Jan. 30, 2004
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech completes a two-game homestand Saturday by hosting top-ranked Duke (5 p.m., ESPN) at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. The 14th-ranked Yellow Jackets have won 12 in a row at home (10-0 this season) and 25 of their last 27 at the Thrillerdome.
The game is being nationally televised on ESPN and broadcast nationally on the Westwood One Radio Network. Local radio coverage from the Georgia Tech/ISP Network can be heard locally on the radio on WQXI-AM (790) and WTSH-FM (107.1).
Tech has won three of its last four games in the league and defeated Clemson, 76-69, Tuesday night at home in its last outing. Tech’s 4-2 conference record (tied for second place with NC State) is its best start under head coach Paul Hewitt and also the Yellow Jackets’ best since 1995-96. Tech’s best record through the first half of the ACC schedule since the 1995-96 season is 4-4.
Duke is 17-1 and holds first place in the ACC at 6-0 following its 56-49 victory over Florida State Thursday night. Tech has lost 14 straight games in the series with Duke, dating back to a 73-71 homecourt victory over the Blue Devils in 1996.
For the first time since the 1997-98 season, Georgia Tech has the opportunity to face a No. 1-ranked team twice in the same season, and have those opponents not be the same team. In 1998, Tech faced Duke (twice) and North Carolina when they were at the top of both polls.
Tech defeated then-No. 1 Connecticut, 77-61, at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 26 of this season. It was the first non-conference opponent ranked No. 1 that Tech had played during the regular season since UCLA in 1966. But Tech will play this No. 1 team shorthanded because senior forward Clarence Moore is likely to miss his second straight game with a sore big toe.
Marvin Lewis, Tech’s senior guard, took Moore’s place in the starting lineup and will likely do so again Saturday.
Dealing with Duke’s pressure and coming out aggressively are the Yellow Jackets’ primary focus against the Blue Devils, but head coach Paul Hewitt is just as concerned over Tech’s problems on the board in its last two games. The Yellow Jackets have surrendered 41 offensive boards in games against NC State and Clemson.
“We haven’t rebounded the ball the way we are capable of, and we need to get back to doing that,” Hewitt said.
“We should be able to handle pressure. We are more mature, and Jarrett Jack is more experienced. The addition of Will Bynum helps us out there as well. But they are so good at putting together those quick strikes. They’ve always done a great job of taking over segments of the game, regardless of how you handle the ball. With the quality of their shooters, turnovers can turn into points in a hurry.
“We have not responded well to aggressive play (early in games), so we need to make sure we match their aggressiveness at the outset.”
Four Tech players are averaging in double figures this season, led by 6-4 junior B.J. Elder at 15.8 points a game (4th in the ACC), 6-3 sophomore Jarrett Jack (12.7 ppg, 18th in the ACC), 6-4 senior Marvin Lewis (11.6 ppg, 21st in the ACC), and 6-6 junior Isma’il Muhammad (11.2 ppg, 24th in the ACC).
Jack, Tech’s point guard, and Schenscher, Tech’s 7-1 junior center, have started every game this season. Jack is third in the ACC in assist average (6.26 per game), third in steals (2.32 per game) and seventh in assist-turnover ratio (2.02-1), while shooting 48.4 percent from the floor. Schenscher averages 8.5 points and a team-high 6.1 rebounds (11th in the ACC), hits 54.0 percent of his shots and ranks sixth in the league in blocks (1.37 per game).
Elder, who broke a shooting slump in his 36-point effort Tuesday night against Clemson, ranks fifth in the ACC in scoring overall. He raised his scoring average against ACC teams a full four points Tuesday night to 15.8 a game, which ranks sixth in the ACC and matches his season output. He has hit 35.3 percent of his three-point attempts (10th in the ACC) but has struggled overall this season at 41.3 percent.
Muhammad, a 6-6 defensive whiz who has started the last five games for Tech, ranks 25th in the ACC in scoring average and would lead the ACC in field goal percentage (62.0) but falls 10 field goals short of qualifying for the rankings. Since going 6-for-6 against Virginia on Jan. 15, Muhammad has made just 10 of 26 shots from the floor.
Lewis, who has averaged 11.2 points in ACC games, is shooting 38.5 percent from three-point range this season (5th in the ACC) and 48.1 percent against the league (2nd best).
Will Bynum, a 6-0 junior who has given the Jackets a big lift off the bench, has averaged 17.3 points over Tech’s last four games and has broken into double figures for the season at 11.1 points a game. He also averages 3.0 assists per game ranks 10th in the ACC in scoring average (14.3) vs. the league.
Clarence Moore, a 6-5 senior who likely will not play against Duke because of a toe injury, averages 6.1 points and 4.9 rebounds for the season, and has hit 46.5 percent from three-point range and is second on the team with 25 steals.
