Feb. 20, 2017
THE FLATS – Georgia Tech plays its second game in three days Tuesday night, hosting NC State in a regionally-televised Atlantic Coast Conference game at 8 p.m. at McCamish Pavilion.
Complete Game Notes | Where to watch | Watch live online
Tech (16-11, 7-7 ACC), which has defied pre-season projections in its first season under head coach Josh Pastner, has dropped three of its last five ACC games, but won its last game against Syracuse, 71-65, Sunday night at home. The Yellow Jackets, 14-3 at home this season, including three wins over top-15 teams, entered this week’s games tied for ninth place in the ACC standings with Virginia Tech.
NC State (14-14, 3-12) comes to Atlanta having lost its last seven games since knocking off Duke on Jan. 23 at Cameron Indoor Stadium, including an 81-72 defeat to no. 25 Notre Dame at home Saturday. The Wolfpack, 1-7 on the road this season, dropped an 86-76 decision to Tech on Jan. 15 in Raleigh in the teams’ first meeting.
Tuesday’s game will be televised on the ACC Network (Peachtree TV in Atlanta) and will be streamed live online on the ACC Network Extra. Radio coverage is provided by Tech’s flagship station, 680 the Fan (680 AM/93.7 FM), and is available via satellite radio (Sirius ch. 132, XM ch. 194).
THE STARTING LINEUP
• Georgia Tech has won six consecutive home games, its longest homecourt winning streak since the Yellow Jackets won eight in a row during the 2009-10 season.
• Tech also has won five straight ACC games at home, its longest streak since the 2009-10 Jackets won six straight. The last time Tech won seven home ACC games in a row at home spanned two seasons from Feb. 20, 2002 to Feb. 9, 2003.
• Tech is 14-3 at McCamish Pavilion this season, the sixth Yellow Jacket team to win 14 or more home games in one season (14-0 in 1962-63, 14-2 in 1994-95, 16-1 in 2006-07, 14-2 in 2009-10 and 14-5 in 2015-16). The Jackets have two more home games left, and the program record for home wins is 16.
• Tech is .500 in the ACC through 14 games for the first time since the 2009-10 season. That team finished 7-9. The last Tech team to finish .500 in the ACC was the 2006-07 unit (8-8).
• Tech has the ninth most efficient defense in the country according to KenPom.com, giving up 91.8 points per 100 possessions. The Yellow Jackets rank No. 1 in the ACC in field goal percentage defense (40.3 pct.) vs. ACC teams, No. 2 vs. all teams (39.4 pct.), and ranks third in scoring defense (68.9 ppg). Nationally, Tech ranks 15th in field goal percentage defense and 51st in scoring defense against all opponents.
• Ben Lammers’ +11.4 per game scoring average increase over the 2015-16 season is the third-best in the ACC, behind John Collins of Wake Forest and Matt Farrell of Notre Dame. But Tadric Jackson (+6.9) and Quinton Stephens (+4.9) and also have posted significant increases over last season. Josh Heath (+3.0) has more than doubled his 2015-16 average.
• Three keys for Tech – The Jackets are 16-1 this season when they shoot a better percentage from the floor than their opponent, are 13-0 when scoring 70 points and 15-2 when attempting more free throws than the opponent.
• Georgia Tech is 3-3 against teams in the top 25 of CBSSports.com’s RPI rankings as of Monday, 4-7 vs. top 50.
• In the first half of its ACC schedule, Georgia Tech faced, in order, teams ranked No. 9, 8, 9, 16, 6 and 14. The Jackets have one remaining opponent currently ranked in the top 25 (Notre Dame again).
• Georgia Tech has defeated three top-25 teams this season (No. 9 North Carolina, No. 6 Clemson, No. 14 Notre Dame), the most in one season for the program since the Yellow Jackets went 4-3 vs. top-25 teams in 2003-04. Tech has beaten as many as three top-25 teams in one season six times prior to this season.
• Tech has beaten two top-10 teams this season – No. 9 North Carolina and No. 6 Florida State – the first time the Yellow Jackets have beaten multiple top-10 teams in the same season since 2004-05 (No. 5 Wake Forest in the regular season and No. 2 North Carolina in the ACC Tournament). It is the first time since 2003-04 that the Jackets have beaten multiple top-10 teams in the regular season (No. 1 Connecticut, No. 10 Wake Forest, No. 3 Duke). It is the 18th time in program history that Tech has defeated multiple top-10 teams in the same season.
COACH PASTNER AUDIO FROM MONDAY
SERIES NOTES VS. NC STATE
• NC State has a 56-39 lead in the overall series which dates back to 1925. Georgia Tech snapped a five-game skid in the series with last year’s 90-83 victory at PNC Arena and won again on the Wolfpack’s home floor on Jan. 15 of this season, 86-76. Prior to that five-game skid, Tech had won six of nine meetings.
• Owing to the ACC’s most recent expansion, this is the first time Tech and NC State are meeting twice in the regular season in four years.
• Eighteen of the last 22 meetings in the series have been decided by 10 points or less, with three of those decided in overtime.
• Tech is 22-17 against the Wolfpack in Atlanta, including one home-court meeting that was played at the Omni in 1986 and one at Philips Arena in 2012. NC State has won both games played at McCamish Pavilion.
• Since it joined the ACC, Tech is 31-42 against NC State, including regular-season and tournament.
PASTNER ON BEING .500 IN THE ACC
“Seven ACC wins, sitting here on February 19. Sixteen wins overall. From where my bosses, coaches in the league, national media members, [local] media members told me what was going to happen this year, to be where we are right now is nothing short of amazing. It’s a modern miracle. God bless our young men. It’s a credit to our young men. It’s not me, it is our players and what they have done. They have bonded. It’s all about team and that’s a credit to them. You don’t take those things for granted. [It’s] really, really special to be in the position that we’re in right now and that’s strictly because of our young men, those players.”
