GEORGIA TECH vs. GEORGIA SOUTHERN
Monday, November 6, 2023 | 7:30 p.m. ET | Atlanta, Ga. | McCamish PavilionLive Stream: ACC Network Extra / ESPN+ (Announcers: Wiley Ballard, Jon Babul)
Radio: Georgia Tech Sports Network by Legends Sports (In Atlanta: 680 AM/93.7 The Fan) | SiriusXM app | Listen Online | Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets App | TuneIn
Announcers: Andy Demetra, Randy Waters
Live Stats: https://statb.us/b/484775
Promotion: Men’s basketball schedule poster giveaway
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THE FLATS – Georgia Tech opens a new chapter in its men’s basketball history at 7:30 p.m. Monday night when first-year head coach Damon Stoudamire and the Yellow Jackets play host to in-state foe Georgia Southern to open the 2023-24 season at McCamish Pavilion.
Tech enters this new chapter with four starters returning from a team that went 15-18 a year ago, and nine new scholarship players on its roster. The Jackets prepped for this opener with a closed scrimmage against UAB on Oct. 22 and a 91-75 exhibition victory over Clark Atlanta Wednesday night.
The Eagles, 17-16 a year ago, also enter a new chapter in their program under first-year head coach Charlie Henry. Georgia Southern returns six letterwinners from last year’s squad, including two starters.
Monday’s game will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra and ESPN+, and is also available on the ESPN app. Radio coverage is on the Georgia Tech Sports Network by Legends Sports and flagship station 680 the Fan (680 AM/93.7 FM). The Tech broadcast is also available in the SiriusXM app.
THE TIP-OFF
• Georgia Tech is 4-3 in its last seven season-opening games, 3-2 when those openers have been at McCamish Pavilion.
• Tech has won its last six games against teams from the state of Georgia in regular-season play, dating back to the beginning of the 2020-21 season, when the Jackets opened the season with losses to Georgia State and Mercer.
• Tech is 123-68 in 11 seasons in McCamish Pavilion.
• Tech’s four returning scholarship players - Miles Kelly, Lance Terry, Dallan “Deebo” Coleman and Kyle Sturdivant - accounted for 59.4 percent of the Yellow Jackets’ points and 56.5 percent of the minutes during the 2022-23 season. They collectively shot 35.6 percent from three-point range.
• Tech has a total of nine scholarship newcomers on its roster, five transfers who were judged the 17th best transfer class in the country by 247Sports, and four freshmen.
• Tech’s five transfers combined to average 37 points and 17.2 rebounds per game last season at their previous schools. They have combined to play in 263 games in their careers, and have made 116 starts.
• Kyle Sturdivant, a transfer himself from USC prior to the 2020-21 season, is the elder statesman on the Tech roster, beginning his fourth season. He is the lone player remaining from Tech’s 2021 ACC Championship team and has played 91 games (49 starts) in a Tech uniform.
• Tech’s only starter lost from last year’s team is 6-7 center Ja’von Franklin, now playing professionally in Serbia.
• Only three current Tech players competed in the last meeting between the Jackets and Eagles in 2021. Kyle Sturdivant scored 11 points and Deebo Coleman added 3, while Miles Kelly went scoreless.
SERIES VS. GEORGIA SOUTHERN
• Georgia Tech and Georgia Southern met in men’s basketball just two years ago, when the Eagles took the Yellow Jackets to the limit in a 61-59 Tech victory on Nov. 21, 2021 at McCamish Pavilion.
• Tech has won the last four meetings in the series, and Georgia Southern’s last win occurred in 1958.
• Tech first-year assistant coach Pershin Williams was a Georgia Southern assistant coach from 2009-13, working under another former Tech assistant coach in Charlton Young, who is now at Missouri.
JACKETS AT-A-GLANCE
Looking to return Tech to national prominence, Stoudamire brings the experience of 13 years as a successful NBA player, 10 years of coaching experience on the collegiate level and four years on the NBA level. He has added a five-player transfer class that has been ranked No. 17 in the nation by 247Sports and four talented freshmen to the roster for 2023-24.
Leading the way for the Yellow Jackets is 6-6 junior guard Miles Kelly (Stone Mountain, Ga.), who led Tech in scoring (14.4 ppg) and three-point shooting (.379) and set a team record for free throw percentage (.898). Also back is 6-3 senior guard Lance Terry (College Park, Ga.), who averaged 10.1 points and connected on 38.8 percent of his three-point attempts, 6-6 junior guard Dallan “Deebo” Coleman (Memphis, Tenn.), who averaged 9.5 points and 2.9 rebounds, and 6-3 senior point guard Kyle Sturdivant (Norcross, Ga.), who is back for his fourth season on the Flats after averaging 8.6 points and leading the Jackets in assist average (3.3 per game).
The transfer class includes 6-4 sophomore guard Amaree Abram (Port Arthur, Texas) from Ole Miss, 6-7 senior forward Tyzhaun Claude (Goldsboro, N.C.) from Western Carolina, 6-11 senior center Ebenezer Dowuona (Accra, Ghana) from NC State, 6-9 sophomore forward Tafara Gapare (Wellington, New Zealand)from Massachusetts and 6-7 junior guard Kowacie Reeves, Jr. (Macon, Ga.) from Florida. All the transfers except Gapare have significant starting experience at the previous schools, and Gapare played in 30 games as a freshman.
The freshman class is led by 6-9 forward Baye Ndongo (Mboro, Senegal) and includes 6-3 point guard Naithan George (Toronto, Ontario), 6-6 forward Ibrahima Sacko (Conakry, Guinea) and 6-9 forward Ibrahim Souare (Conakry, Guinea).
