The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Chip Towers
There will be some clean, old-fashioned hate flowing in Stegeman Coliseum tonight as Georgia and Georgia Tech renew their basketball rivalry for the 199th time. And, for the first time in a while, it looks like two pretty good teams will be going at it.
The Bulldogs (5-3) are coming in with a three-game winning streak that includes a 17-point comeback win over Florida State on the road. The Yellow Jackets (4-2) also are coming in hot. In their first season under coach Damon Stoudamire, Tech arrives fresh off a pair of Top 25 wins: 67-59 over then-no. 21 Mississippi State in the ACC/SEC Challenge last Tuesday and then 72-68 over then-no. 7 Duke on Saturday in their ACC opener.
“They’re really good,” Georgia coach Mike White said before the Bulldogs’ practice Monday. “They made some adjustments after their first few games, of course, and their last cou- ple of games they’ve been as competitive as any team in the country. Coming off two really good wins, they’ve got a lot of momentum.”
Tech’s last two victories came after dropping a 74-71 decision to Umass-lowell at home and then getting throt- tled on the road against Cin- cinnati (89-54).
Georgia hasn’t been hiding from competition, either. This will be the Bulldogs’ fourth
game against an ACC oppo- nent. In addition to beating the Seminoles (68-66) last Wednesday, the Bulldogs defeated Wake Forest 80-77 on Nov. 10 in Athens and lost to No. 11 Miami 79-68 on Nov. 17 in the Bahamas.
The Bulldogs also have close losses against Oregon and Providence. Georgia is the only power conference team to play four fellow pow- er-conference opponents in the first five games and defeated Mercer 80-69 in the latest outing on Saturday.
But in terms meaning- ful games, they come no big- ger for Georgia than facing Tech. For Bulldogs basket- ball, there is no greater rival. For a team featuring 10 new- comers between transfers and freshmen, that’s some- thing that needed to be com
municated this week.
“I think that’s really going to speak for itself tomorrow,” said senior Jabri Abdur-ra- him, the Bulldogs’ leading scorer at 13.1 points per game. “I don’t think a lot of the guys understand how important people take (the Tech game). I think it’s going to be a good environment tomorrow and for a lot of those guys it will be their first crazy environment in college basketball. So, I’m glad it’s at home.”
The Bulldogs are expect- ing a full house in Stegeman Coliseum, especially in the student section. Final exams get underway later this week and coming off Georgia foot- ball’s loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship game this past weekend, they’re expected to unleash some pent-up frustrations.
“It’s a good time to play anybody, really,” White said. “They’re next up on the sched- ule and, you know, they’ve got a lot of momentum. They’re playing really well. It’s another great opportunity for us. Our schedule’s been rough, but we’ve got a little momentum as well and it ought to be a great environment.”
One Georgia player who might be especially fired up is freshman Blue Cain. The 6-5 freshman from Knoxville was a Tech signee Jackets parted ways with former coach Josh Pastner. Cain is Georgia’s second-leading scorer off the bench with 6.4 points per game.
Cain is one of five players who have led the Bulldogs in scoring this season. Most recently, Illinois transfer RJ Melendez had 21 points in the win over Mercer.
There will be some famil- iarity for White as well. Tech’s 6-6 guard Kowacie Reeves, who’s averaging 11.3 points per game, played for White at Florida. The Macon native transferred to Tech this season.
The Yellow Jackets are led in both scoring and rebounding (18.8 ppg, 6.7 rpg) by 6-6 guard Kelly. Baye Ndong averages 10.3 points
5.3 rebounds. Georgia owns a 54-31 edge in games played in Athens, but Georgia Tech leads the all-time series 107-91.
The Bulldogs are 4-0 at Stegeman Coliseum this sea- son and 17-4 at Stegeman
White.