TEAM TRENDS
• Georgia Tech has started Josh Heath, Corey Heyward, Ben Lammers, Josh Okogie and Quinton Stephens for the last eight games and nine times this season. Three Yellow Jackets – Lammers, Okogie and Stephens – have started every game this season.
• Tech has played its last four games without backup forward Abdoulaye Gueye (fractured wrist).
• Tech has won six consecutive home games to improve to 14-3 at McCamish Pavilion this season, becoming the sixth Yellow Jacket team to win 14 or more home games in one season (14-0 in 1962-63, 14-2 in 1994-95, 16-1 in 2006-07, 14-2 in 2009-10 and 14-5 in 2015-16). The Jackets have two more home games left, and the program record for home wins is 16.
• Tech is .500 in the ACC through 14 games for the first time since the 2009-10 season. That team finished 7-9. The last Tech team to finish .500 in the ACC was the 2006-07 unit (8-8).
• Tech trailed at the half against Syracuse (32-29) for the third straight game and for the 12th time this season. The Yellow Jackets improved to 3-9 this season when trailing at the half.
• Tech improved to 15-0 this season when leading at the 5-minute mark of the season half.
• Tech had a 40-22 advantage on points in the paint against the Orange; the Yellow Jackets have come out on top in that category in each of the last three games.
• Tech reached its magic number for points (70), and remained undefeated this season (13-0) when doing so. Tech also improved to 16-1 when it shoots a higher percentage than its opponent from the floor.
• Tech shot 47.3 percent from the floor (60 percent in the second half). The Yellow Jackets have exceeded 45 percent seven times in ACC play.
• Tech held Syracuse to 65 points, 11.4 under its average in ACC games, and to 35.7 percent shooting from the floor, nearly 11 percentage points under the Orange’s season clip of 46.4 percent and its lowest rate of the ACC season. The Yellow Jackets have allowed its ACC opponents 40.3 percent (1st in the conference) and 39.4 percent overall (tied for 1st).
• Tech turned the ball over 15 times to Syracuse’s 13, but took better advantage of the Orange’s miscues, scoring 17 points to Syracuse’s 11 off turnovers.
• Tech also scored 20 points in transition (to Syracuse’s five), the most fast-break points scored by the Yellow Jackets this season against a Division I team (28 vs. Tusculum) and the biggest margin.
• Pastner meter 1 (assists to made field goals): Tech had 19 assists on 26 made field goals (73.1 pct.) vs. Syracuse – 60 percent goal accomplished. Tech is at 63.99 percent for the season, which ranks 8th in the nation, and 67.7 percent in ACC games.
• Pastner meter 2 (free throws made to opponents’ attempts): Tech made 15 of 22 free throws to Syracuse’s 7 of 12 (goal of making more than opponent tries accomplished). The Yellow Jackets maintain a 71.7-percent clip from the foul line in ACC games, 68.9 percent in all games.
• Pastner meter 3 (guard rebounding): Tech’s guards combined for 14 of Tech’s 25 defensive rebounds.
PLAYER UPDATES
• Ben Lammers had 10 points by halftime and finished with 23, his 24th double-digit scoring game in 27 this season. It was his fourth 20-plus game against an ACC team this season, fifth overall. He went 11-of-18 from the floor, adding two assists and three steals in 40 minutes.
• Josh Okogie scored 13 points, his 22nd double-digit game out of 27 games overall this season and his 13th in 14 ACC games. He had nine of his points by halftime. He went 3-of-9 from the floor, 6-of-8 from the foul line, with two assists in 38 minutes.
• Lammers blocked seven more shots, four of them by halftime. It was the second most blocks against an ACC foe in Tech’s history, behind the eight he made at NC State on Jan. 15 and Alvin Jones had against Maryland in 2001. He improved his season average to 3.41, which ranks No. 2 nationally and leads the ACC. He has averaged 3.07 in ACC games.
• Lammers’ 92 blocked shots for the season are the fourth most in Tech history and the most by any player not named Alvin Jones, who holds the top three positions (141 in 1997-98, 107 in 1998-99, 101 in 2000-01).
• Tadric Jackson scored 20 points to post his fifth double-digit game in Tech’s last seven games, and his third game of 20 or more points in that stretch (25 vs. Notre Dame. 29 vs. Boston College). He is averaging 15.3 points and 2.5 assists over that stretch and has hit 50.6 percent (43 of 85) of his shots from the floor, 9 of 23 from three.
• Quinton Stephens had a career-high eight assists, easily surpassing his previous high of five set at NC State earlier this year (Jan. 15). He finished the game with seven points, six rebounds and two steals in 40 minutes.
• Lammers and Stephens each played the full 40 minutes for the third time this season, becoming the first Tech players to do that three times in one season since Matt Harpring did it five times during the 1996-97 season.
• Josh Heath dished five more assists (with just two turnovers, seven points and six rebounds in 38 minutes) and is averaging 5.21 in ACC games (fourth-best in the ACC). He also hit 3 of 4 free throws in the final 30 seconds to seal the game for Tech.
• Corey Heyward, who started his eighth straight game, played 13 more turnover-free minutes against Miami. In his eight starts, he has committed just two turnovers in 167 minutes. He has played 17 turnover-free games this season.
ABOUT GEORGIA TECH MEN’S BASKETBALL
Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team is in its first year under head coach Josh Pastner. Tech has been a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference since 1979, won three ACC Championships (1985, 1990, 1993), played in the NCAA Tournament 16 times and played in two Final Fours (1990, 2004). Connect with Georgia Tech Men’s Basketball on social media by liking their Facebook Page, or following on Twitter (@GTMBB) and Instagram.
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