NEWS
By Bud L. Ellis
If Georgia Tech is going to make a late-season surge in the Atlantic Coast Conference, it’s going to need more of this from Derrick Favors.
The standout freshman scored a career-high 21 points and pulled down a career-best 18 rebounds on Saturday, in Tech’s bitter 76-74 loss at Maryland. As a result, the ACC again on Monday named Favors its Rookie of the Week, the fourth time this season Favors has been so honored.
Against Maryland, Favors hit on 9-of-15 shots. His last attempt was a short jumper in the lane with three seconds to go, one that gave Tech a short-lived 74-73 lead.
Earlier last week, Favors also turned in good work against North Carolina. In Tech’s 68-51 victory over the Tar Heels, Favors scored 13 points to go with nine rebounds. For the week, Favors averaged 17 points and 13.5 rebounds.
Tech has three games left before the ACC tournament, starting with Saturday’s home game against Boston College. Favors has been solid this year for the Jackets, averaging 11.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. He leads all ACC freshmen in both those categories, as well as field-goal percentage (59.5 percent) and blocked shots (51).
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Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 8:27 pm by bud
Tags: Boston College, Derrick Favors, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Maryland, North Carolina
By Bud L. Ellis
As the days dwindle in February and college basketball teams eye the promise of March, pardon the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets if they wonder what could have been.
Currently, the Jackets sit in seventh place in the Atlantic Coast Conference standings at 6-7 in conference play. But it could be so much better for Tech, and the margin between here and there is pretty slim.
On three different occasions this season, the Jackets have lost an ACC game by two points: on Jan. 24 at Florida State, on Feb. 10 at Miami and Saturday at Maryland, when the Terps hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat Tech 76-74.
Add in a four-point loss to Dayton earlier this season, and Tech’s 18-9 overall record could be a shining 22-5. Instead of talking about this team on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament, the Jackets could be squarely in the top 20 and in the running for a top five or six seed.
But the Jackets still have time to make March memorable. Tech is off until Saturday, when it begins its final three-game stretch at home against Boston College. Tech then travels to Clemson on March 2 before wrapping up the regular season March 6 against Virginia Tech at home.
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Monday, February 22, 2010 at 8:10 pm by bud
Tags: Atlantic Coast Conference, Boston College, Clemson, Dayton, Florida State, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Maryland, Miami, Virginia Tech
By Bud L. Ellis
A bitter loss for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Saturday hurt the Jackets’ chances of moving up in the Atlantic Coast Conference standings.
Maryland’s Cliff Tucker hit a 3-point basket from the left wing at the buzzer to send the Jackets to defeat, 76-74. With the loss, Tech (18-9, 6-7 ACC) sits in seventh place in the conference standings with three games left before the ACC tournament begins.
Tech played very well in this one. Derrick Favors hit career highs in points (21) and rebounds (18), and his basket inside with three second left gave Tech a 74-73 advantage. But Maryland got the ball to midcourt, and Tucker rolled off a screen to pop in the game-winning shot from the left wing as the horn sounded.
Iman Shumpert shook out of a slump with 17 points. Tech did struggle at the foul line, hitting just 11-of-20 attempts.
The Jackets play host to Boston College on Saturday, then play at Clemson March 2 and at home against Virginia Tech on March 6 before the conference tournament begins March 11 at Greensboro, N.C.
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Sunday, February 21, 2010 at 8:27 pm by bud
Tags: Atlantic Coast Conference, Boston College, Clemson, Cliff Tucker, Derrick Favors, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Iman Shumpert, Maryland, Virginia Tech
What a difference playing at home or away makes.
After stunning the Duke Blue Devils earlier this season in the Thriller Dome, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets had an unkind trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium, geting throttled by the ACC’s best team, 86-67.
Georgia Tech hung tough throughout the first half despite foul trouble for its best interior players, Gani Lawal and Derrick Favors. But Duke went on a run to end the stanza, capped by a Kyle Singler 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the hosts a 12-point lead.
It was all downhill from there for the Yellow Jackets.
The Blue Devils, and Singler in particular, controlled the second half with ease. Singler kept making shots from distance, and finished with a career-high 30 points (20 coming over the final 20:00) on the strength of eight 3-pointers.
Lawal, possibly the most talented big man in the league, was a non-factor for Georgia Tech. Astonishingly, he picked up two fouls in the first 30 seconds of the game and was relegated to the bench for most of the first half. Favors managed to stay in the game a bit longer before picking up his second, and despite Zachery Peacock’s best effort, the Yellow Jackets just couldn’t keep up with its firepower spectating from the sidelines.
The most telling stat of the contest might be that Duke had three players record at least 14 points and two reach at least 21, while Georgia Tech’s leading scorer, Peacock, finished with 11.
The Yellow Jackets will need to bounce back quickly because it can ill afford a letdown at home against N.C. State on Saturday. With its road troubles as far away from being fixed as ever, this team absolutely must protect its home court to ensure an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Friday, February 5, 2010 at 9:53 am by Raj Sethi
