The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
GEORGIA TECH MEN’S BASKETBALL
Georgia Tech begins its fifth week, and second month, of the season riding high. Now the Yellow Jackets must make sure they don’t squander away all the momentum from a remarkable week inside Mccamish Pavilion.
Coach Damon Stoudamire’s squad heads up the road today to face rival Georgia, looking for a third straight win. Tech put itself in that position by knocking off No. 21 Mississippi State and then No. 7 Duke last week at home.
The Jackets have to find a way to play at the same level that led to those wins, but do so this time in a hostile envi- ronment.
“(The Duke win) was Sat- urday, this is Monday, it’s on to the next one,” Stoudamire said. “We’ve got to make sure we don’t have any hangover going into Georgia.”
Tech’s first road trip of the season did not go so well. On Nov. 22, the Jackets were blasted by Cincinnati in a 35-point loss, outscored 49-22 in the second half. The sil- ver lining in the aftermath of that defeat was the Jack- ets’ ability to flush the poor performance and turn over a new leaf.
Stoudamire, after Sat- urday’s win over Duke, expressed how thankful he was to his players for mak- ing that choice — and to not steer the ship in the other direction.
“They could have rolled over and they could have laid dead. They could have. But instead they chose to roll their sleeves up and go harder. They chose to allow us to coach ’em harder. They chose to believe,” he said. “The guys that I inserted into the lineup hadn’t been play- ing major minutes. The guys that I took out of the lineup were playing major minutes. Even though the guys that came out of the lineup were coming out the lineup, they’ve still been really good. What we have now is a con- nectivity that spells team.”
Tech’s recent success is partly due to Stoudamire’s decision to turn toward the youth movement of fresh- man duo Nait George and Baye Ndongo. Both started in the victories over Missis- sippi State and Duke and both played a major hand in lead- ing the Jackets to those wins.
George, a 6-foot-3 point guard, had 11 points and four rebounds in 31 minutes against Mississippi State and did an admirable job of facil- itating the offense. He was arguably even better Satur- day against Duke when he had nine assists, many of which went to Ndongo.
Ndongo, a 6-foot-9 forward, played 26 minutes against the Blue Devils and had 21 points, five rebounds, four blocks, two assists and a steal. The Sene- gal native had Tech’s last field goal — a soaring, one-handed dunk from the baseline — and had the game-winning shot block as time was expiring.
Because of the play of George and Ndongo, Tech veterans such as Kyle Sturdi- vant and Deebo Coleman are now coming off the bench. Senior guard Lance Terry remains out with an injury and sophomore Amaree
Abram, a transfer from Ole Miss who started the first four games of the season, hasn’t seen the floor the last two times out.
There doesn’t appear to be any dissension, however, inside the locker room.
“I think it’s been great,” Sturdivant said about the team’s buy-in. “Everyone is taking heed to what all the coaches are saying and trying to implement it as best as we can. And I think we’re trying to grow in every aspect that they want us to grow in.”
Tech will face a Georgia team that is on a three-game winning streak, including a 68-66 victory at Florida State on Wednesday. The Bulldogs (5-3) have lost to Ore- gon, Miami and Providence.
Coach Mike White’s team has been led by Jabri Abdur-rahim (13.1 ppg) and Noah Thomasson (12.4 ppg) in the scoring column and Russel Tchewa (6.1 rpg) on the boards. Georgia aver- ages a little less than 25 free- throw attempts per game and is currently the worst shoot- ing team in the SEC at 40.4%.
Tuesday’s meeting will be the 199th between the two programs in a series that dates to 1906. Tech has won 107 of the previous 198 matchups and two in a row (after hav- ing lost five straight before then). The Jackets are 31-54 in Athens.