Georgia Tech Draws Utah for Fort Myers Tip-Off

THE FLATS – Georgia Tech and Utah will square off in one semifinal game, while Marquette will battle Mississippi State in the Beach Division of the Rocket Mortgage Fort Myers Tip-Off, an early season men’s basketball event that will take place Nov. 21-23, 2022 in Fort Myers, Fla.

The two games will take place on Monday, Nov. 21, with Tech and Utah meeting at 6 p.m., and the other semifinal tipping at 8:30 p.m. On Wednesday, Nov. 23, the winners of the two games will meet in the championship game of the Beach Division at 8:30 p.m., while the losers will play for third place at 6 p.m. All four games will be televised nationally on FS1.

The Tip-Off is an eight-team event with two four-team divisions, each division functioning as a four-team tournament with no crossover. In the Palms Division on Tuesday, Nov. 22, semifinal games pit Northern Illinois against Sam Houston State (noon) and Long Island University against South Dakota on Tuesday (2:30 p.m.).

All games in the Fort Myers Tip-Off will be played at Suncoast Credit Union Arena, a 3,500-seat arena on the campus Florida SouthWestern State College in Fort Myers, Fla.

Additionally, each team in the Fort Myers Tip-Off will play a team from the other division in an on-campus game prior to the main event. Georgia Tech will host Northern Illinois on Thursday, Nov. 17, at McCamish Pavilion, tip time to be announced at a later time. (See the complete schedule of games below.)

“We’re excited to participate in the Tip-Off and look forward to being in Fort Myers the week of Thanksgiving,” said Tech head coach Josh Pastner, entering his seventh season as head coach. “With Utah, Marquette and Mississippi State in our division, we know we’ll be facing high-level opponents. The event will be one of the highlights of our early-season schedule and an important test for our team.”

The Yellow Jackets will be meeting the Huskies and the Utes for the first time. Tech has a 3-4 all-time record against Marquette, last facing the Warriors in the 2014 Orlando Invitational, and a 16-13 mark against Mississippi State, last facing the Bulldogs in 1975. The four programs of the 2022 Beach Division have combined for 90 NCAA Tournament appearances. Georgia Tech and seventh-year head coach Josh Pastner won the ACC Championship in 2021, while Marquette played in last year’s NCAA Tournament and Mississippi State received an NIT bid.

At this time, the only way to guarantee tickets for the main tournament in Fort Myers is by purchasing an official fan travel package. Travel packages for the 2022 Tournament will go on sale this spring, but fans can immediately register to receive information and email alerts from the Tournament regarding travel package availability. Details and registration information can be found at www.fortmyerstipoff.com/travel. Ticket-only packages, based on availability, will go on sale this fall.

Information on season tickets for the 2022-23 Georgia Tech season is available here. The Atlantic Coast Conference will announce the conference schedules for its teams, complete with dates, times and TV, in late summer. The Yellow Jackets’ non-conference schedule potentially includes three NCAA Tournament teams from 2022 – Georgia State (date TBA), Iowa (Nov. 29) and Marquette (if teams meet Nov. 23).

The Yellow Jackets return eight letterwinners for head coach Josh Pastner’s seventh season on The Flats, including senior point guard Kyle Sturdivant (Norcross, Ga.) and senior center Rodney Howard (Ypsilanti, Mich.) who are Tech’s top two returning scorers. The Jackets’ core includes a trio of rising sophomores in Dallan “Deebo” Coleman (Memphis, Tenn.), Miles Kelly (Stone Mountain, Ga.) and Jalon Moore (Birmingham, Ala.) and junior point guard Deivon Smith (Loganville, Ga.).

ABOUT THE ROCKET MORTGAGE FORT MYERS TIP-OFF

Launched in 2018, the Rocket Mortgage Fort Myers Tip-Off brings the nation’s top college basketball programs together for three days of incredible competition to see which team and their fans will #OwnTheFort during Thanksgiving Week. Contested at Suncoast Credit Union Arena, the home of Florida SouthWestern State College, the tournament has quickly become a staple of the Southwest Florida sports calendar. For more information on the Rocket Mortgage Fort Myers Tip-Off, please visit www.fortmyerstipoff.com.

Additionally, each Beach Division team will host one Palms Division squad prior to all programs taking part in their respective four-team brackets in Southwest Florida during Thanksgiving Week. The following are the games to be played on campus (all scheduled for Nov. 17):

• LIU at Marquette
• Northern Illinois at Georgia Tech
• Sam Houston at Utah
• South Dakota at Mississippi State

Alexander-Tharpe Fund

The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Georgia Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of developing Georgia Tech’s Everyday Champions and helping the Yellow Jackets compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes. To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.   

ABOUT GEORGIA TECH MEN’S BASKETBALL

Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team won the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship in 2021 after finishing fourth in the regular season. Tech has been a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference since 1979, winning four ACC Championships (1985, 1990, 1993, 2021), playing in the NCAA Tournament 17 times and playing 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. For more information on Tech basketball, visit Ramblinwreck.com.