Georgia Tech’s season opener lacked the pomp of last year’s opener, but the result was satisfying nonetheless.
To start their second season at McCamish Pavilion, the Yellow Jackets easily took care of Presbyterian in an 88-57 win Friday night. It was the second-highest point total under coach Brian Gregory, following a 92-point effort in Gregory’s debut game in the 2011-12 season.
“Offensively, we’re much improved,” Gregory said. “You can see that. We have some more weapons. I think we flow better offensively.”
As was the case last season, Tech had trouble against Presbyterian’s zone defense early in the game, often settling to pass around the perimeter and take jump shots rather than trying to work the ball into the paint. In the first half, only seven of the Jackets’ 17 baskets were scored off assists.
Presbyterian never led, but trailed by only two, 34-32, with 1:48 to go in the first half. From there, the Jackets went into halftime on an 8-0 run over its final four possessions to take a 42-32 lead. Guard Travis Jorgenson made two free throws, forward Stacey Poole made one of the best passes of the game by finding center Daniel Miller on the backside of the zone for a dunk, forward Kammeon Holsey made two more free throws and guard Solomon Poole scored in transition.
“I thought the last couple minutes of the first half was big,” Gregory said. “Stacey Poole gave us a big lift energy-wise.”
The Jackets took control in the second half, shooting 54.5 percent in the final 20 minutes, assisting on 11 of the 18 baskets and out-rebounding the Blue Hose 25-12. Playing against a zone, Gregory said, “you have to get under, below and behind the zone, and I thought we did a much better job of that in the second half.”
After starting Corey Heyward at point guard in the exhibition game the previous Friday, Gregory went with Solomon Poole, along with Trae Golden at guard, Marcus Georges-Hunt and Robert Carter at forward and Daniel Miller at center.
As was the case in the exhibition win over Young Harris, the most effective point guard was Jorgenson, who finished with a team-high five assists, eight points and four steals in 24 minutes. Last season, starting point guard Mfon Udofia had only three games in which he accumulated more assists.
Jorgenson contributed a number of impressive plays. In the second half, he stepped in front of a bounce pass, took a few dribbles and fed Georges-Hunt for a dunk. Another steal in the backcourt led to a bounce pass to Stacey Poole for an easy basket.
“He can pass, hit the open man,” Presbyterian coach Gregg Nibert of Jorgenson. “When he hits that 3, he’s really good.”
Georges-Hunt led the Jackets with 17 points on 14 shots and added nine rebounds. Carter had 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
The much-anticipated emphasis on defensive hand-checking and a new interpretation of the block/charge call resulted in a number of foul calls for seemingly light contact in impeding ball-handlers. There were no offensive charges called in the game.
“I realized the hand-checking (emphasis) was serious,” said Georges-Hunt, who was called for four fouls in the game.
The victory was Gregory’s 200th career win against 129 losses.
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