DATE: November 11, 2011
GAMU TIME: 8:00 PM ET
TV: ESPN3.COM
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Atlanta, Georgia -- Georgia Tech will open its 2011-12 season and play its first game under new head coach Brian Gregory at 8 p.m. Friday night against Florida A&M at the Arena at Gwinnett. The game is the nightcap of a double-header involving the Yellow Jackets' women's team, which will open its season at 5:30 against Alabama State.
Tech hired Gregory, who enjoyed a successful eight-year run as the head coach at Dayton, as its head coach last March. The new Yellow Jackets' skipper compiled a record of 172-94 at the Atlantic 10 institution, guiding the Flyers to two NCAA Tournaments and three berths in the NIT, which they won in 2010.
Gregory inherits two returning starters and nine letterwinners from a team that went 13-18 overall, 5-11 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, a year ago. Two of the three leading scorers from last season are gone - Iman Shumpert going in the NBA Draft, where he was the 17th overall selection, and Brian Oliver, who transferred to Seton Hall.
Tech's returning players, however, have combined to start 120 games in their careers. Back are juniors Glen Rice, Jr., a 6-5 forward from Marietta, Ga., and Mfon Udofia, a 6-2 point guard from Stone Mountain, Ga., sophomore forwards Jason Morris (6-5, Augusta, Ga.) and Kammeon Holsey (6-8, Sparta, Ga.), and sophomore centers Daniel Miller (6-11, Loganville, Ga.) and Nate Hicks (6-10, Panama City Beach, Fla.), who combined to score 51 percent of Tech's points in 2011-12.
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Johnson tweaking lineup as Florida A&M Rattlers open season
Tallahassee, Florida -- An exhibition basketball game can reveal so much, as Florida A&M's first-year coach Clemon Johnson found out.
Among his discoveries were that Avery Moore is a shooting guard, not the one to run the point. Johnson also said the Rattlers might have done better against Albany State if Amin Stevens was playing power forward instead of small forward.
"I was trying to put our best players on the floor, but I had to put people in positions that they weren't ready to play," said Johnson, whose return to FAMU as head coach of its men's team was ruined by a four-point loss to the Rams last week. "They looked good in practice against each other but when the game came it was different."
Johnson is hoping that he'll be much closer to finding the right combination of players when FAMU plays a stretch of four games against major and mid-major programs during the next 10 days. They begin today at Georgia Tech, then a visit by Stetson to the Lawson Center will be followed by games against Providence and Rice.
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