Nov. 18, 2002
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech plays its final exhibition game Tuesday night against Team Nike (6:30 p.m., Alexander Memorial Coliseum at McDonald’s Center), while head coach Paul Hewitt looks for a sharper, more efficient Tech team in its final tune-up before Saturday’s season opener against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
Team Nike (2-4), which has beaten Florida State and North Carolina, will provide Tech with a stronger test in the frontcourt than the one given by the Southeast Atlanta All-Stars on Nov. 10. The Jackets whipped the All-Stars, 110-73, after watching its opponent launch 49 three-pointers.
Team Nike has a stronger inside presence with 6-11 Will Cunningham, formerly of Temple, and 6-10 Donald Little, formerly of Cincinnati. The Southeast Atlanta All-Stars did not have a player over 6-8. Team Nike also will be playing for the third straight night following trips to Dayton and Kentucky on Sunday and Monday.
“I just want us to play a cleaner, more thorough basketball game,” said Hewitt, whose team plays Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 2 p.m. Saturday at home. “I thought for 34 minutes the other night we did a good job defensively. That’s how I’m going to grade this team night in and night out. The competition, with their size and experience, will certainly be a better test.
“We know they’re going to test us on the boards. I feel like that is going to be one of the strengths of our team, so I expect to have a consistent effort defensively in the paint and on the boards, and scoring inside.”
While the two inside positions in Tech’s starting lineup are still largely undecided, the majority of the minutes will be shared among Ed Nelson, a 6-8 sophomore who was the 2002 ACC Rookie of the Year, 7-1 sophomore Luke Schenscher and 6-9 freshman Chris Bosh. Nelson had 12 points and seven rebounds against the Southeast Atlanta All-Stars, Schenscher 13 points and seven rebounds, and Bosh came off the bench to score 18 with 15 rebounds.
Tech’s starting lineup for the first exhibition game included a backcourt trio of 6-4 junior Marvin Lewis, 6-4 sophomore B.J. Elder and 6-3 freshman point guard Jarrett Jack. Lewis led seven Tech players in double-figure scoring with 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor, including 5-of-7 from three-point range. Elder had 15 points and seven rebounds, and Jack scored just two points on two shots, but had five assists and just one turnover in 20 minutes.
The Jackets also received double-figure efforts from 6-6 sophomore forward Isma’il Muhammad (10 points and 10 rebounds) and 6-4 freshman Jim Nystr?m (10 points, 3-of-5 from three-point range).
“Guys will earn playing time in games with their effort in practice, and guys can lose playing time based on their effort in practice,” Hewitt said.
As a team, Tech shot the ball well (52.4 percent) from the floor against the Southeast Atlanta All-Stars and held the opponents to 29.4 percent in building leads as large as 45 points. Tech also blocked eight shots and had seven steals, while outrebounding the smaller All-Stars, 67-40.
The Jackets open the regular season at 2 p.m. Saturday at home against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
