Dec. 27, 2005
ATLANTA –
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Looking for its third straight win, Georgia Tech heads West to face Air Force Wednesday night at the World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo., a regionally-televised game that will tip off at 9 p.m. Eastern time.
The game will air on FSN South in the Southeastern United States. Radio coverage is provided by the Georgia Tech/ISP Sports Network, and can be heard in Atlanta 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. 191.
The game is Tech’s 12th regular-season contest West of the Mississippi River under head coach Paul Hewitt. The Yellow Jackets (5-3 overall, 1-0 ACC this season) are 4-7 in such games since the 2000-01 season, including losses to Gonzaga (in Las Vegas) and Kansas last year. Tech has played at least one regular-season game West of the Mississippi every year since the 1998-99 season, with the exception of the Jackets’ Final Four season of 2003-04.
Tech has fared better in post-season games played West of the Mississippi under Hewitt, going 4-3, including 2004 NCAA Tournament wins over Nevada, Kansas and Oklahoma State.
After Wednesday’s game, Tech will return home for a Dec. 31 game against Bethune-Cookman and a Jan. 3 game with Vanderbilt. The Jackets resume conference play Jan. 8 at home vs. Boston College.
Tech used the same starting five for Tech’s first five games, but made its second change to the lineup in two games when freshman Paco Diaw started at the point in place of Zam Fredrick for the Yellow Jackets’ Dec. 22 game with Jacksonville. In the Dec. 10 game with Tennessee State, Theodis Tarver made his first start of the season at center in place of Ra’Sean Dickey.
They join leading scorer Anthony Morrow and defensive whiz Mario West on the perimeter, and leading rebounder Jeremis Smith at power forward in Tech’s starting five.
Morrow, a 6-5 sophomore from Charlotte, N.C., who is Tech’s top returning scorer from last season, leads the Jackets and ranks ninth in the ACC in scoring at 16.9 points a game. He has shot 44.0 percent from three-point range (2nd in the ACC) and is third in the conference in three-point field goals (2.75 per game). He is one of three Tech players averaging in double digits, including Smith (14.4) and Dickey (11.8).
Smith, a 6-6 sophomore from Fort Worth, Texas, has transformed himself into a force in the paint over Tech’s last five games, averaging 18.0 points and 11.4 rebounds over that stretch. Fully recovered from a dislocated kneecap that sidelined him for 17 games last year, Smith leads the ACC in rebounding at 9.6 per game and leads the team with 18 steals (5th in ACC).
West, an 6-4 junior from Douglas, Ga., with high energy and excellent defensive skills (2.25 steals per game, 5th in ACC) who is averaging 7.8 points a game and making 53.8 percent of his shots from the floor. Diaw, a 6-6 freshman from Dakar, Senegal, played 13 minutes off the bench against Tennessee State, energizing Tech offensively with four assists while playing good defense, and scored his first points of the season against Jacksonville. Tarver, a 6-9 senior from Monroe, La., making his first starts since his freshman year, scored a career-high 11 points last time out against Jacksonville and has hit 58.8 percent of his field goal tries.
Off the bench in the backcourt, Tech goes to the 6-0 sophomore Fredrick, a former South Carolina Mr. Basketball from St. Matthews, S.C., who has averaged 9.8 points and 3.8 assists per game, and 6-5 freshman D’Andre Bell of Los Angeles, Calif, who broke into double figures (12 points) against Jacksonville for the first time in his career.
Tech is playing without freshman Lewis Clinch, a 6-3 guard from Cordele, Ga., who will be sidelined until late January with a stress fracture in the fibula of his left leg. He had averaged 7.5 points off the bench for the Jackets.
In the frontcourt, Dickey, a 6-9 sophomore from Clio, S.C., is shooting 56.5 percent from the floor and taking 6.4 rebounds per game. He has averaged 9.5 points and 7.5 rebounds off the bench in the last two games. Freshman Alade Aminu, a 6-9 player with good athletic ability and shot-blocking skills, has averaged 2.5 points and 1.9 rebounds.
Series vs. Air Force
> Tech is 4-1 all-time vs. the Air Force Academy, and is making its first trip to Colorado Springs since 1972. It is Tech’s first game in the state of Colorado since the 1990 Final Four in Denver.
> Last year’s game at Philips Arena marked the first meeting between Tech and Air Force since the Whack Hyder era, and Tech won by 22 points (64-42) despite not making a three-point field goal for the first time in 17 years. This year’s game is the return engagement in a two-year contract.
> Hyder took two teams to Colorado Springs during his tenure, splitting them, and won all three games at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. This will be the second neutral-court meeting between the two teams.
> Tech is 8-2 all-time against current members of the Mountain West Conference.
Tech Scores in Two Straight Wins
Georgia Tech has won its last two games and put together two of its best offensive games in the process, defeating Tennessee State, 82-72, and Jacksonville, 92-67. The Yellow Jackets shot an even 50 percent in the two games combined, including 51.6 percent against the Dolphins.
Tech also recorded assists on 41 of 60 field goals and shot 77.2 percent (44-of-57) from the foul line in the two games combined. The Jackets also committed a season-low 13 turnovers against Jacksonville while posting a season high in points. Tech received scoring from a couple of unusual sources against the Dolphins, as senior center Theodis Tarver (11 points) and freshman D’Andre Bell (12 points) each posted his first career double-digit game.
Smith Takes Over the Paint
Perhaps making up for lost time, sophomore Jeremis Smith has posted career-high point totals in four of the last five games, and recorded double-doubles in four of them. Smith has averaged 18.0 points and 11.4 rebounds against Michigan State, Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee State and Jacksonville, hitting 31 of 54 shots from the floor (57.4 pct.), getting 10 steals and averaging 9.4 trips to the foul line.
The 6-6 forward has jumped to the top of the list in rebound average in the ACC (9.6 per game) and ranks 17th in scoring (14.4 points per game).
He had 19 points and 14 rebounds at Georgia, making 5 of 12 shots from the floor and getting three steals. His only negative, if you can call it that, was hitting just 9 of 21 free throws. The 21 attempts was one off the Tech single-game record set by Kenny Anderson in 1990, also against Georgia. He followed that with 22 points (6-8 FG, 10-10 FT), 11 boards and eight assists against Tennessee State, falling short of recording Tech’s first triple-double since 1989.
He had 18 points (8-12 FG) and 13 rebounds last time out against Jacksonville, and began the string with 14 and 10 at Michigan State and 17 and 9 against Virginia.
His 90 points in the last five games exceeds his scoring total for all of last season in 14 games, and his 66 free throw attempts this season is twice the next highest total for a Tech player.
Morrow Fills It Up from the Outside
As Jeremis Smith has gone to work inside, Anthony Morrow has heated up from the outside, going 17-for-37 (45.9 pct.) from three-point range in the last five games. He has averaged 19.4 points per game over that stretch.
The 6-5 sophomore guard scored a career-best 28 points Dec. 7 at Georgia, draining 4 of 7 threes and 8 of 9 free throws. He began the stretch with 23 points (7-for-11 on threes) at Michigan State, followed that with 13 points (6-6 FT) against Virginia, scored 17 against Tennessee State and 16 against Jacksonville.
He is drawing attention from defenses as well. After shooting just one free throw in the first four games of the season, Morrow is 18-for-21 from the line in the last four games.
He has shot 44.0 percent from three-point range this season, which ranks second in the ACC, and he is third in the conference in threes per game (2.75). His 22 triples exceeds the combined total of all the other Tech players, and his 50 attempts is more than 40 percent of Tech’s team total.
