December 21, 2011

Men's Basketball on the Road to Face Georgia Tech Thursday

 

DULUTH, Ga. – The Mercer men’s basketball team will be looking to snap a two-game skid corresponding to its recent road trip, when it faces Georgia Tech on Thursday evening at the Arena at Gwinnett Center.  Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. (ET).

The Bears enter the game with a 7-5 record, while Tech is 7-4 overall.

Mercer is coming off of a 72-58 loss to Georgia last Tuesday in Athens. Prior to that, MU fell at Seton Hall in overtime on Sunday afternoon in Newark, N.J. The bout with Tech will be the team’s final game before Christmas, but its road odyssey continues the following week with games at Tulsa (Dec. 28) and Navy (Dec. 30).

In the loss at UGA, sophomore point guard Langston Hall was the only Bear in double figures with 16 points. Hall is also the team’s top scorer on the year with an average of 13.8 points per game and shooting better than 41 percent (53-128) from the field.

Senior Justin Cecil checks in at an average of 11.1 p.p.g., while redshirt sophomore Jakob Gollon is at 10.4 p.p.g. Gollon also tops the Mercer squad in rebounds at 6.0 per game, followed by Bud Thomas and Daniel Coursey who average 4.7 and 4.6 caroms per contest, respectively.

Coursey also added three blocked shots versus the Bulldogs, giving him 26 rejections this season through 12 games.

THE SERIES:

Georgia Tech has the upper hand in the all-time series between the schools by a 28-16 margin. The Yellow Jackets have stung the Bears the last nine times the teams have met dating back to 1975. MU’s last win over Tech came on January 28, 1974 in Atlanta, 102-85.

In last year’s meeting in Atlanta, it was the Yellow Jackets closing out 2010 with an 87-78 win on December 31. Glen Rice, Jr. tallied 24 points to lead Tech to the win.

SCOUTING TECH:

The Yellow Jackets are 7-4 overall and have yet to play an ACC game yet this season. The team scores a moderate 65.5 points per game, but are downright stingy on defense where it allows just 57.1 p.p.g. to opponents on average. Tech has won three-straight games.

Rice, Jr. leads the Yellow Jackets in scoring at 14.1 points per game, to go along with his 7.0 rebounds per game. He is shooting a healthy 51.7 percent from the floor (45-87). Rice Jr. is also Tech’s top defender with 14 steals.

Mfon Udofia is the only other Tech player averaging in double digits scoring at 11.4r p.p.g. The Yellow Jackets have a quartet of other players averaging better than 8.0 or more points per contest, including Kammeon Holsey (9.4), Daniel Miller (9.2), Jason Morris (8.5) and Brandon Reed (8.0).

The Yellow Jackets are coming off of a 65-54 win over Alabama A & M on Monday.

 

The game will be available live on WPCH 96.5 FM in the Macon area. The pre-game show begins at 6:45 p.m. with Rick Cameron calling the action. The game can also be seen live via the internet on ESPN3.

 

GAME NOTES:

-This will be the 45^th meeting between Mercer and Georgia Tech.

-In its five losses, MU’s opponents have more than double the amount of free throws as the Bears (154-72). Foes have scored 106 points off charity tosses in those five setbacks, while MU booked 55 points.

-As a team, the Bears are averaging 5.3 blocked shots per game.