Jan. 9, 2006
ATLANTA –
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Georgia Tech, winners of three straight games and five of its last six, begins a stretch of three straight road games with its final non-conference game of the season, a Tuesday night tilt at 8 p.m. Eastern time against Centenary at CenturyTel Center in Bossier City, La.
The game is not being televised, but can be heard over the Georgia Tech-ISP Radio Network in Atlanta on WQXI-AM (790), WTSH-FM (107.1) and WREK-FM (91.1).
Tech (8-4 overall, 2-0 ACC this season) has scored its most important wins of the season in its last two games, a 76-67 win over Vanderbilt on Jan. 3 and a 60-58 triumph over No. 11 Boston College Sunday. Centenary (2-11, 0-3 Mid-Continent) has lost six in a row since a 79-70 win over Birmingham Southern on Dec. 17.
The Yellow Jackets are off to a 2-0 start in ACC play for the second straight year. Tech and Centenary are meeting for the first time. The Yellow Jackets’ only previous game against a current member of the Mid-Continent Conference was a 98-92 loss to IUPUI at home during the 2001-02 season.
This is Tech’s fourth road game of the season, although this game is technically on a neutral court. The Yellow Jackets have lost to Michigan State, Georgia and Air Force in its prior three trips away from home. Tech senior center Theodis Tarver is from Monroe, La., approximately an hour-plus drive from the site of Tuesday’s game.
After a long 12-day break between games in December and with some alterations in the starting lineup over the holiday break, Tech has steadily improved on defense during its last five games, allowing just 58.4 points per game over that stretch. Tech is playing a man short and has just nine scholarship players available with guard Mario West out with a sprained toe.
Georgia Tech’s starting lineup for the last three games has included 6-0 sophomore Zam Fredrick, 6-5 sophomore Anthony Morrow and 6-5 freshman D’Andre Bell on the perimeter, 6-6 sophomore Jeremis Smith at power forward and 6-9 senior Theodis Tarver at center.
Morrow, a 6-5 sophomore from Charlotte, N.C., leads the Jackets and ranks sixth in the ACC in scoring at 17.3 points a game. He leads the ACC with a 46.6-percent success rate from three-point range and is third in the conference in three-point field goals (2.83 per game). He is one of three Tech players averaging in double digits, including Smith (13.3) and Dickey (10.2).
Fredrick, a 6-0 sophomore from St. Matthews, S.C., has averaged 9.6 points, including six double-figure games, and 4.2 assists this season. Bell, a 6-5 wingman from Los Angeles, Calif., has averaged 7.6 points per game over the last five, including two double-digit efforts. He averages 4.3 points and 1.8 rebounds for the season.
Smith, a 6-6 sophomore from Fort Worth, Texas, has transformed himself into a force in the paint since Tech’s near miss at Michigan State, posting four double-doubles. Fully recovered from a dislocated kneecap that sidelined him for 17 games last year, Smith is the ACC’s second-leading rebounder at 8.9 per game, is hitting 51.4 percent of his shots from the floor and leads the team with 25 steals (8th in ACC).
Tarver, a 6-9 senior from Monroe, La., has started the last six games, his first starts since his freshman year. He set career highs for a conference game with eight points and six rebounds against Boston College, has hit 54.5 percent of his field goals this season and is averaging 4.1 points and 3.2 rebounds for the season.
Off the bench, freshman Lewis Clinch, a 6-3 guard from Cordele, Ga., returned to the court against Boston College after missing five games with a stress fracture in his left leg. He scored five points, including a key three, and averages 7.1 points for the season. Paco Diaw, a 6-6 freshman from Dakar, Senegal, has played more than 14 minutes a game in his last six, notching career highs of six points and five rebounds against Bethune-Cookman, and eight assists against Vanderbilt.
In the frontcourt, Dickey, a 6-9 sophomore from Clio, S.C., is shooting a team-high 56.0 percent from the floor and taking 6.2 rebounds per game. Freshman Alade Aminu, a 6-9 player with good athletic ability and shot-blocking skills, has averaged 2.3 points and 1.8 rebounds.
Head coach Paul Hewitt has noted steady improvement from Georgia Tech’s defense over the last five games since a 12-day break following a Dec. 10 game with Tennessee State. Tech has allowed just 58.4 points on average in the last five games, including a season-low of 46 against Bethune-Cookman and 58 to No. 11 Boston College (its season low), which had averaged 80 for the season.
Over the five-game stretch, Tech has blocked an average of 4.8 shots and taken 8.8 steals per game. The Yellow Jackets have outrebounded their five foes 200-128, a per-game advantage of 14.4. The five opponents collectively have shot 38.5 percent, including 30.2 from three-point range.
Tech has slowly risen in the ACC defensive rankings, now sixth in field goal percentage defense and third in three-point percentage defense.
