Georgia Tech set for difficult road trip

The most inexperienced basketball team in the country is about to get a better idea of where it stands.

Georgia Tech, which started the season with a 4-1 homestand, now goes on the road to play three established programs. The trip begins at 7 p.m. on Tuesday with the Yellow Jackets’ first-ever visit to Penn State as part of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.

“In five games being the most inexperienced team in all of Power 5 teams, without the starting point guard that you thought was going to start from day one, to be sitting here like this, you’re proud of our young men,” Georgia Tech head coach Josh Pastner said. “We’ve got a good opportunity versus a really good Penn State team on Tuesday.”

Penn State (4-3) has won two straight, most recently a 74-68 road victory over George Washington. The Nittany Lions, 16-16 last season, return Shep Garner, who averages 14.3 points and is the team’s floor leader. Sophomore Tony Carr leads the team with 14.8 points, one of four double-figure scorers.

The Yellow Jackets won Saturday with Josh Okogie scoring 38 points, a program record for a freshman. He shattered the previous record of 35 points set by Mark Price in 1983 and Dion Glover in 1998. Okogie is only the fifth Yellow Jackets freshman to score 30 points, joining Price, Glover, Kenny Anderson and Thaddeus Young. All played in the NBA.

Okogie is averaging 19 points and has been in double figures in four of the first five games. He has scored 95 points in his first five games, the most by a Georgia Tech freshman to begin his career since Kenny Anderson scored 112 in his first five games in 1989-90.

Okogie seems to understand his own game better than many freshmen and plays at a high energy level.

“He didn’t take plays off,” Pastner said. “Look at his numbers as a freshman have been pretty darn good. He’s just going to continue to get better. The reason he scored offensively was because he was at his best defensively as he’s been all year long. It translated to him being really locked in offensively.”

Even more consistent has been center Ben Lammers, who has scored in double figures in each game and has three double-doubles. Lammers averages 17.6 points, 10.8 rebounds and an NCAA-best 5.6 blocks per game.

Senior point guard Josh Heath returned from his suspension against Tulane and had three points and five assists in 23 minutes.

Georgia Tech is 1-2 against Penn State. The most recent two meetings were in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, with the Yellow Jackets winning in 2006 and the Nittany Lions prevailing in 2008. Georgia Tech, which did not compete in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge last season, is 6-9 in the event and has won its past two games — beating Northwestern in 2014 and Illinois in 2013.

The Yellow Jackets will have road games at Tennessee on Saturday and at Virginia Commonwealth on Dec. 7. Their next home game is Dec. 18 against Alcorn State.

This story was originally published November 28, 2016 at 3:27 PM with the headline "Georgia Tech set for difficult road trip."