Georgia Tech dominates Florida A&M in opener

By Carroll Rogers

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

With a buzz in the air from the football team's ACC Coastal-clinching win earlier in the day, Georgia Tech's basketball team joined in with some of its own Saturday.

The No. 22 Yellow Jackets opened what figures to be a transformational season with four fresh faces and a 100-59 win over Florida A&M.

Sophomore guard Iman Shumpert scored 18 points in 19 minutes, followed by junior forward Gani Lawal with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

As for the newbies?

Derrick Favors, the most-touted of the talented incoming class, just went with the flow generated by Mfon Udofia's energy at point guard, quickness in the paint by Glen Rice Jr. and a smooth-stroking Brian Oliver with his four 3-pointers.

The freshmen combined for 38 points: Oliver had 12, Favors had 10, Udofia nine and Rice seven.

"We came and showed we can play," Favors said. "Not because we're freshman but because we're also talented."

They showed the depth Tech can use to force the issue on offense and keep the heat on on defense.

Playing with much more energy than in their narrow exhibition win against Indiana (Pa.), the Yellow Jackets led by as many as 48 points. They put on a show for an announced crowd of 7,491 at Alexander Memorial Coliseum, including a few football players such as Jonathan Dwyer and Demaryius Thomas just back in town.

Twelve different Yellow Jackets scored.

"I told them upstairs, if you just check all your personal goals at the door and play as hard as you can when you're out there, we have a chance to have a great team," Tech coach Paul Hewitt said.

That doesn't seem to be a problem for Favors. The reigning Parade and USA Today high school player of the year has a reputation for being quiet by nature. That's how he worked his way into his first college game – quietly.

He attempted only three field goals in nine minutes in the first half, as Tech opened up a 31-point lead. He didn't score his first field goal until putting back Lawal's miss with 1:26 left in the first half.

But he came back 30 seconds later with a two-handed dunk off a pass from Moe Miller. He topped that for style points in the second half with a one-handed jam for a put-back. He finished with eight rebounds.

"He's such a low-maintenance guy," said Hewitt, who said Favors had been suffering from blisters on the bottom of his feet this week after misplacing his good socks but didn't say a word. "The guy doesn't ask for anything and just doesn't make a fuss. He wants to come in, be one of the guys, fit in and just play. It's nice when you've got a guy who's that talented and thinks about everybody else first."