Maybe it was the cold weather or the excitement about a football game being played just a few miles south of Alexander Memorial Coliseum, but there wasn’t much crowd energy to go around during Tech’s matchup with Vanderbilt. However the Jackets prevailed 63-51 in a game in which both teams played the type of sloppy basketball that’s indicative of an early-season, non-conference game. The Jackets shot 30 percent from the field in the first half and went through two stretches where they missed five shots in a row. For Tech, its concerted effort to stop Vandy’s star center A.J. Ogilvy worked to near perfection, as the team held him to 15 points (two points in the first half). Head coach Paul Hewitt commented that they planned to stop Ogilvy through double teaming him, however he felt the same was done to Gani Lawal and it caused him to be held to eight points, his lowest point output of the season. “I told him if they are not going to let you score, go out and get 20 rebounds, which he is more than capable of doing,” said Hewitt. Lawal ended with 12 rebounds.
Despite Tech’s poor first-half shooting, the Jackets held a 28-25 halftime lead in large part due to the play of freshman guard Iman Shumpert. Shumpert’s 14 first-half points came mostly through one-on-one drives to the basket and great movement without the ball. With Vandy focusing on interior defense, Shumpert was able to take advantage of his speed and ball-handling. The Yellow Jackets were also saved by Vanderbilt’s poor shooting. The Commodores shot just 29.6 percent from the field and had 10 turnovers.
The Jackets finally broke through on the interior in the second half, but it wasn’t Lawal leading the charge. Alade Aminu came alive with 12 of his 16 points coming after halftime. He also dominated on the defensive end with four blocks and four steals. “I wanted to prove myself,” said Aminu. “Coming in the second half, I knew we had to come out with a lot of energy.”
Along with Aminu’s efforts, Tech got a big lift from freshman walk-on Nick Foreman. While he only had three points, his effort in grabbing five rebounds and two steals allowed Tech to withstand several Commodore runs, including one in which they briefly took a 44-43 lead with 2:26 remaining. Tech went on a 20-7 run to finish the game.
In a game where the energy level was not high initially and the fans’ attention may have been elsewhere, Tech hustled its way to an important RPI-lifting win. The Jackets will need it going into ACC play next month. “It was a grind, it was grinding, it wasn’t the prettiest win,” said Lawal. “We’ve got to learn how to win games like this. Hit the boards, give a couple guys some concussions.”
Crosskey can be reached at jcrosskey@scoreatl.com.
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