Morrow leads Jacket attack

The Jackets take down Lafayette Leapards 92-58. On this day 16 years ago Dennis Scott set the 3pt GT record with 11 bombs. Tonight Anthony Morrow shot the lights out, but didn't come close to that record (ok - a tease I know). Morrow ends the game with 20 points on 7-11 shooting (6-10 from 3pt). This was actually an 8 point contest until Morrow went on a shooting barrage, putting the game way out of reach. It was a nice night for a lot of Jackets. And guess who was the 2nd leading scorer? Try fellow freshman Ra'Sean Dickey.


However, once again, we play one good half of basketball. Check out the "GameFlow" Graph:



That about says it all. So here are my comments:


1. The Freshman are making their mark. If you can believe this, in the postgame interview Coach Hewitt said that losing to Gonzaga was his fault because he didn't find a way to play Anthony Morrow more minutes and they needed someone to hit some shots against the zone they were playing. Ra'Sean Dickey continues to play solid minutes, as does Buck Fredrick. Here's the thing - they all had good offensive skills. But what's happening is that they are learning how to play Georgia Tech defense, Paul Hewitt style. Morrow ended with 2 steals, 2 assists, 2 boards. Dickey ends with a block and 6 boards to go with his 15 points (6-10). And those stats were generated in a mere 15 minutes - so you project that out over 30 minutes and wow!! Heck, Morrow only showed 14 minutes in the box score. Talk about using your minutes..... Buck Fredrick also used his 9 minutes well, scoring 6 (2-5), 1 board, 1 block, 1 assist, 2 to's.


2. Playing a full game. I said it already. We have yet to put together 2 full halves of basketball. A wonderful 2nd half - a terrible first half. That's good enough to crush Lafayette, but not Kansas.


3. The defense was solid once again, holding Laf to 35% (21% 3pt).


4. Rebounding was suspect if you ask me. We out-boarded Laf 37-30, but the last 4 games we have not held any significant rebounding advantage. Before those games we were leading the ACC in rebounding margin.


5. J.Jack had a solid game, ending with 10 pts (4-9), although he was 1-5 from 3pt. He also had 9 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal and 3 to's. Will Bynum had a solid game with 10 pts (3-6), 5 boards (2 off), 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 to.


6. BJ Elder continues to be a mystery. He scores 5 pts (2-9) and goes 1-5 from 3pt. One rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 to's. He did get into foul trouble early and never got on track. He ended with 22 minutes.


7. Elder isn't the only guy seeing his play suffer. Another less-talked about story is the lack of showing by Theodis Tarver. Tarver ended tonight after playing 5 minutes, dishing 1 assist and committing 1 foul. That's the extent of his stat-line. When coach says he has to find a way to get the freshman in the game, obviously that means getting those minutes from someone else. Right now Dickey is taking those minutes from Tarver, but he's not the only one. I think McHenry has seen his time increase as well. I sure wish Theodis would step up his game. Maybe we'll hear more about his development soon.


Time to get ready for the real-deal now. No cupcakes from here on out. You can only beat up on the Lafayette's and Georgia's of the world for so long :-). The real season starts January 1 with Kansas and it doesn't stop until March. I THINK that every game from here on out is broadcast on TV somewhere so tune in and fasten your seatbelts. The pre-season is over. GO JACKETS!!!!