Struggling Southeastern Louisiana visits Georgia Tech
ATLANTA -- After enduring difficult back-to-back games, Georgia Tech could use a break. Thus, it is grateful that next up is Southeastern Louisiana.
The Lions are 2-9, 0-6 away from home, and have lost three straight games. They lost to Florida State by 17, Cincinnati by 15 and Nebraska by 27. This is as close to a homecoming game as you'll find on a schedule.
It comes at a great time, arriving on the heels of a 75-61 loss Saturday to rival Georgia in Athens. The Yellow Jackets (7-3) need to build some momentum for the start of the ACC season in January and hopes to begin with a win over Southeastern.
"We didn't play well (against Georgia) and I think they were a big reason that we didn't," head coach Brian Gregory said. "They were very good offensively and got us out of our rhythm on our offense, particularly in the second half."
Although the Georgia Tech bench outscored Georgia's 25-5, that number was inflated by the season-high 14 points produced by sophomore Tadric Jackson. The subs got extended minutes because Charles Mitchell and Marcus Georges-Hunt got in foul trouble.
"Having guys on the bench with foul troubles hurt us," Gregory said. "Our bench has been good throughout the year, but we didn't respond very well to that."
Southeastern Louisiana is in its second season under head coach Jay Ladner, who won a national junior college championship at Jones County, Mississippi in 2014. Southeastern was 9-23 in Ladner's first season.
The Lions are led by senior guard Zay Jackson, who averages 11.5 points and was named honorable mention to the All-Southland Conference team last year. Junior guard Keith Charleston averages 9 points and 6.2 rebounds.
The Lions are hardly an offensive juggernaut, averaging only 67.7 points while allowing 75.8.
They are coming off a 67-64 loss to Florida A&M when a last-second 3-pointer hit the rim and bounced away. Freshman Mo Greenwood, a 6-foot-7 forward, had his first career double-double with a career high 19 points and 11 rebounds.
Georgia Tech missed its share of shots against Georgia, too. The Yellow Jackets shot only 39.2 percent from the field, its second-worst game of the year. Mitchell, who had his streak of nine consecutive double-doubles broken, was 0-for-3 and failed to score a point for the first time at Georgia Tech. Georges-Hunt was 1-for-5. Adam Smith was 3-for-8 on 3s, but only 1-for-4 on 2-pointers.
"There were a lot of things we could have done better," Georges-Hunt said.
The Yellow Jackets have another game on Wednesday against Colgate and return on Dec. 29 to host Duquesne. The ACC season begins on Jan. 2 at North Carolina.
This story was originally published December 20, 2015 at 10:19 PM with the headline "Struggling Southeastern Louisiana visits Georgia Tech ."