Hobbled Georgia Tech Back on the Road To Wake Forest
Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets will take their 2-6 ACC conference record on the road to Winston-Salem, NC, to take on the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Saturday.
Date: 2/1/14
Game Time: 12 pm EST
Venue: Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Winstom-Salem,NC
Series Record: Georgia Tech leads, 38-37
Last Meeting: February 19,2013 in Winston-Salem,NC – Georgia Tech 57 Wake Forest 56
Records: Georgia Tech (11-10, 2-6 ACC) Wake Forest (14-7 , 4-4 ACC),
Current Odds: Wake Forest, -4.5
Injuries: GT – Travis Jorgensen, Out For Season (knee), Robert Carter Jr., out indefinitely (knee), Jason Morris out indefinitely (foot); Wake Forest – None
TV: ESPN3
Radio: 106.7 FM
Well it’s back on the road again for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets as they travel to Winston-Salem to take on the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest. Deacons head coach Jeff Bzdelik has been on one of the hottest coaching seats in America, and is on a mission to put together a job saving season with his Demon Deacons squad.
The Deacons’ are led by two Sophomore players in 6-foot-3 guard Codi Miller-McIntyre and 6-foot-9 Forward Devin Thomas. Miller-McIntyre is the leading scorer for the Demon Deacons averaging 14.6 ppg and shoots a solid 44.9% from the field. Devin Thomas holds down the painted area bringing 11.5 points and 8.3 rebounds per game to the table.
Wake Forest is one of the best rebounding teams in the ACC, tied for second in the conference with the Maryland Terrapins at 41.9 boards per game. Why bring up that rebounding statistic you may ask? The reason why is because Brian Gregory’s Jackets have their best games when they are able to control the interior play against opponents, and specifically the rebounding margin, which they had no ownership of in their last game against the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Let’s face it, the lack of depth issues and the outside shooting is what it is at this point of the season, and coach Gregory knows what the strengths of his Yellow Jackets team are that can bring him victories. Tech must own the paint to win not only this game, but every game going forward from this point.
Trae Golden must continue to bring the Senior leadership that he has shown lately. Golden has been on a tear of late averaging 21 ppg over his last three outings and his offense is going to be needed since his teammates are starting to show signs of fatigue. Marques Georges-Hunt showed some signs of life in the UNC game hitting for 17 points and will need to continue to show a offensive pulse in this game against the Deamon Deacons.
As far as the bench is concerned, Chris Bolden has to find some consistency is his jump shot. He is obviously confident in his shooting ability since he keeps casting up jumper after jumper. The problem is that they are simply not tickling the twine. Bolden is shooting 26.9% from the field and 20% from downtown. If he is going to shoot with confidence it would be nice to see him hit a shot from time to time.
Coach Gregory has to know by now that the strength of his Jackets team lies in the paint. When Daniel Miller and Kammeon Holsey are able to have strong games, this team plays its best. It is imperative, from this point, that Tech plays to their strengths and tries to overcome their weaknesses. This team is what it is, and they are going to have to find a way to battle through the adversity to grab a much needed win to avoid being an average team in the win-loss column.
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