Bethune-Cookman @ Georgia Tech preview

Georgia Tech’s beginning of the season has been anything but smooth, from losing two starters to suspension to an eight-day road trip to China and a hard-fought loss to UCLA in the season opener. Now with a full week off after returning home, the Yellow Jackets host Bethune-Cookman on Sunday looking for a sense of normalcy while waiting for the return of Josh Okogie and Tadric Jackson – who combined to average 28.2 points and 7.6 rebounds last season.

Okogie, who scored a team-high 16.1 points as a freshman last season, will miss the next five games while Jackson will sit for the next two contests. That puts more of the offensive burden on center Ben Lammers, who enjoyed a breakout 2016-17 season – averaging 14.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and 3.4 blocks per game – and scored 24 points with 10 rebounds against UCLA. “Besides Ben, nobody has played a lot of college basketball,” Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner told reporters after the season opener, “so we’ll grow and get better.” The Wildcats opened the season with a victory over Johnson University but have lost by double digits to Texas Rio Grande Valley and North Texas.

TV: 2 p.m. ET, ACC Network

ABOUT BETHUNE-COOKMAN (1-2): Forward Shawntrez Davis has recorded double-doubles in two of his first three games, pulling down 14 rebounds against North Texas. Guard Brandon Tabb, a second-team All-MEAC selection last season, is averaging 18.3 points through three games while shooting 18-of-19 from the free-throw line. The Wildcats, who shot 38.4 percent from the field in a 90-78 loss to North Texas on Thursday, won just 10 games last season.

ABOUT GEORGIA TECH (0-1): The absence of Okogie and Jackson was apparent against UCLA, as guards Brandon Alston and Justin Moore combined to shoot 2-of-15 from the field. Freshman guard Jose Alvarado scored 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting and added seven rebounds, but only eight Yellow Jackets saw playing time in the opener. Lammers, who ranked third in the nation in blocks and fourth in the ACC in rebounding a season ago, shot 11-of-18 from the field in the loss to the Bruins.

TIP-INS

1. Georgia Tech’s starting forwards against UCLA – Moses Wright and Abdoulaye Gueye – finished with a combined two points on 0-of-9 shooting from the field.

2. Lammers has 17 double-doubles since the start of last season.

3. The Yellow Jackets were 17-0 last season when scoring 70 or more points.

PREDICTION: Georgia Tech 88, Bethune-Cookman 61