Tech, UGA hoops can relate to each other

It’s not like Alexander Memorial Coliseum will be filled with empathy Tuesday night. Probably will be hard to find a drop of it.

But Georgia and Georgia Tech’s basketball players can identify with each other this season, at least what they’ve gone through to this point.

Because both enter the annual grudge match in the same predicament.

Through the season’s first seven weeks, both teams have been hurt by injuries, bad losses and few quality wins.

But, both have one more chance to get things right before conference play begins.

“I think we’re still trying to get used to each other,” Georgia (9-5) forward Terrance Woodbury said. “Everybody’s still trying to catch the flow of everybody together.”

“It’s been tough,” Tech (8-5) forward Alade Aminu said. “We’ve basically been playing with our backs against the wall.”

Both teams have less-than-intimidating RPIs. In the Ratings Percentage Index, a key measurement used by the NCAA selection committee, Tech is No. 178 and Georgia No. 217.

Both teams already have been tagged with an NCAA tourney “bubble-bursting” loss at home: the Bulldogs were beaten by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (6-8, No. 158 in the RPI), the Jackets by Penn State (12-3, No. 98).

Both have only win each that could help them if they reach “watch-list” status: Georgia beat Virginia Tech (9-5, No. 59), and Tech beat Vanderbilt (11-3, No. 76).

But there’s good news for Georgia. The Bulldogs, who begin their 16-game SEC schedule Saturday against Tennessee, are healthier than they’ve been all season.

Woodbury missed four games with an ankle injury before scoring a career-high 27 in Saturday’s loss to Missouri. Forward Trey Thompkins missed the first four games with ankle and knee injuries. Center Albert Jackson and point guard Zac Swansey each have missed a game.

“It’s made the adventure a little more interesting, a little bumpier,” Georgia coach Dennis Felton said. “But I also think in the long run we’ll benefit from it. I think in an indirect way we’ve benefited already from having to play without [Woodbury] for so long. But it’s definitely impacting the consistency and the fortunes of our team so far.”

Tech, which dropped its ACC opener to Virginia on Dec. 28, plays 15 consecutive conference games starting Saturday at Maryland.

The Jackets learned right before the season that senior wing D’Andre Bell needed surgery to correct a spinal condition. Shooting guard Lewis Clinch was declared academically ineligible for the first seven games.

And point guard Moe Miller has played in just six games due to two concussions and a broken nose. He’s been fitted for a mask and might return Saturday.

Coach Paul Hewitt, however, said those personnel losses aren’t to blame for the up-and-down performance.

“It’s been puzzling,” he said. “I see some signs. I see some stretches of good basketball and then we have a tendency to kind of drop back.

“I don’t think it’s a personnel issue. It’s just a consistency of effort mentally and physically. That’s what it is. We’re searching for ways to get it out of ‘em.”

Both teams sought to take positives out of their losses Saturday. Georgia fell 83-76 to Missouri (12-2) but showed “we can play with anybody,” Thompkins said.

In Tech’s 88-77 loss at Alabama, the pressing Jackets cut a 30-point deficit to 10 over a late eight-minute stretch. The question is why it took them so long to play that aggressively.

“I feel confident we’re going to keep fighting and there’s going to be a big turnaround,” Aminu said. “Let’s put the pieces together, forget about the odds and just play basketball.”

Tech leads the series with Georgia, 100-84.

Since the series moved from the Omni to the campuses in 1995-96, the home team has won every time with the exception of Georgia’s 75-70 victory at Alexander Memorial Coliseum in 2000.

“I know a lot of guys on Georgia Tech’s team so it will be a real exciting game,” said Thompkins, who strongly considered signing with Tech. “We won the SEC on their court last year, so there’s been some trash talking between the two teams. It should be fun and exciting to watch.”