Georgia Tech wins 91-75 in Exhibition Against Clark Atlanta
Basketball season is back in the Thriller Dome! Georgia Tech took on Clark Atlanta in an exhibition match to open up their season. In what was essentially a scrimmage, we saw several new players recruited by the new head coach, Damon Stoudamire. Of the 10 players that recorded minutes in the game, only 3 were returners: Miles Kelly, Deebo Coleman, and Kyle Sturdivant. Overall, the team showed significant promise to the future of this season, even with the 5 players on the court rotating so frequently.
The two standouts of the game were transfers Kowacie Reeves and Amaree Abram, who scored 19 and 18 points. Reeves, a four-star transfer from Florida, ended the night 8-11 from the field, 3-6 from the 3PT line, and 0-1 from the free throw line while also tallying 2 offensive rebounds, 6 defensive rebounds, and 4 assists. Ambram, the former four-star transfer from Ole Miss, shot 6-7 from the field, 4-4 from 3PT, and 2-2 from the free throw line along with 6 defensive rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal. The pair truly stole the show tonight, and it seemed as though they would score every time the ball left their hands.
Kowacie Reeves was Georgia Tech's top scorer with 19 points
True freshman forward, Ibrahima Sacko, showed why he was a top 3 recruit out of Canada as he put up a stat sheet of 9 points with 8 rebounds and 2 blocks in his 19 minutes on the court. He will undoubtedly be a key player for the Yellow Jackets during his next four years.
Another former four-star high school recruit and transfer from NC State, forward Ebenezer Dowuona came to Tech in his fourth year, and while he only put up 4 points in his 20 minutes, he also snagged 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocks. He and Sacko look to be the 2 main forwards on the team and will be filling the role of a center as we do not have a true center listed on the roster.
Overall, the team had great shooting, going 57.9% from the field and 45.7% from 3PT, but the 75.0% from the free throw line will need to be cleaned up. Another big issue was the turnovers and fouling. GT had 18 turnovers to Clark Atlanta's 8, and Tech had 28 personal fouls to Clark Atlanta's 16. Tech had 3 players foul out of the game and nearly a fourth, and these small errors can lead to silly points handed over to the other team in crucial situations.
Tech looked a bit sloppy in certain parts of their game, reflected in those turnovers, but also in the amount of points allowed off of offensive rebounds. Clark Atlanta was able to score 20 points off their offensive rebounds and 21 off turnovers to Tech's 6 points from ORs and 10 from TOs. The Yellow Jackets were able to hold Clark Atlanta to a 22% shooting average, but also allowed them to shoot 72 times compared to their 57. These are aspects of the team's game that will hopefully come with a couple more games of playing together as a team and getting into rhythm.
As we look to the beginning of the official regular season, it will be interesting to see how Damon Stoudamire adjusts his starting lineup the first few games and begins to build a team identity.
Georgia Tech men's basketball returns to McCamish Pavillion on November 6th at 7:30 PM to face Georgia Southern. It can be streamed on ACCNX or ESPN+.
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