Nov. 19, 2013
THE FLATS – Off to its second 3-0 start in three seasons, Georgia Tech returns home after an important road victory at Georgia to host head coach Brian Gregory’s former team, Dayton, at 7 p.m. Wednesday night at McCamish Pavilion.
Complete Game Notes | Coach Gregory interview | Gameday Information | Purchase tickets
Single-game tickets are available online, by phone at 888-TECH-TIX or at the McCamish Pavilion ticket office beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Radio coverage of the game will be provided by the Georgia Tech IMG Sports Network and can be heard in Atlanta on WYAY-FM (106.7). The Georgia broadcast can be heard on satellite radio – Sirius Ch. 93 and XM Ch. 190. There is no television coverage, but the game can be watched online at ESPN3.
Tech has dispatched its first three opponents by an average of 19.5 points, downing Presbyterian, 88-57, and Delaware State, 68-50, at home before capturing an 80-71 win at Georgia on Friday night. It was the third straight win in the series for the Yellow Jackets, and the second straight in Athens.
The Jackets have shot 47.0 percent from the floor collectively and have a team assist-turnover ratio of better than 1.5-to-1, while holding the three opponents to 35.4-percent shooting from the floor and forcing 38 turnovers.
In its third season under head coach Brian Gregory, the Jackets have returned four starters – center Daniel Miller, big forward Robert Carter, Jr., and wings Marcus Georges-Hunt and Chris Bolden – from a team that posted a 16-15 overall record last season and went 6-12 to tie for ninth place in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Dayton, in its third season under head coach Archie Miller, a former point guard at NC State, also returns four starters from a team that went 17-14 campaign (7-9 Atlantic-10) a year ago. The Flyers have begun their season 3-0, all at home against IPFW (81-80), St. Francis, Pa. (70-56) and Saint Francis-Brooklyn (78-58).
Following Wednesday night’s contest, Tech finishes off this homestand by hosting North Carolina A&T Sunday (2 p.m.) and Mississippi Valley State Tuesday (7 p.m.).
Fast Break Points
• Georgia Tech is home for the first of three straight games in McCamish Pavilion. The Yellow Jackets are 2-0 at home, 1-0 on the road. This is Dayton’s first road game after three straight wins at home.
• Tech is 3-0 for the second time in three seasons under Brian Gregory. The Yellow Jackets are trying to go 4-0 for the first time since the 2008-09 season.
• Tech is looking for its first win over Dayton in the series. Gregory was the Flyers’ head coach the last time the teams met, a 63-59 win in the first-round of the Puerto Rico Classic over a 21st-ranked Tech team that had future NBA players Derrick Favors, Iman Shumpert and Glen Rice, Jr., as well as Gani Lawal and freshmen Mfon Udofia and Brian Oliver. Tech went on to win its next two games against George Mason (coached then by Miami head man Jim Larranaga) and Boston University, while Dayton lost to No. 5 Villanova and Kansas State.
• Only Daniel Miller and Kammeon Holsey remain from the Tech team that lost that game, and they red-shirted that season.
• This is the first game of a home-and-away series that Tech and Dayton have scheduled. The Yellow Jackets will play the Flyers at UD Arena next season.
• Gregory coached Dayton to two NCAA Tournaments and three NITs in eight seasons with the Flyers, including the NIT Championship in 2010. He averaged 21.5 victories per season, including 22 or more each of his last four seasons there.
• Tech assistant coach Billy Schmidt was on Gregory’s staff all eight seasons at Dayton. Assistant coach Josh Postorino played basketball and graduated from Dayton, and was on Oliver Purnell’s staff there as an assistant coach (two seasons) and director of operations (one season). Strength and conditioning coach Mike Bewley served in the same capacity for Gregory at Dayton his last six years there.
• Sophomore guard Chris Bolden’s three-game suspension is over and will be available to play against Dayton.
Tech Balanced in its First Three Games
Three Georgia Tech players are averaging in double figures through the first three games. Senior guard Trae Golden leads the Yellow Jackets with 15.3 points per game, having reached double digits in each game.
Sophomore forward Marcus Georges-Hunt is No. 2 on the squad in scoring (13.3 ppg) and third in rebounding (7.0), while senior center Daniel Miller is No. 3 in scoring (11.3 ppg) and leads the team in rebounding (8.3 rpg).
Sophomore forward Robert Carter, Jr., and senior forward Kammeon Holsey have each averaged 9.0 points through three games.
• Five Tech players are hitting better than 50 percent of their shots from the floor, led by Miller and Stacey Poole, Jr., each at 63.6 percent.
• Tech has a 46-30 assist-turnover rate, and the Georgia game was the first time the Yellow Jackets had more turnovers (12) than assists (9). The Jackets had just six turnovers against Presbyterian, tying a team-low under Brian Gregory.
• Tech has turned the ball over just 10 times per game, 2.9 fewer than last year’s average. Tech’s assist average of 15.9 is 3.2 over last year’s norm.
• Tech has shot 77.5 percent from the free throw line in three games and has scored an average of 18.3 points per game from the stripe. Last year, Tech got only 10.3 points per game from the foul line.
• Tech has attempted 23.6 free throws per game so far, compared to just 16.2 last season.
• Tech has made 47.0 percent of its field goals in three games, and has scored 181 of its 236 points either in the paint or at the foul line.
• Tech has shot better than 50 percent twice so far, and has done so 17 times under Brian Gregory.
• Tech has held all three opponents under 40 percent (35.4 percent collectively), extending the total of opponents the Jackets have held under 40 percent to 29 under Gregory.
• Though Brian Gregory does not emphasize steals as a way to fuel transition, Tech’s steal rate is up to 7.7 per game from 5.9 last year.
• Tech has outrebounded each of its opponents (although only by two against Delaware State), making it 40 times in 65 games under Gregory that the Yellow Jackets have out-rebounded their opponent.
• Daniel Miller and Kammeon Holsey each posted double-doubles in Tech’s victory at Georgia, the first time two Tech players had done so in nearly three years (UTEP on 11/26/10).
• Tech has placed four players in double figures in points in two games (Presbyterian and Georgia) and three in the other (Delaware State).
• Sophomore Solomon Poole has started all three games in the backcourt along with Golden. He has 10 assists and just three turnovers.
• Each of Tech’s three primary bigs are averaging seven or more rebounds per game, as is three-man Marcus Georges-Hunt.
• Seven Tech players have recorded more assists than turnovers over three games.
Series vs. Dayton
Dayton has won both prior meetings against Georgia Tech, and Wednesday will be the Flyers’ first visit to Atlanta to play the Yellow Jackets.
The most recent was a 63-59 win for the Flyers over the Paul Hewitt-led Jackets in the 2009 O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Classic. Brian Gregory was the Dayton head coach at the time, earning one of his 172 career victories with the Flyers.
The first meeting took place in December of 1977 in Dayton, a two-point Tech loss under then-head coach Dwane Morrison.
About Georgia Tech Men’s Basketball
Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team is in its third year under head coach Brian Gregory. The Yellow Jackets have been a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference since 1979, won three ACC Championships, played in the NCAA Tournament 16 times and played in two Final Fours (1990, 2004).
Connect with Georgia Tech Men’s Basketball on social media by liking their Facebook Page, or following on Twitter (@GTMBK). For more information on Tech basketball, visit Ramblinwreck.com.
