December 29, 2020

Georgia Tech Resumes ACC Play vs. North Carolina

THE FLATS – Looking for its third straight win, Georgia Tech resumes Atlantic Coast Conference play against North Carolina with an 8 p.m. tip Wednesday night at McCamish Pavilion. It is the first of two straight conference games at home for the Yellow Jackets.

The Yellow Jackets (4-3, 0-1 ACC) have won four of their last five games following an 0-2 start, including a pair of homecourt wins over Florida A&M (74-64) and Delaware State (97-69) the weekend before Christmas. The Yellow Jackets also knocked off No. 20 Kentucky (79-62) at State Farm Arena and Nebraska (75-64) on the road before dropping its Atlantic Coast Conference opener Dec. 15 at No. 15 Florida State (74-61).

The Tar Heels (5-3, 0-1 ACC), in their 18th season under head coach Roy Williams, have lost three of their last five games after a 3-0 start, including a 79-76 defeat at NC State last time out in their ACC opener on Dec. 22. North Carolina’s other two defeats came to Texas in the championship game of the Maui Invitational and at Iowa in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Wednesday’s game will be televised nationally on the ACC’s Regional Sports Network (Fox Sports South in Georgia) and will be streamed live on the ESPN app. Radio coverage is provided by the Georgia Tech Sports Network by Learfield IMG College, with flagship station WCNN-Radio (680 AM, 93.7 FM) in Atlanta. The Tech broadcast can be heard on SiriusXM Ch. 371 (internet Ch. 371) and the TuneIn app.

Moses Wright (5) remains the scoring leader in the ACC at 19.6 points per game. (photo by Danny Karnik)

THE TIPOFF

Extended holiday – Tech is playing its first game in 10 days, a holiday break made longer by the cancellation of its game at UAB on Dec. 23.
Making their points – Tech ranks third in the ACC in scoring average (82.71 points per game), much of that a product of its 123-120, four-overtime loss to Georgia State. However, the Jackets scored 77 in regulation of that game, and have scored more than 70 points in six games this season, including 97 in their last game against Delaware State.
Balance – All five Tech starters are averaging in double figure points for the season.
Top of the heap – The three highest scoring games by individuals in the ACC this season belong to Georgia Tech players – Moses Wright (31 points) vs. Georgia State and Jose Alvarado (29 points each vs. Georgia State and Delaware State).
Small ball – Tech moved 6-9 senior Moses Wright, who has played the “4” position most of his career, into the “5” spot and started 5-10 senior Bubba Parham against Kentucky. The re-alignment has worked as the Jackets have shot 48.6 percent from the floor, hit 7.8 three-point field goals per game (35.9 percent), turned the ball over just 46 times and forced 79 in its last five games. Tech also has assisted on 62.5 percent of its field goals in that stretch.
Ball security – Six of Tech’s top seven scorers have positive assist/turnover ratios. The seventh, Michael Devoe, is even (24/24) for the season but is 18/14 over the past five games. The Jackets rank second in the ACC and No. 38 nationally in assist/turnover ratio (1.39),
Minutemen – Tech has three of the top 13 players in the ACC in average minutes played (Jose Alvarado, Moses Wright, Michael Devoe), while Bubba Parham lurks just outside the top 15.
Wildcattin’ – Tech and North Carolina have one common opponent this season – Kentucky. The Yellow Jackets downed the Wildcats, 79-62, on Dec. 6 at State Farm Arena, while the Tar Heels beat beat Kentucky, 75-63, on Dec. 19 in Cleveland.
COVID update – Due to COVID-19, the NCAA pushed back the start of the 2020-21 season to Nov. 25, two weeks later than normal. Division I teams are allowed to play a maximum of 27 games. The ACC will play a 20-game schedule for the second straight year, and teams were allowed a maximum of seven non-conference games. Tech played six non-conference games, and had its first game cancelled Dec. 23 when its game at UAB was called off due to positive tests within the Blazers’ program. The game will not be made up.
Dean x 7 – Tech has placed seven members of its team on the fall semester Dean’s List, a high for one semester for the program – seniors Jose Alvarado, Shaheed Medlock and Malachi Rice, and sophomores Niko Broadway, Rodney Howard, Jehloni James and Kyle Sturdivant.

Moses Wright speaks with the media on Tuesday afternoon.

SERIES VS. NORTH CAROLINA

North Carolina has a 69-25 lead in the all-time series between the two teams, and a 55-23 advantage since Tech joined the ACC.
The Tar Heels have won nine of the last 11 games in the series, but Tech captured a 96-83 victory at the Dean Smith Center in the teams’ only regular-season meeting of the 2019-20 season.
Tech’s only other win in that stretch occurred on New Year’s Eve of 2016, opening its ACC schedule with a 75-63 homecourt upset of the Tar Heels, who would go on to win the national championship. It was the Jackets’ first win in the series since a 78-58 win in Atlanta on Jan. 16, 2011. (That win vacated by the NCAA Committee on Infractions.)
Before that, Tech had won four games in a row for its longest winning streak in the series. Tech is 12-13 against North Carolina dating back to the 2001-02 season.
The teams have played 40 times in the city of Atlanta, including five at McCamish Pavilion. The teams met 23 times at Alexander Memorial Coliseum, where the Tar Heels won 12 of 23. Tech won six of the last seven meetings in the Thrillerdome, however, and won six of eight against UNC in the Coliseum under Paul Hewitt.
Between 1982 and 1996, the Yellow Jackets played eight of their home games with the Tar Heels at the old Omni arena in downtown Atlanta (2-6 record). Counting ACC and SIC Tournament games played in the city, Tech is 15-25 vs. North Carolina in Atlanta.
In ACC Tournament play, the Yellow Jackets have won five of nine meetings, and Tech has won the last three encounters (2004, 2005, 2010). Two of Tech’s five tournament wins occurred in championship games, the 1985 final in Atlanta and the 1993 final in Charlotte.
Tech’s greatest success in its series with North Carolina occurred during the middle 1990s when the Jackets won five of seven meetings, including three straight wins over No. 1-ranked Tar Heel teams during the 1993 and 1994 campaigns.

Head coach Josh Pastner's Tuesday media session

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 A-T Fund’s Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes, and Athletics Initiative 2020, Georgia Tech athletics’ ongoing $125 million initiative to allow Tech to recruit the nation’s most elite student-athletes, build a better student-athlete once they arrive on The Flats and, ultimately, win! To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.

ABOUT GEORGIA TECH MEN’S BASKETBALL

Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team is in its fifth season under head coach Josh Pastner, having finished fifth in the ACC in 2019-20, the program’s highest finish since 2005. 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. For more information on Tech basketball, visit Ramblinwreck.com.