After the excitement of the season opener in the new McCamish Pavilion had worn off, Wednesday’s game against Presbyterian was subdued.
It was a potential trap game for a young team, and coach Brian Gregory knew it. No sellout, no former players lining the tunnel as the team headed to the court, or students turned away from an overflow floor-side section.
A crowd of 5,733 — about 3,500 less than Friday’s opener for Tulane — came curious to see how the Yellow Jackets would fare without the momentum of a year’s worth of anticipation. For 20 minutes, it wasn’t good.
But a halftime adjustment made them better against the zone, and the Yellow Jackets responded with an 18-0 run on their way to a 52-38 victory.
“For us to be who we want to be eventually, that stuff can’t matter,” said Gregory, when asked about a letdown. “You put on that (Tech) jersey there are certain things that you do, and it doesn’t matter where you’re playing, who you’re playing, if the place is bonkers like it was on Friday or not so much like today. … It’s Georgia Tech basketball. You’ve got to play a certain way. And we’re not there yet.”
The Jackets, now 2-0, are only nine wins shy of last season’s total. And that part feels different.
Florida State lost its opener to South Alabama. Miami lost to Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday, while Virginia lost to Delaware. Tech didn’t want to be that team.
“It was a rough game, (but) at the end of the day we won,” said senior point guard Mfon Udofia, who shot 1-for-5 from the floor, but had six assists and no turnovers in 30 minutes. “I feel like last year at this time, you never know what we would have done.”
Tech didn’t have a player in double figures scoring until freshman Marcus Georges-Hunt made a lay-up with 1:24 left and freshman Robert Carter Jr. made his first college 3-pointer shortly thereafter to give them 10 points each. But the Jackets held Presbyterian scoreless for nine minutes early in the second half, while they figured out what to do with a 2-3 zone.
After shooting only 25 percent from the floor in the first half, Tech came out feeding the post in the second half and watched their front line of Daniel Miller, Carter and Kammeon Holsey take advantage of shooting at close range.
Miller’s lay-up on a lob from Udofia gave Tech the lead again 90 seconds into the second half, and Carter got going, too, using a nice drop-step for his first of two turnaround jumpers in the first two minutes of the second half.
“Just coming out with more energy,” Carter said of the difference in the second half. “Just being more aggressive.”
For all the excitement a new arena and three strong freshmen have brought, the first half actually had the feel of the dreaded Miami loss in the first round of the ACC tournament last season. Tech scored 36 points in that game, its lowest total since 1961. Tech was on pace for 48 points, after shooting only 7-for-28 from the floor and 2-for-13 from 3-point range.
Carter and fellow freshmen Georges-Hunt and Chris Bolden, who combined for 35 points against Tulane, accounted for only four points in the first half. But they finished with 24.
“I (have said) there were times we’d have to win with the defense and on the glass as we continue to grow as a team,” Gregory said. “Because we’re going to struggle at times to put the ball in the basket.”
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