Longtime basketball rivals Georgia and Georgia Tech did not face each other during the recent Peach State Classic, but their paths will cross Friday night in Atlanta.
Georgia Tech will welcome the undefeated Bulldogs to campus, where events will include the Yellow Jackets retiring Dennis Scott’s jersey and number during halftime. Scott wore No. 4 for the Yellow Jackets in a career highlighted by his first-team All-America selection in 1990.
It also will be the 200th game between the in-state programs, with Georgia Tech leading the all-time series 107-92. Georgia won their most meeting, 76-62 last Dec. 5 in Athens, Ga.
The Peach State Classic — a multi-team event co-hosted by Georgia Tech and Georgia that also featured North Florida and Texas Southern — concluded earlier this week. Clemson transfer RJ Godfrey notched career highs of 21 points and 12 rebounds, and Georgia (3-0) had six double-digit scorers overall in a 90-77 win over North Florida on Tuesday.
Asa Newell, a 6-foot-11 freshman, leads the Georgia offense at 17.7 points per game. Five other Bulldogs are averaging double figures, including graduate transfer Dakota Leffew (17.0) who is shooting 50 percent (11 of 22) from 3-point range.
Georgia coach Mike White said Friday’s matchup will provide an important early road test for the Southeastern Conference team.
“That’s why we played at Charlotte (in an exhibition game),” White said. “Playing on the road will be one factor, but guarding (Georgia Tech’s) guards and blocking them out and sprinting back in transition and scoring against their different coverages that they show us will be the bigger factors on just the basketball side of it.”
Georgia Tech (2-1) will be playing its fourth of seven consecutive home games to start the season.
Coach Damon Stoudamire’s team rebounded from a 12-point loss to North Florida on Sunday to defeat Texas Southern 81-62 on Tuesday as Baye Ndongo (19 points, 11 rebounds) led five Yellow Jackets scoring in double figures.
“I’m looking forward to Friday. It will be a great day, great evening, be a packed gym,” Stoudamire said. “We’ll have Dennis’s ceremony, so I’m looking forward to it. I’m excited and I’m looking to see … we lose to North Florida, we win (Tuesday), can we respond on Friday? It’s an SEC team, it is a rivalry game and I’m interested, like I said, to see how we respond to that.”
