Dec. 3, 2005
ATLANTA –
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Georgia Tech, looking to stop a two-game slide, returns home for its Atlantic Coast Conference opener Sunday night at 5:30 p.m. against Virginia at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
The game, which will be the only regular-season meeting between the two teams this season, is being nationally televised on the Fox Sports Net (FSN South in Atlanta). Radio coverage is provided on the Georgia Tech/ISP Sports Network, and airs locally on WQXI-AM (790), WTSH-FM (107.1) and WREK-FM (91.1). The Tech broadcast can also be heard nationally on XM Satellite Radio Ch. 192.
The Yellow Jackets started the season with two homecourt victories over UNC-Asheville (80-52) and Elon (81-69) before dropping a homecourt tilt to UIC (73-51) on Nov. 25. Tech lost to the Spartans Wednesday night, 88-86, in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
Virginia is coming off a 72-57 win over Northwestern in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, and the Cavaliers’ only loss came at Arizona by an 81-51 score.
Tech has been picked to finish ninth in the preseason poll of ACC sportswriters, Virginia 12th. The Yellow Jackets tied for fourth last year with an 8-8 record and reached the finals of the ACC Tournament.
In its sixth season under head coach Paul Hewitt, the Yellow Jackets are 98-68 overall with three post-season appearances in five seasons, and are on a quest for a third straight NCAA Tournament berth. Virginia is in its first season under Dave Leitao, who has an 80-67 record in seven-plus seasons as a head coach.
Tech is 3-2 in home ACC openers under Hewitt. One of those wins occurred against Virginia (75-57) during the 2003-04 season. Tech is 21-7 against Virginia at home all-time (20-5 in Alexander Memorial Coliseum), and has won nine of its last 10 home games with the Cavaliers.
Tech is 41-17 in the months of November and December under Hewitt, 23-11 in December alone.
Quick Look at Tech
Tech has used the same starting lineup for its first four games — 6-0 sophomore Zam Fredrick at point guard, 6-4 junior Mario West and 6-5 sophomore Anthony Morrow on the wings, 6-6 sophomore Jeremis Smith at forward, and 6-9 sophomore Ra’Sean Dickey at center.
Morrow, a Charlotte, N.C., native who is Tech’s top returning scorer from last season, leads the Jackets and ranked 12th in the ACC in scoring at 15.3 points a game, coming off a career-best 23 points at Michigan State. he has shot 50 percent (12-for-24) from three-point range (6th in the ACC) and leads the conference in three-point field goals (3.0 per game). He is one of three Tech players averaging in double digits, including Dickey (14.9) and Fredrick (11.5).
Morrow is joined in the starting backcourt by West, an outstanding athlete from Douglas, Ga., with high energy and excellent defensive skills who is averaging 8.3 points a game and making a team-high 64.7 percent of his shots from the floor; and Fredrick, a former South Carolina Mr. Basketball from St. Matthews, S.C., who has shot 46.2 percent from the floor in his last two games, and had 10 assists at Michigan State.
Up front, Dickey and Smith both had career games at Michigan State. Dickey, a center from Clio, S.C., scored 24 points on 11-of-16 shooting from the floor, all career highs. He ranks 14th in the ACC in scoring, 13th in field goal percentage (58.1) and 11th in rebounding (7.0). Smith, who missed 17 games last year after dislocating his right kneecap, posted his first career double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds) against the Spartans. He ranks seventh in the ACC with 7.5 boards per game and averages 9.8 points.
Freshmen Lewis Clinch, a 6-3 guard from Cordele, Ga., and D’Andre Bell, a 6-5 guard/forward from Los Angeles, Calif., both high-scoring players in the prep ranks, are strong physically and boost Tech’s firepower from the perimeter off the bench. Paco Diaw, a 6-6 freshman from Dakar, Senegal, has played in three games but for only eight minutes.
Theodis Tarver, a 6-9 senior from Monroe, La., figures in heavily in the post as the most experienced player on Tech’s team, and has averaged 2.8 points and 3.3 rebounds per game thus far. Freshman Alade Aminu, a 6-9 player with good offensive skills and shot-blocking capabilities, has averaged 1.5 points and 2.0 rebounds.
Series vs. Virginia
> Georgia Tech has won five of the last six, nine of the last 11, and 16 of the last 20 meetings with Virginia.
> The Jackets have won nine of the last 10 meetings between the two teams in the Thrillerdome, including a 92-69 victory last season. The lone Cavalier win occurred Jan. 22, 2002. Overall, Tech is 20-5 against the Cavaliers in Alexander Memorial Coliseum, 21-7 on all home courts and 23-8 in games played in the city of Atlanta.
> Since Tech joined the ACC, the Yellow Jackets are 33-26 against Virginia.
> Last season: Tech outscored Virginia 37-11 in the first 10 minutes of the second half, led by as many as 32 points and defeated the Cavaliers, 92-69, in the teams’ only meeting. Four Tech players scored in double figures, led by Jarrett Jack’s 22.
> Tech is 8-2 against Virginia under Paul Hewitt, including all three meetings in Hewitt’s first season of 2000-01.
> Tech and Virginia have played to overtime five times since the 1983-84 season, including a 72-71 triple-overtime win for Tech in Atlanta on Jan. 23, 1984, and an 88-85 double-overtime triumph for Virginia in Charlottesville on Jan. 22, 1995. Six of the last seven meetings have been decided by six points or less, and 24 of the teams’ 56 meetings since the Jackets joined the ACC have been decided by five points or less.
