THE FLATS – Looking forward to a week with a pair of home games, Georgia Tech returns to action at 7 p.m. Wednesday night, hosting Virginia Tech at McCamish Pavilion.
Georgia Tech (9-16, 2-13 ACC) was unable to put together back-to-back wins last week. After edging Notre Dame, 70-68, with a last-second basket Wednesday at home, the Yellow Jackets lost, 71-70, in the final seconds Saturday at Wake Forest. Though Tech has lost 10 of its last 11 games, its last four contests, including a 10-point loss at Louisville and an eight-point defeat at NC State, have been decided by a total of 21 points, and the Jackets held late leads in three of them.
Virginia Tech (15-9, 5-9 ACC) has bounced back from a 1-7 start in conference play to win four of its last six games, including home wins against Duke, Syracuse and Virginia. The fourth win was the Hokies’ first in a road game this season, a 93-87 decision Saturday at Notre Dame. In its 1-7 league start, Virginia Tech lost the seven games by an average of five points.
Wednesday’s game will be televised live on the ACC Network, with a live stream of the broadcast available on the ESPN app. Radio coverage is on the Georgia Tech Sports Network by Legends Sports and flagship station 680 the Fan (680 AM/93.7 FM), and on satellite radio (SiriusXM channel 371, SXM app 371).
THE TIP-OFF
- Six of Georgia Tech’s ACC games in February and March are on the road, including trips to NC State, Wake Forest, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Boston College, who are a combined 52-16 at home this season. The Yellow Jackets’ home games are against Notre Dame, Virginia Tech and Louisville, who are a combined 1-21 on the road this season.
- Georgia Tech is 2-5 against Virginia Tech at McCamish Pavilion, with four of the losses coming by five points or fewer.
- Tech is No. 3 in the ACC in three-point defense and is 37th nationally, allowing 30.8 percent from distance.
- Tech is No. 2 in the ACC in bench scoring, its reserves contributing 20 points per game this season. The bench has provided 30 or more points six times this season, and has outscored its opponents’ reserves in 14 of 25 games.
- Tech has used 11 different starting lineups this season, and no Yellow Jacket has started every game. Nine Jackets have started at least two games, and eight of them have started a minimum of nine times.
- Since Lance Terry returned from his hamstring injury (last three games), Tech has averaged 68 points per game, connected on 43.2 percent of its shots from the floor and 38.1 percent (24-of-63) of its three-point attempts. In the four games he missed, Tech averaged 53.8 points, hit 34.5 percent of its field goals and 25.2 percent of its threes.
- Center Ja’von Franklin has averaged 15.3 points and 10.2 rebounds across Tech’s last three games. He has hit 19-of-33 shots from the floor, 8-of-10 from the foul line, and recorded 10 assists, six blocks and four steals.
- Point guard Deivon Smith is one of 12 ACC players to have a 20-percent defensive rebound rate, according to KenPom. At 6-foot-1, Smith is the shortest of the 12 by six inches and is the only guard.
