Georgia Tech Basketball: Yellow Jackets on the Road to Face the Dayton Flyers

Tuesday night’s game in Dayton, Ohio against the Dayton Flyers (8-2) is one of those games that is circled on the calendar for a basketball team because of the extra meaning that is associated with it.

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets /

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Every member of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (8-2) would love to get a win on this road trip for their coach Brian Gregory.

The only person that wants this win more than the players is Brian Gregory. Gregory coached at Dayton for eight seasons, compiling a record 172-94 while he was in the lead chair.

Let’s face it, there is nothing like sticking it to your former employer regardless if the separation was under good or bad terms.

This is the opportunity that the Yellow Jackets have before them Tuesday night on national TV and they might be catching the Flyers at the right time.

Dayton Flyers’ head coach Archie Miller had to suspend starting center Devon Scott and backup forward/center Jalen Robinson for an alleged dorm theft incident.

Coach Miller was not to enthused about having to suspend these players as evidenced by his comments in a usatoday.com post by Scott Gleeson:

“I’m extremely disappointed in Jalen and Devon. Their actions do not reflect the behavior we want in our program. Our student-athletes are given every opportunity to be successful on and off the court. Despite ample opportunity to do so, their actions demonstrate they chose not to take advantage of that. More important than wins and losses, it’s about members of our program being committed to represent the University of Dayton in the manner we all expect.”

-Archie Miller

The 6-foot-9 Scott was the leading rebounder for the Flyers snatching 7.4 boards to go along with his 9.1 points on the interior. Robinson as an understudy was averaging 3.2 points and 2.4 rebounds per contest.

Mark Konezny, USA TODAY Sports)

This does not mean by any stretch of the imagination that Dayton is going to be a walk in the park.

The Dayton Flyers are an “elite eight” squad from last year’s NCAA Tournament, so even though they are going to be short the services of these two players, they still are going to be a formidable opponent.

Dayton is led by 6-foot-4 guard Jordan Sibert who is logging 14.4 points and 4.2 rebounds on the stat sheet while shooting 38.9% from the field for the season.

The Flyers also have a couple of 6-foot-6 forwards that average double-digit scoring as well in sophomore Kendall Pollard (10.4 ppg and 5.0 rebs) and junior Dyshawn Pierre (10.6 ppg and 6.3 rebs) who round out the top three scorers for the team.

There is still fire power on the court for Dayton to make this game interesting, however the opportunity for the Yellow Jackets to own the painted area with Charles Mitchell, Demarco Cox, and Robert Sampson is ripe for the taking.

When these three own the interior, the game just seems to be made easier for the Yellow Jackets.

You better believe that Coach Gregory is going to want the ball thrown into the paint early and often.

Travis Jorgenson is coming off his best game of the season finishing with eight points and six assists in the Vanderbilt win. He is going to want to have a good showing because this was the very game that he suffered his knee injury in last season.