Monday Mornings from McCamish: 11/11
Welcome to our first edition of Monday Mornings from McCamish. This weekly segment will be released on Monday mornings throughout Georgia Tech’s Men’s Basketball 2013-14 season. We will revisit the previous week’s action as well as look ahead to the upcoming week’s games.
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Last Week Recap:
Friday 11/8: Presbyterian 57 Georgia Tech 88
It’s ill-advised to draw any serious conclusion based of off a single game, especially a season opener against a Presbyterian College team that won only 8 games last year. With that said, there were several encouraging signs from Friday night’s win over the Blue Hose.
First and foremost, the Jackets shot the ball extremely well finishing with a field goal percentage over 50%. After ranking in the bottom 1/3 of the nation in field goal percentage last season (41.9%), the Jackets ability to shoot the ball consistently will be a point of emphasis this season and on Friday night, the Jackets were consistently good. But it wouldn’t be fair to praise the shooting without the mention of the ball movement and fast pace tempo that led to high percentage shots.
The 18 assists, highlighted by freshman Travis Jorgenson’s total of five, were well above last year’s average of 11.9 per game and would have ranked in the top five in last year’s single game totals. Travis Jorgenson’s 5 assist collegiate debut was the highlight Even more impressive, the Jackets turned the ball over only six times which matched the lowest mark in a single game in Coach Gregory’s tenure (the other time being against Wake Forest in the 2012 regular season finale). Keep in mind, this came against a zone defense with which the Jackets “don’t have a great comfort level” by Gregory’s own admission.
All in all, the Jackets did all they could have been asked to do: handle a team they should handle and look darn good doing it. Will Tech be able to continue these trends throughout the season as the competition level rises? We will have to wait and see.
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Looking Ahead:
Monday 11/11 7:00pm: Delaware State at Georgia Tech (McCamish Pavilion)
It’s a relatively quick turnaround for Georgia Tech (1-0) as they will be back in action tonight against the Delaware State Hornets (1-0).
Delaware State is entering the 2013-2014 season picked to finish 7th in the MEAC and finishing with a 15-18 record in 2012-13. The Hornets, however, return three starters from last year’s team including Casey Walker and Tyshawn Bell who were among the top three point shooters in the MEAC. Barring the Hornets having an extremely good shooting night, the Jackets ought to pick up their second win of the season tonight.
Tip-off is at 7:00pm and will be broadcast on 106.7 FM and streamed live on ESPN3.
Friday 11/15 7:00pm: Georgia Tech at Univ. of Georgia (Stegeman Coliseum)
The 190th basketball edition of Clean Old-Fashioned Hate will be played this Friday night in Athens.
Unlike Tech, Georgia has a full week separating their season opener and Friday’s rivalry game. But also dissimilar from the Jackets, the Bulldogs lost the SEC player of the year in sophomore shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Not only was Caldwell-Pope Georgia’s leading scorer he also was the second highest NBA draft pick in UGA history after being selected by the Detroit Pistons with the 8th overall pick (Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins was drafted 3rd overall in 1983).
But when it comes to the 2013-14 Bulldogs, it appears that much is left to be desired. The Bulldogs were picked to finish 11th in the 14-team SEC and did not have any players named to the Preseason All-SEC 1st or 2nd teams. Georgia will count on a tandem of sophomore guards to facilitate the offense in Charles Mann and Kenny Gaines. Both Mann and Gaines accrued significant minutes as freshman off the bench last season (Mann averaged 21 minutes including eight starts while Gaines averaged 10 with no starts). Successful transitions from reserves to starters from both sophomores will be pivotal to Georgia’s season.
Despite the youth and lack of identity surrounding the Bulldogs, they were able to pick up a 72-52 win over the Wofford Terriers this past Friday in Athens. The Bulldogs were led by junior forward Nemanja Djurisc (12 points, 7 rebounds) and the team’s only senior Donte Williams (11 points, 9 rebounds).
As for the White and Gold, the Jackets lead the series 103-86 and will look for a third straight win over UGA and a second consecutive win at Stegeman Coliseum after defeating the Bulldogs in 2011 (Tech’s first victory in Athens since 1976).
Tip-off is at 7:00pm and will be broadcast on 106.7 FM and televised on FSN.
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Be sure to check back next week for a new edition of Monday Mornings from McCamish, but in the meantime follow @WREKSports on Twitter and like us on Facebook (WREK Sports) to receive in-game updates and analysis.