Oct. 31, 2013
THE FLATS – With five of its top six scorers back and ready to take another step forward, Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team faces its first outside competition in a public setting at 8 p.m. Friday night against Young Harris College at McCamish Pavilion.
Tickets for the event are $5 and available at the main ticket windows on the 10th Street side of the arena beginning at 7 p.m. Tech student station WREK-FM (91.1) will broadcast the game.
Young Harris is an NCAA Division II institution located in North Georgia near the North Carolina border, competing in the Peach Belt Conference. The Mountain Lions went 17-9 overall last year and 12-7 in Peach Belt play.
Young Harris is in its third season under head coach Pete Herrmann, a former assistant coach at Georgia under Dennis Felton and a former assistant at Navy under Paul Evans when Tech head coach Brian Gregory was a member of the Midshipmen basketball team in the mid-1980s.
For its part, Tech expects to be much improved in its third season under Gregory, having built significant depth and skill in its backcourt, which was bolstered recently when the NCAA ruled that 6-2 senior transfer Trae Golden (Powder Springs, Ga.) would be eligible to play immediately.
Golden’s averages of 12.1 points and 3.9 assists last year for the Volunteers would have led Tech in both categories. He joins an improving sophomore duo of Marcus Georges-Hunt (6-5, College Park, Ga.) and Robert Carter, Jr. (6-8, Thomasville, Ga.), as well as senior center Daniel Miller (6-11 ½, Loganville, Ga.) and senior reserve forward Kammeon Holsey (6-8 ½, Sparta, Ga.), who ranked 1-4 on the Jackets’ scoring chart a year ago.
Tech’s backcourt also benefits from the development of 6-2 sophomore Solomon Poole (Jacksonville, Fla.) and the additions of 6-1 Corey Heyward (Duluth, Ga.) and 6-0 Travis Jorgenson (Columbia, Mo.) to add considerable ability and savvy at the lead guard positions.
Junior Stacey Poole, Jr. (6-4, Jacksonville, Fla.) and freshman Quinton Stephens (6-8 ½, Atlanta, Ga.) bring skill and energy at the wing and big forward spots.
The Yellow Jackets have a roster of 18 players and more depth than they have enjoyed at any time since Gregory arrived on campus. It enables Tech to weather the early absences of 6-5 senior Jason Morris (Augusta, Ga.), who underwent surgery to repair a stress fracture in his left foot Oct. 14, and 6-3 sophomore guard Chris Bolden (Tifton, Ga.) who is suspended for Friday and the first three regular season games.
PARKING INFO FOR FRIDAY/SATURDAY
With various events and Homecoming on the Flats this weekend, here is some parking information for fans attending the Tech basketball and volleyball (6 p.m., O’Keefe Gym) events Friday evening.
– Fans attending Georgia Tech’s volleyball match against Virginia (6pm) can park in O’Keefe, Family Housing (ER66) and Klaus lots beginning at 5pm.
– Family Housing and Klaus lots are also available for fans attending the men’s basketball exhibition, plus upper and lower Peters will be open at 7pm. All lots are free of charge.
– Parking in McCamish lot, 8th Street and Fowler Street is permit-only.
– Please note that streets surrounding Peters will be closed 4pm-7pm due to Homecoming Mini 500 tricycle race.
THEY SAID IT
Daniel Miller was recently included among a list of the nation’s 15 least appreciated players by Jon Rothstein of CBSSports.com, who wrote: “If there’s a better post defender in the ACC, we’d like to see him. Miller regularly neutralizes the opponent’s best interior scorer and has given Brian Gregory stability in the pivot as he attempts to rebuild the Yellow Jackets program.”
Head coach Brian Gregory on the readiness of freshmen Travis Jorgenson and Quinton Stephens – “I’ve had freshman before where I had to tour campus to find somebody that they could guard. Travis has been well coached. Quinton has been well coached as well. They both played in high school/prep school programs that were coached by college-type coaches. Same thing . . . both those guys were coached in summer ball by former college coaches. That’s helped them.”
EIGHT TECH ALUMNI ON SEASON-OPENING NBA ROSTERS
Eight former Georgia Tech basketball stars were on NBA team rosters when the season opened earlier this week, more than any team in the Atlantic Coast Conference except Duke (15) and North Carolina (14).
The newcomer in the Tech group is Glen Rice, Jr., who starred last season in the NBA’s developmental league, was selected by Philadelphia in the second round of the NBA draft in June and traded to Washington, where he opened the season.
Two players begin the season with new teams. Jarrett Jack, a 10-year NBA veteran who helped lead Golden State to the NBA playoffs a year ago, signed with Cleveland in the off-season. Anthony Morrow begins his eighth season in the league as a member of the re-named New Orleans Pelicans.
Chris Bosh, who spent the first seven years of his NBA career in Toronto, begins his fourth season in Miami looking for his third NBA title with the Heat. Thaddeus Young begins his seventh season as one of the leaders of the Philadelphia 76ers, while Will Bynum, a member of Tech’s 2004 Final Four team, is in his sixth year in Detroit.
Iman Shumpert is being looked upon to fill a leadership role in his third season with the New York Knicks after his career was interrupted by a knee injury a year ago, and Derrick Favors recently agreed to a new contract with Utah, where he is emerging as a star in his sixth NBA season.
