Bet you thought this post would be about the Ravens, right?
While the Ravens / Titans game carries higher significance, there is another game of local note Saturday – Maryland’s ACC opener at Comcast, against Georgia Tech.
Tipoff is at noon, and the game will be on Raycom.
With or without the loss to Morgan St, winning at home against the Yellow Jackets was going to be imperative.
Coming off the loss, which has put the fan-base in a panic, a win in conference play could only help.
Georgia Tech is 9-5, 0-1 in the ACC for the season:
Wins against – Winston-Salem, @Mercer, Arkansas Pine-Bluff, Jacksonville, Vanderbilt, Georgia St, @Pepperdine, Tennessee St, and Georgia.
Losses against – Penn St (2pts), Ill-Chicago, @USC, Virginia, @Alabama
What jumps out to me is that Paul Hewitt’s team has already been in a number of road games, and is unlikely to be intimidated.
GT has 5 players avg double figures in scoring:
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/teams/gah/stats
If you look at their FT, and 3pt shooting – MD should have a decided edge.
6’8 Soph Lawal leads the team in scoring, and 6’10 Senior Alade Aminu is 3rd… with MD’s problems inside, it will be interesting to see how Gary chooses to defend them.
Do you assume they will score their points regardless? If that is the case, it might be better to defend them 1×1 and get out on the other players.
Georgia Tech Team Report
Yahoo! Sports Jan 5, 2:27 pm EST
Getting Inside
With a nonconference affair with Georgia still to be played, Georgia Tech is limping back into ACC play having lost three of its last four games.
Included in that span is an overtime loss to Virginia at home that put the Yellow Jackets into an early hole in the conference.
The Yellow Jackets now must go on the road for their next ACC outing, at Maryland on Jan. 10, before returning home to face Duke.
They are coming off an 88-77 loss at Alabama that saw them fall behind by as many as 30 points before a late closing run made the final margin more respectable. The Jackets simply had no answer for the Tide’s Ronnie Steele, who scored 23 points and handed out 10 assists.
“When you have breakdowns, he is going to make you pay,” coach Paul Hewitt said of Bama’s senior point guard in a report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “You can’t allow him to come down and just run the show because he’s too good.”
The Jackets were coming off five-point decision against Tennessee State that served as a bounce-back win following the disappointing loss to Virginia. They won that one despite making 21 turnovers.
Notes, Quotes
• Freshman PG Iman Shumpert has handed out 19 assists in the last two games and leads Tech with 85 assists through the first 13 games. He also is scoring in double figures at 11.7 points per game.
• Sophomore F Gani Lawal had his seventh double-double of the season after scoring 12 points and hauling in a career-high 16 rebounds in the win over Tennessee State. He was averaging a double-double (16.7 points, 10.6 rebounds) at that point, but his rebound average fell to 9.7 when he managed only four boards against Alabama.
Quote To Note: “The thing we have to do is realize that’s the level of intensity and the effort we have to play with the whole time.” —Coach Paul Hewitt, in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, after closing out an 88-77 loss at Alabama on a 34-15 run.
Strategy And Personnel
Alabama became just the second team to shoot better than 50 percent against Tech this season. Tech was holding opponents to less than 40 percent until then, but the defensive figure went up to 42.5 after the Tide shot 52.6 percent in its victory.
Player Rotation: Usual Starters—G Iman Shumpert, G Lewis Clinch, F Gani Lawal, F Alade Aminu, F Zach Peacock. Key Subs—G Maurice Miller, G Nick Foreman, G Lance Storrs, C Brad Sheehan.
In Focus: After watching Alabama’s Ronnie Steele dominate them, the Yellow Jackets face another top point guard on its trip to Maryland. The Terps’ Greivis Vasaquez ranks among the ACC’s top scorers and assist men.
Roster Report:
• After averaging 18.3 points a game through his first four games after becoming eligible at midseason, Lewis Clinch has scored only 13 points in the last two games combined.
• Lance Storrs, a 6-5 sophomore, was only 4-of-24 on 3-pointers as a freshman but is 16-of-38 from long range through the first 13 games this season.
• In addition to averaging nearly 14 points a game, third best on the team, Alade Aminu leads the Jackets in blocked shots with 19 and is second in steals with 18, only two fewer than leader Iman Shumpert.
Owner
Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.