Basketball teams play on the road
By Jon Drews / Student Publications
Tech defends against Carson Newman in a preseason game. The Jackets have played most of their games on the road to start the season.
By Akshay Amaraneni and
Matt Hoffman
Staff Writer and Contributing Writer
Eric Gordon continued the great start to his college career when the Jackets visited Assembly Hall at Indiana University on Tuesday night for the 2007 Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The game was characterized by highs and lows for both teams. Tech got off to a flying start and then lulled the last 10 minutes of the first half and repeated the trends in the second half. The Jackets built a 26-18 lead in the first half before stalling and losing 83-79. Indiana attempted 38 free throws to the Jackets' 20.
Last week, the team took home third place at the Paradise Jam tournament thanks in part to Matt Causey's last second shot against Notre Dame. The early season has been very inconsistent for the Jackets who have yet to win three straight games this season. The Jackets looked very inconsistent during the tournament and were not able to play solid defense until the last 10 minutes of every game.
Winthrop posed a much greater threat for the Jackets the following night. In Tech's second tournament game, they looked more like the team that lost to Greensboro at home than the team in either of their wins. The second half, however, was a different story. The Jackets increased their lead to 10 points in the second half before Winthrop went on a 12-0 while the Jackets got off just three shots in that time.
The third place game pitted Tech against Notre Dame. Tech played their most complete game of the season against the Irish to that point. Notre Dame held a lead after the 17 minute mark in the first half and took that lead all the way to half time, but was unable to sustain it as Tech won 70-69. The Jackets travel to Vanderbilt this Saturday to try to pad their NCAA tournament resume on the road at 1 p.m.
Tech's Women's Basketball team continued its winning ways going to 5-0. The Jackets picked up wins against Temple, a tournament team from last year, Northwester and an Iowa team that was 4-1 coming into their match up against Tech.
In the game against Temple, Tech's impressive 17 point scoring drive led by senior guard Chioma Nnamaka helped Tech take a four point lead into the half. In the second half Tech's strong perimeter defense held the Owls to only two of 12 attempted three point shots. Guard Janie Mitchell led the team with 20 points in their 59-49 win.
In the Jackets next game against Northwestern, the 22 points by Nnamaka and nine rebounds each by Mitchell and freshman forward Alex Montgomery clinched the 55-46 win.
In Tech's ACC/Big Ten Challenge match up against Iowa, the Jackets only trailed for a total of 19 seconds in the first half, but went into the locker-room with only a three point lead.
Tech was able to improve on their first half to beat Iowa 76-57 for their second road win. The Jackets next play at Athens when they play No. 8 Georgia. A win against Georgia would most likely propel Tech into the top 25.
