Georgia Tech forward Kammeon Holsey has defended a few of the better power forwards in college basketball this season. On Thursday, he’ll add Virginia’s Mike Scott, the early favorite for ACC player of the year, to the list.
Holsey already has matched up against Northwestern’s John Shurna, Alabama’s Tony Mitchell, Duke’s Mason Plumlee and N.C. State’s C.J. Leslie. All four are rated among the top 100 NBA prospects on the website draftexpress.com, as is Scott, who is fourth in the ACC in scoring (16.9 points per game) and is sixth in rebounding (8.9 rebounds per game).
“You watch [Virginia] play, that’s a man on a mission right now,” coach Brian Gregory said of Scott.
Before Tuesday’s practice, Gregory would not divulge his game plan for defending Scott, but Holsey expected that he’ll start off guarding him in the Yellow Jackets’ man-to-man defense.
“I like the competition,” Holsey said of his high-caliber matchups. “I’m just excited to play, step my level up, too.”
Shurna, who went for 25 points and eight rebounds against Tech, was probably Holsey’s toughest matchup. Against Alabama, Holsey scored 14 points — the same as Mitchell — on 7-for-9 shooting. Holsey’s work in helping get Leslie in foul trouble played a role in the Jackets’ win over the Wolfpack.
“You want to make them play defense, too, wear them down,” said Holsey, who is shooting a team-best 63.9 percent from the field.
In coming games, Holsey will probably get his shot against at least four more power forwards on the draftexpress.com top 100 — North Carolina’s John Henson, Tyler Zeller and James McAdoo and Florida State’s Bernard James.
Poole practicing
Kentucky transfer Stacey Poole began practicing with the team late last week. Poole, a 6-foot-4 guard from Jacksonville, won’t be eligible until January 2012. Gregory said that Poole will have to “learn some stuff on the fly” because not much practice time can be dedicated to teaching as opposed to game preparation. The more important element will be individual skill work and training with strength-and-conditioning coach Mike Bewley.
“I think before it’s all said and done, he’s going to be tremendous for us on the [fast] break and a really, really good defensive player,” Gregory said.
Moving south
Tech’s game against Virginia will not be Gregory’s first meeting with Cavaliers coach Tony Bennett. Both were assistants several years ago in the Big Ten, Bennett at Wisconsin and Gregory at Michigan State.
“I always say, the year we won the national championship in 2000 at Michigan State, our biggest accomplishment that year was we beat Wisconsin four times,” Gregory said. “That’s hard to do, and one of them was in the Final Four. This team at Virginia is very similar to the team they had at Wisconsin that year.”
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