Preview: Georgia Tech vs. #6 Ohio State
Can Swatterdale repeat his numbers?
![]() #6 Ohio State 14-4, 28-7 Big Ten Roster | Schedule |
March 21, 2009 2:20 PM ET – CBS —— Bradley Center Milwaukee, WI |
![]() Georgia Tech 7-9, 23-12 ACC Roster | Schedule |
A week ago, we thought the Midwest Region was the Beast of the tournament, but after the first 3 days of play, it has become the region that has blown up brackets across the land.
Ohio State overcame a tough game from Evan Turner to take down UCSB 68-51 in the first round, while Georgia Tech took down Oklahoma St. 64-59. The Jackets slipped into the Dance by making a run in the ACC tourney, after they finished tied for 7th with a sub .500 record of 7-9 in the conference.
Georgia Tech has an RPI of 27 and have played the 10th toughest schedule. They are a little on the younger side, playing 4 freshmen and a sophomore amongst their top 8. They are 5-9 against the RPI top 50, but 4-3 against top 25 teams this year, including wins over Duke and Maryland.
| # | Name | PTS | REB | ASST | POS | # | Name | PTS | REB | ASST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | Evan Turner | 19.9 | 9.2 | 5.9 | G | 1 | Iman Shumpert | 10.1 | 3.4 | 4.0 |
| 33 | John Diebler | 13.1 | 2.9 | 1.5 | G | 41 | Glen Rice Jr. | 5.3 | 3.1 | 1.6 |
| 44 | William Buford | 14.5 | 5.6 | 3.1 | F | 31 | Gani Lawal | 13.1 | 8.6 | 0.4 |
| 23 | David Lighty | 12.6 | 4.6 | 2.9 | F | 13 | D’Andre Bell | 6.1 | 2.5 | 1.6 |
| 52 | Dallas Lauderdale | 6.7 | 5.2 | 0.2 | C | 14 | Derrick Favors | 12.5 | 8.5 | 1.1 |
Opponent
The Yellow Jackets lost 6 of their last 9 regular season games, but have won 4 of 5 since, giving up just 60.4 points per contest. G. Tech comes in scoring 73 points a game, on 46.1 shooting overall and 36.9 percent from deep. They do have a tendency to get sloppy, averaging 16.3 TO’s a game, but counter that by forcing 15 from their opponents. On the season, GT gave up 65.4 points a game and held teams to 38 percent shooting, which is good for 5th in the country.
Georgia Tech has some height across the front, lead by the 6′10″ freshman Derrick Favors and 6′9″ junior Lawai, who both average over 8 boards a contest. 6′8″ senior Zach Peacock will come off the bench, playing about 20 minutes, registering 8.6 points and 4 boards a game. Maurice Miller and Brian Oliver, both guards will also see over 15 minutes, combining for 11 points a game.
In their opening round game, the Jackets connected on 24 of 25 FT attempts, while Oklahoma State made 9 of 13. They only shot 10 threeballs in their 44 FG attempts, but allowed the Cowboys to shoot 50 percent from the field. They dominated the glass, 32-17 and were able to snag 10 offensive caroms, but only had 1 block.















