of the conference schedule. After that, Tech won six of its eight ACC tilts in February and March and added a 20-point road win at Saint Louis.
THE COMFORTS OF HOME
Georgia Tech’s performance in its last two games only accentuated the statistical disparity between the Yellow Jackets at home and on the road this season.
Tech improved to 6-0 at home last week by defeating Cornell and NC State by an average of 25 points. The Jackets are outscoring their guests by 23 points a game at home this season, averaging 87.5 points a game while shooting 49 percent from the floor and 47 percent from three-point range.
Prior to that, the Yellow Jackets played six games away from Alexander Memorial Coliseum and lost five of them. Tech’s only win away from home this season is a 67-53 decision against Marist at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 7.
Tech is shooting just 39.8 percent from the floor and 29.2 percent from three-point range in road games this season. The Jackets have a plus-1.56 turnover margin at home, and a minus-5.3 on the road. Tech also has been to the free throw line far more than its opponents at home (140-84), and is on the short end (81-74) on the road.
Defensively, Tech is limiting its guests at home to 38.6 shooting from the floor and 32.0 percent from three-point range. But its hosts on the road have hit 45.2 percent from the floor and 42.9 percent from behind the arc.
