Three Biggest Takeaways From Georgia Tech's 95-83 Win Over Georgia Southern

Make it 2-0 so far for the Scott Cross era at Georgia Tech.

Tonight was far from a pretty performance, but the Yellow Jackets got the win at home vs. Georgia Southern. While Georgia Tech never trailed in this game vs. the Eagles, they were never ahead by enough to be comfortable. Georgia Southern continued to battle back in this game whenever the Yellow Jackets would get the lead to double digits, but then the Yellow Jackets would nail a big shot and prevent the game from being in any real danger.

So what are the big takeaways from tonight's game?

1. Nasir Whitlock led the way

One of the biggest questions around this Georgia Tech team was the backcourt and the three-point shooting. They were able to have positive nights in both of those areas and Lehigh transfer Nasir Whitlock was the top player on the floor tonight for either team.

Whitlock managed to score 29 points in this game, with most of the damage coming at the foul line. Whitlock finished 13-for-14 from the line and shot 6-for-11 from the field, as well as 4-for-7 from three. He also had seven rebounds and six assists.

Fellow transfer Colby Garland has gotten more of the headlines leading into the seaosn, but it was Whitlock who was the star tonight. If Georgia Tech can get consistent production from him (I know he's not scoring 29 eveyr game), that raises the ceiling of this team.

2. Free throw line won the game

Georgia Southern got 24 more shots than Georgia Tech, won the rebounding battle by 11(Georgia Southern had 24 offensive rebounds to Georgia Tech's 9), and the Yellow Jackets lost the turnover battle by three.

But they won the game by 12 points and the free throw advantage is a big reason why.

There were a lot of calls in this game, evidenced by Georgia Tech shooting 47 free throws and the Eagles shooting 32. The difference was that the Yellow Jackets shot 36-for-47 (77%) while Georgia Southern was 17-for-32 (53%) from the line.

Georgia Tech teams in the past have not been able to shoot well from the free throw line, so this was a welcome development.

3. Three-point shooting was better

This is a big area of concern for Georgia Tech this season, but they did a good job tonight of knocking down shots, even if a third of them came from one player.

The Yellow Jackets were 9-for-18 from three tonight against the Eagles and Kam Craft was 3-for-5 from deep while Whitlock hit four himself. Garland is certainly capable of better shooting nights, but the rest of the roster is not dependable when it comes to three point shooting. Georgia Tech has to take advantage of good shooting nights like this and they did that tonight.

Up next for Georgia Tech is a home game against Eastern Kentucky on Tuesday. The game will tipoff at 7:00 p.m. ET at McCamish Pavilion.

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