Georgia Tech wins easily against East Tennessee State

A week after a pair of unimpressive losses, Georgia Tech regained a bit of its footing.

The Yellow Jackets delivered an emphatic 87-57 thrashing of East Tennessee State on Saturday afternoon at McCamish Pavilion to head into their final exam week on an up note. The win followed Tuesday’s come-from-behind win over Illinois in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, which followed losses to Ole Miss and St. John’s at the Jackets’ Thanksgiving tournament in Brooklyn, N.Y.

“I thought we may have played as well as we’ve played all year long,” coach Brian Gregory said.

East Tennessee State did not bring much name value, but had won four of its past five. The Jackets jumped to a 10-2 lead and stretched it to 44-23 at halftime. Tech’s ball movement against the Buccaneers’ zone defense — 26 assists for 33 baskets — was evidence of the Jackets’ focus against a lesser opponent. The 26 assists were a high for Tech under Gregory, now in his third season.

Tech (7-3) has faced zones often this season, as opponents tried to neutralize Tech’s size advantage, but the Jackets were more adept at solving it Saturday, moving East Tennessee State (4-6) horizontally to create openings in the middle.

The Jackets also were more successful and intentional about getting the ball into the post, feeding center Daniel Miller and forwards Robert Carter and Kammeon Holsey, an action that Gregory has stressed.

“Yeah, because Coach keeps emphasizing it,” forward Marcus Georges-Hunt said. “It makes everything easier for me and the perimeter players if we get the ball inside. Our posts are so great at what they do, when the ball goes inside, all the focus goes on the post, which leaves the perimeter players open to make a play.”

Said Gregory, “The last two games, we’ve done a much better job of that. It’s called following directions.”

Georges-Hunt followed an excellent performance against Illinois with another all-around effort Saturday. In 23 minutes, he scored 18 points on 13 shots and had five assists.

After scoring 14 points in two losses at the Barclays Center Classic in New York, Georges-Hunt has 38 points in Tech’s past two games, his highest two-game total in his career. He is 15-for-26 in the two games, with eight assists against one turnover.

“He’s playing at a very high level for us right now,” Gregory said.

With heavy defense in the zone, Miller took and made his only shot of the game, but contributed 10 rebounds, as the Jackets outrebounded East Tennessee State 46-36. The Buccaneers, who scored 80 or more points in four of the past five times, shot 31.3 percent from the field.