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Men's basketball routs Charleston Southern in season opener By David Williams Having Technical Problems ATLANTA November 20, 1998
 The Georgia Tech men's basketball team opened up their regular season in fine fashion crushing Charleston Southern 103-63. The game marked the 17th year in a row that coach Bobby Cremins opened the season with a win at home. This year's guinea pig, the Charleston Southern Buccaneers, were simply outmanned by the Yellow Jackets.
The Bucs are in a rebuilding mode after winning the 1997 Big South Conference (Division I) Championship and then finishing 5-22 in 1998. Thus, Tech can't begin to make flight plans for the Final Four just yet, but this was a good showing for the Yellow Jackets as they prepare for better teams.
Tech took control from the start making four threes in a row. Jason Floyd hit two jumpers from NBA range, T.J. Vines splashed one from the right corner, and Tony Akins capped the trey fest with a three of his own. After a timeout by CSU, Tech poured it on to take an 18-0 lead four minutes into the game. Senior guard Adam Larrick finally stopped the onrush for CSU with a three pointer at the 15:24 mark. The Jackets featured an uptempo offense passing the ball upcourt on the break which resulted in a lot of open looks. On defense, the team went man in an effort to pressure CSU and expose their weak ball handling. Tech did a good job, often forcing the CSU guards into a trap which resulted in 27 turnovers for the game by the Bucs. For the third straight game, Jason Floyd exploded showing his new found defensive skills along with some of his Tech's "best kept secret" offensive skills. In a span of three minutes Floyd had a dunk (oop from Akins), three steals, a lay-up, and a tip in. The game was out of control as Cremins and company took a 54-16 lead into the locker room. Leading scorers for the Jackets were Floyd (17) and Akins (13).
Going into the second half the only question left was would the Jackets relax like they did after being up by twenty on the California All-Stars a week ago. The answer was a resounding no as Floyd made two consecutive baskets, Jon Babul took a charge, and Floyd hit another three. The score was 83-35 with 9:36 left as the game looked more like an open practice rather than an actual contest. The bench got into the game with three minutes left and did a nice job as Paul Trotti sank a 16 footer, Winston Neal made a back-door lay-up, and Kevin Kincaid scored a free throw after attempting to dunk on a defender who maliciously fouled him. Jason Prentiss chalked up one assist to help produce the final score of 103-63.
Positive points for the squad were they shot the ball extremely well from the field going 34-57, 59%. They also shot 10-20 from three land. Floyd finished with 31 points on 13-17 shooting including 4-8 on the threes. Tony Akins had 20 points, 9 assists, and four turnovers connecting on three three pointers. Alvin Jones rounded out the major scoring with 18 points, 12 rebounds, and nine blocks (what a way to narrowly miss a triple double). Also, the team kept up the intensity after gaining the huge lead in the first half. The only real negative aspect of the game for the Jackets was free throw shooting as they finished up 25-52.
Jones and the team will take on the Citadel today at 7:30 P.M. in the Thrillerdome. The team knows that these warm-up squads are not a true test of their skills, but if they can bolster and maintain their confidence, Tech will be a strong team. It will take a few more games, but right now the Jackets are showing that with the addition of 7 footer Jason Collier, they will be headed to the NCAA's in March.
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Copyright © 1998 by Gregory S. Scherrer, Editor and by the Student Publications Board
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