After a swarm of players left Georgia Tech a season ago, the Yellow Jackets were supposed to follow a script and drudge through a down year.
Despite the loss of nearly 80 percent of their scorers, the Jackets have mustered enough points to earn a 9-4 record — winning six of their last seven contests.
Sophomore Anthony Morrow, a native of Charlotte, has been arguably the main reason for the Jackets’ return to national recognition. Morrow currently ranks seventh in the ACC in scoring and has the second best three-point percentage in the conference behind Duke’s J.J. Redick.
“He’s a confident player. He’s a shooter, he can score the ball, but he can go down low and rebound as well,” coach Paul Hewitt said. “He does everything he has to do to help this team win.”
Fellow sophomore Jeremis Smith averages the second most rebounds in the conference, and has chipped in over 13 points per game as well.
“He plays so hard. He and Anthony Morrow give you an unbelievable effort every time out,” Hewitt said. “Jeremis is probably the emotional and physical leader of this team. What’s been amazing about the last few games, he’s had back spasms, and for him to play that hard, it shows a tremendous effort.”
Georgia Tech has put together a winning formula of late, which unlike N.C. State’s, does not include much from beyond the three-point line. The Jackets have attempted the fewest amount of three pointers in the ACC, and hold their opponents to a paltry 30 percent from the beyond the arc.
The leadership on the floor has come from another sophomore starter, Zam Frederick. After a slow start to his career, Frederick has picked up his play and has improved his stats.
“Zam started off the year learning how to play the point guard position,” Hewitt said. “Early on we felt he was taking too many shots that were high degree of difficulty shots.”
Frederick only averaged 1.6 points per game and less than one assist per game his freshman year. This year he has improved to over 10 points and four assists per contest, while raising his shooting percentage by over 10 percent.
“Over the last three or four games he has started to understand what are good shots,” Hewitt said. “He is clearly our smartest player.”
Tech and State’s only common opponent thus far has been Boston College, where both teams came away with a win. For the Yellow Jackets, Frederick emerged as the hero against the Eagles, draining the game-winning three-pointer with under a minute to go.
Tech’s celebration was short-lived, as the school ruled center Theodis Tarver academically ineligible. He will miss the rest of the season. The loss of Tarver creates a huge void in the middle of the lane for Tech, which will give freshman Alade Aminu and Ra’Sean Dickey the task of filling in at the center position.
Tech is 2-0 in the ACC this season, and has not started 3-0 in conference since the 1995-1996 season.
