With the disappointing season from the football team in 2015, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets' hoops were there to support us in the team's first game as they dropped the Cornell Big Red 116-81 on Friday night at McCamish Pavilion.
From the opening tip, Tech's offense looked much more smooth and prolific than we've seen from any Brian Gregory team in Atlanta.
Transfer Adam Smith made a quick impact as he dropped two three-pointers within a few minutes on the floor. His rhythmic shooting stroke off the catch or off the dribble is something the Jackets lacked last season when they were one of the worst perimeter shooting teams in the nation. He finished the game with 13 points and five assists on 3-6 shooting from the outside.
Charles Mitchell had a monster game with an incredibly efficient shooting as he was 10-11 from the field and added 11 rebounds. The other expected star of the team, senior wing Marcus Georges-Hunt had 17 points with a perfect 7-7 from the free throw line.
Transfers Nick Jacobs and James White also had impressive opening games with the Jackets. Jacobs got the start and finished with 12 points and five rebounds on 6-9 shooting. White had Tech's other double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds on 6-7 shooting. He also had a couple of monster dunks that got the crowd on their feet.
Tech's 116 points were the most for the program since 1991 and the sixth most in the history of the program.
While Cornell is very inexperienced, it's still a school that consistently brings in talent and has been to the NCAA Tournament multiple times in the last decade.
Take the offensive production with a grain of salt because it's the first game of the season against a team that's a bit of an unknown in terms of ability this season. But the offensive movement was very encouraging to go along with a bunch of shooting strokes that appeared to be much more confident than we saw last season.
With an experienced team that may be finally grasping the system that Brian Gregory is trying to implement, the Yellow Jackets could be in for a better year than some are expecting.
Georgia Tech Box Score
# Player PTS FG 3FG FT REB A PF
00* MITCHELL 21 10-11 0-0 1-2 11 1 0
02* SMITH 13 4-11 3-6 2-4 3 5 1
03* HUNT 17 5-11 0-4 7-7 4 2 1
11* HEATH 4 2-4 0-0 0-0 2 7 3
32* JACOBS 12 6-9 0-0 0-0 5 1 3
01 JACKSON 11 4-6 2-3 1-5 1 2 3
05 HEYWARD 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
10 JORGEN. 5 2-6 1-4 0-0 0 5 3
12 STEPHENS 13 5-10 2-6 1-2 7 4 0
33 WHITE 14 6-7 0-0 2-3 11 1 3
42 ROWLAND 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
44 LAMMERS 6 3-3 0-0 0-0 2 2 2
TM TEAM - - - - 2 0
TOTALS 116 47-78 8-23 14-23 48 30 19
GAME PCT 60.3 34.8 60.9