Nov. 19, 2002
ATLANTA – Freshman Chris Bosh scored a game-high 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead Georgia Tech to an 81-48 exhibition win over Team Nike on Tuesday evening at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
Junior Marvin Lewis scored 12 points and sophomore Isma’il Muhammad added 11 while freshman point guard Jarrett Jack handed out 12 assists against just four turnovers. Ten different Yellow Jackets scored at least four points in the game.
The Yellow Jackets’ pressing and trapping defense forced 24 turnovers and held Team Nike to just 32.7 percent shooting from the floor. Team Nike hit just three of 20 three-point field goal attempts and Tech outrebounded its opponent, 45-36.
“The first half I felt that we played pretty good defense in the first 13 minutes but then slacked off in the last seven minutes,” said Tech head coach Paul Hewitt. “In the second half we had some pretty strong moments and were a little better defensively.
“I keep preaching to the team that defense is going to determine whether we are a successful team and have a successful season. No team is going to shoot it well every night, but we have the components to be a very good defensive team. We can make it tough for people to score around the basket. We work every day on defending off the dribble and giving good strong help side defense.”
Tech opened an 18-5 lead over the first seven minutes of the game and held a 39-24 lead at halftime. The Yellow Jackets shot 64.3 percent from the field in the second half to cruise to the 33-point victory.
“There are still things that we have to add offensively,” said Hewitt. “Our half court offense needs to improve, we have to be able to grind it out when we need to. We have to learn how to play through fatigue and we have to learn how to play hard every single possession. We have the luxury of some depth this year, and we have to use that to our advantage.”
Team Nike was led by 12 points from former Cincinnati center Donald Little and 11 points apiece from Jamaal Davis, who played at Cincinnati, and Antwon Hall, a former Life University player.
The Yellow Jackets open the regular season on Nov. 23 at 2 p.m. against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