Jackets Come to Life at Michigan State
Georgia Tech put together its best offensive performance of the season and nearly pulled off an upset of No. 13 Michigan State Wednesday night, rallying from 10 points down in the final 1:37 before losing 88-86. Tech hit five three-point shots in the final minute-and-a-half, three by Anthony Morrow, one by Mario West and one by Ra’Sean Dickey, and had the final attempt of the game, a 30-footer by Zam Fredrick that bounced off the back of the rim at the final horn.
Morrow, Dickey, Smith and Fredrick, Tech’s soophomore class, all had the best games of their careers offensively. Morrow made 7-of-11 three-pointers in the game to finish with 23 points; Dickey went 11-for-16 from the floor and scored 24 with eight rebounds; Smith notched the first double-double of his career with 14 points (6-10 FG) and 10 rebounds; and Fredrick scored 11 points (5-12 FG) with a career-high 10 assists.
Tech’s 86 points in the game was a seaosn-high, one game after posting a 51-point total that matched the lowest for the team under Paul Hewitt. The Jackets shot 64.7 percent in the second half (7-12 on threes) and 52.2 percent for the game.
A Tale of Three Halves
Georgia Tech’s three halves of basketball (including the second half of the Nov. 21 game with Elon) before Michigan State were a struggle offensively. The Yellow Jackets scored a total of 81 points, while shooting 32.9 percent from the floor (26-of-79) and 3-of-24 from three-point range.
After shooting 52.9 percent in the first half of the Elon game, Tech made just 7-of-19 field goal attempts (0-for-4 on threes) and turned the ball over 13 times in the second half. Against Illinois-Chicago, Tech shot just 32.8 percent from the floor and 3-of-20 on threes.
Both teams (Elon in the second half) managed to limit Tech’s top two perimeter threats, Anthony Morrow and Lewis Clinch. In those three halves of play, the two players have combined to go 6-for-27 from the floor.
From the Stat Sheet
> Tech shot better than 50 percent at Michigan State, the first time the Jackets have shot 50 percent in a game this year. Tech is at 45.0 percent for the year. Its 47.6-percent clip from three-point land at MSU was its best performance since the Kansas game last Jan. 1.
> Tech has given up 50 percent field goal shooting in each of the last three halves. UIC shot 59.1 percent in the second half on Nov. 25, and Michgan State shot 58.6 percent in the first half and 50 percent in the second half Wednesday night.
> Anthony Morrow went 6-for-8 against UNC Asheville and began the Elon game game by making 6-of-7. In the next three halves he was 4-for-15 (1-for-7 from three), then went 8-for-17 at Michigan State (7-11 from three).
> Ra’Sean Dickey’s 24 points at Michigan State were the most by a Tech center since Alvin Jones scored 26 in back-to-back games against Clemson and Florida State in 2001.
> Lewis Clinch reached double figures off the bench in each of the first two games, giving Tech 20 double-figure performances off the bench in the last 35 games. Tech’s bench has contributed 16.3 points per game so far.
> Mario West, a career 36.7-percent shooter, is 11-for-17 (64.7 percent) this season.
> Zam Fredrick has reached double figures in two straight games, including a career-high 17 points (7-14 FG) against Illinois-Chicago. He is 12-for-26 shooting in his last two games. His 10 assists at MSU were four more than his total for the first three games, but he also committed a season-high six turnovers.
> Backup center Theodis Tarver had one of the better games of his career against UIC, scoring six points with five rebounds, two steals and five blocked shots (one off his career-best).
> Reversing a five-year trend in which the Yellow Jackets have shot free throws poorly early in the season, Tech made 71.4 percent of its charity tosses (35-of-63) in the first two games. The Jackets made their last seven attempts in salting away its win over Elon. However, Tech has followed that by going only 8-for-19 in its last two games.
> Tech placed five players in double figures in scoring in each of the first two games, and four at Michigan State. Six Tech players are averaging 8.3 points per game or more.
> Opponents have made just 17-of-59 three-point attempts against Tech (28.8 percent).
> Eight Tech players are averaging double figures in minutes.
> Tech has forced 74 turnovers and turned them into 78 points.
> Tech is averaging 36.5 points in the paint. UIC is the only team to beat Tech in points in the paint (36 to 34) this year.
Tech in the Thrillerdome
Georgia Tech is playing its 50th season at Alexander Memorial Coliseum (capacity 9,191), and the Jackets have a record of 493-167 (.747) in the building, which opened Nov. 30, 1956 with a 71-61 Tech loss to Duke. Since the 1981-82 season, Tech is 254-66 (.794) in its on-campus home.
The Yellow Jackets are 58-19 at home under head coach Paul Hewitt, and have won 40 of their last 49 games in the Thrillerdome dating back to the final two home games of 2001-02.
Tech is 143-9 against non-conference opposition at Alexander Memorial Coliseum since the beginning of the 1981-82 season, including 22 straight wins against such teams before Friday’s loss to Illinoi-Chicago. From 1981 through last season, the only non-ACC teams to win at the Thrillerdome were Penn, Tulane and IUPUI (all in the 2001-02 season), Georgia (2000), Penn State (1998), College of Charleston (1993), Louisville (1989), and Richmond (1987).
Georgia Tech has sold out every home game since its run to the Preseason NIT championship in November of 2003.