Tech’s other primary reserves include Anthony McHenry (2.8 ppg, 3.4 rpg), a 6-7 junior playing strong forward, and Theodis Tarver, a 6-9 sophomore postman who has averaged 1.3 points and 2.5 rebounds since getting back on the court Jan. 11 after a pre-season knee injury.
Tech Series vs. Duke
> Duke leads the all-time series with Georgia Tech, 51-20, and has won the last 14 games in a row with Georgia Tech dating back to the 1995-96 season, when the Stephon Marbury/Matt Harpring-led Jackets swept the season series from the Blue Devils on the way to a first-place finish in the regular season (13-3)
> The average margin of victory for Duke during the 14-game streak is 22.6 points per game. The closest game was an 87-79 decision in Atlanta on Feb. 6, 1999, and only three of the games were decided by 10 points or fewer.
> Duke won both regular season meetings last year, winning 91-71 on Jan. 25 in Durham and 77-58 on Feb. 26 in Atlanta.
> Duke has won the last seven meetings at Alexander Memorial Coliseum, outscoring the Yellow Jackets on average by 18.8 points, including last year’s 77-58 Blue Devil win. Tech’s last win over Duke at Alexander, as well as its last win in the series, was a 73-71 overtime decision on Feb. 7, 1996.
> Prior to the current string, Tech had won three of four from the Blue Devils. Tech’s best stretch during the series occurred between 1982 and 1989, when the Yellow Jackets won 10 of 17 meetings. The Jackets have never won more than two in a row in the series.
> Tech is 16-37 against Duke teams coached by Mike Krzyzewski, 10-13 in such games played in Atlanta.
> This is the 10th time Tech has faced Duke when it was ranked No. 1 in the national polls. The Jackets are 1-9 in those games, the only win occurring Jan. 10, 1993 by a score of 80-79 in Atlanta.
> Since 1984, Tech has faced Duke only twice when the Blue Devils were unranked, and only 14 times when they were out of the top 10 in both polls.
> Duke was the first opponent for Georgia Tech in Alexander Memorial Coliseum back on Nov. 30, 1956, when the Blue Devils took a 71-61 victory. Tech is 11-15 against Duke in the Thrillerdome, and the Blue Devils have won the last five meetings here.
Notes from Georgia Tech’s 76-69 victory over Clemson Tuesday night:
> B.J. Elder’s 36 points were the most by an ACC player this year. He beat his previous career-high (25 against three teams) by 11 points, and came within one point of the Tech single-game record for points in an ACC game. It was the most points scored by a Tech player since 1994. Elder also set a career best for field goals made (12 out of 20 attempts), tied his best for three-pointers made (6 in 10 attempts) and also made 6-of-7 from the free throw line.
> The last time a Tech player scored a greater percentage of his team’s points was Tony Akins, who scored 33 of Tech’s 54 at Florida State in a losing effort on Feb. 21, 2000.
> Tech held its 14th opponent to less than 40 percent from the floor (the Tigers shot 35.5 percent). Only Wake Forest has shot 40 percent against Tech (40.4) in the Jackets’ last five games.
> Clemson was also the 14th team to shoot less than 30 percent from three-point range against the Jackets this year.
> Tech’s last two opponents have grabbed 41 offensive rebounds, leading to 42 second-chance points. NC State had 21 offensive boards and 24 second-chance points, and Clemson had 20 and 18.
> Both of Tech’s point guards struggled against Clemson, combining for 15 points, 3-of-15 from the floor and 1-of-4 from three-point range, seven assists and six turnovers.
#14/16 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (16-3, 4-2 ACC)vs. #1/1 Duke (17-1, 6-0 ACC)January 27, 2004 * 5 p.m. ET * Alexander Memorial Coliseum (9,191)
TV: ESPN; Mike Patrick, pbp; Brad Daugherty, color; Dave Ryan, reporter
Radio: Georgia Tech/ISP Network (WQXI-AM 790, WTSH-FM 107.1 in Atlanta); Wes Durham, pbp; Randy Waters, color
Series vs. Duke: Duke leads, 51-20 In Atlanta: Tech is 14-21 At AMC: Tech is 11-17
Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt: 130-74 (.635), 7th season overall 64-47 (.573), 4th season at Tech 26-28 (.481) vs. the ACC 0-6 vs. Duke (0-3 in Atlanta)
Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski: 680-235 (.743), 29th season overall 607-176 (.775), 24th season at Duke 37-16 vs. Georgia Tech
Next for Georgia Tech: Feb. 3 at Florida State, 7 p.m. ET Next for Duke: Feb. 5 at North Carolina, 9 p.m. ET
