Oct. 14, 2009
Georgia Tech’s 2009-10 basketball media guide is now available here
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team, which begins its pre-season practices on Friday, will hold an open intrasquad scrimmage at 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, at the Henry F. McCamish, Jr., Basketball Complex/Alexander Memorial Coliseum. Admission is free.
Fans attending the scrimmage will also have the opportunity to purchase season tickets and select seats with representatives from the Tech ticket office. Following the scrimmage, Tech will host an important Atlantic Coast Conference volleyball match against Duke at 7 p.m. in O’Keefe Gym, adjacent to the Coliseum.
Click here to participate in the Select-A-Seat program.
Head coach Paul Hewitt, whose team will have had 10 practices under its belt at that point, will divide his squad in half and play two 20-minute halves with a running clock.
The Yellow Jackets return 10 letterwinners and three starters from last year’s team, including junior Gani Lawal, a 6-9 forward who led ranked among the Atlantic Coast Conference’s top five in rebounding (9.5 per game) and field goal percentage (55.6 percent) while also scoring 15.1 points per game.
Also returning are 6-8 senior forward Zachery Peacock, who averaged 9.2 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, and 6-2 junior guard Maurice “Moe” Miller (5.8 points per game, 4.2 assists per game) and 6-5 sophomore guard Iman Shumpert (10.6 ppg, 4.9 apg).
Tech also has a six-man freshman class rated as high as fourth-best in the nation and includes the national prep player of the year Derrick Favors, a 6-9 forward from Atlanta.
QUOTES AND NOTES
* The area between 10th Street, Fowler Street, 8th Street and the I-75/85 connector is now called the Henry F. McCamish, Jr., Basketball Complex, and it comprises Alexander Memorial Coliseum, the new Zelnak Center practice facility, and the James K. Luck Building. In the next few years, spurred by a lead donation in the name of the insurance and financial executive Henry F. McCamish, Jr., a 1950 Tech graduate, Tech’s home arena will undergo a dramatic renovation.
Read more about the future of Tech’s basketball facility
* The Sporting News ranks Georgia Tech No. 40 in its preseason projections, and rates Gani Lawal as the nation’s No. 7 center, and Derrick Favors the No. 7 power forward. “Georgia Tech at 40 is a little disrespectful. They have a great coach and a lot of young talent coming in. They’re going to surprise a lot of people,” the magazine quotes Wake Forest guard Ishmael Smith.
* Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook picks Gani Lawal as a third-team All-American and an All-ACC choice, and Derrick Favors as ACC Rookie of the Year.
* Athlon Sports has Derrick Favors on its first All-ACC team, Gani Lawal on its third, and Favors as its Newcomer of the Year.
* Pre-Season Projections (National, ACC, NCAA)
Athlon (13th, 2nd, Sweet 16)
Blue Ribbon Basketball Yearbook (13th, 3rd, In)
