Men's Basketball Takes on Florida State in ACC Tournament

GEORGIA TECH (14-17, 6-14 ACC) vs. FLORIDA STATE (9-22, 7-13 ACC)

• Tuesday, March 7, 2023 | 2 p.m. ET | Greensboro, N.C. | Greensboro Coliseum
• Television:  ACC Network
• Play-by-Play:  Dave O’Brien  |  Analyst: Cory Alexander
• Radio:  Georgia Tech Sports Network by Legends Sports (680 AM/93.7 FM in Atlanta) | SiriusXM channel 371 | Listen Online | Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets App | TuneIn
• Play-by-Play: Andy Demetra  |  Analyst: Randy Waters

Greensboro, N.C. – Carrying the momentum of two road wins to close out the regular season, Georgia Tech opens the New Life Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament by facing Florida State at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum. The winner of their game Tuesday will face No. 5 seed Pittsburgh at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Georgia Tech (14-17, 6-14 ACC) is the 13th seed in the tournament but enters the week having won its last three games and five of its last seven conference games. The Yellow Jackets won their first two ACC road games of the season last week, running past Syracuse, 96-76, and defeating Boston College, 73-65, on its Senior Day, which followed an 83-67 victory over Louisville in its final home game on Feb. 25.

Florida State (9-22, 7-13 ACC), the No. 12 seed, started its conference schedule by winning five of nine games, including a 75-64 decision over Georgia Tech on Jan. 7. But the Seminoles have lost nine of 11 since, winning only at Louisville (81-78) on Feb. 4 and at Miami (85-84) on Feb. 25.

Tuesday’s game will be televised live on the ACC Network with a live stream of the broadcast available the ESPN app. Radio coverage is on the Georgia Tech Sports Network by Legends Sports, carried in Atlanta on 680 the Fan (680 AM and 93.7 FM), and nationally on SiriusXM satellite radio.

THE TIP-OFF

• Georgia Tech and Florida State are battling in the ACC Tournament for the fourth time. The Seminoles have won two of the three prior meetings (by a total of three points), but the Yellow Jackets’ victory came in the championship game of the 2021 tournament by an 80-75 score in Greensboro.
• Tech has played 28 of its 66 ACC Tournament games at the Greensboro Coliseum, posting an 11-17 record with one championship in 2021 and three runner-up finishes in 1986, 1996 and 2010.
• Tech is 4-12 all-time in Tuesday opening round games at the ACC Tournament and has lost its last four dating back to an 88-85 overtime victory against Clemson in 2016.
• Tech’s upswing over the last month of the season has been spurred by the emergence of its two transfers, senior guard Lance Terry and senior center Ja’von Franklin, who have averaged 14.2 and 14.1 points, respectively, over the last nine games.
• Tech has averaged 75.6 points per game over that stretch, connected on 45.6 percent of its shots from the floor and 39.6 percent of its three-point attempts. The Jackets have averaged 10.3 three-point field goals made.
• Tech’s leading scorer, sophomore guard Miles Kelly, has averaged 20.2 points and 3.7 rebounds over the Yellow Jackets’ last six games, all in double figures, hitting 49.4 percent from the floor and 45.9 percent from three-point range. He has hit 23 three-point field goals over Tech’s last four games.
• Over Tech’s last eight ACC games, the Yellow Jackets’ rotation has shortened to six or seven players, with the five starters playing nearly 85 percent of the minutes.
• At the moment, Tech’s offensive efficiency rating as measured by KenPom.com is 104.3, the highest for the Jackets in seven seasons under Josh Pastner.
• Tech’s season turnover rate of 10.8 per game is its lowest on record dating back to the 1992-93 season, when turnovers became an official NCAA statistic. The Jackets have turned it over just 9.5 times per game in its last eight ACC games.

Miles Kelly has made 23 three-point field goals over his last four games. (photo by Danny Karnik)

TECH’S ACC TOURNAMENT HISTORY

Georgia Tech has played in 42 ACC Tournaments (did not play in 2020 due to NCAA sanctions), and has a 28-38 all-time record in the event. The Yellow Jackets have won four championships, in 1985 (Atlanta), 1990 (Charlotte), 1993 (Charlotte) and 2021 (Greensboro).

Tech has been a runner-up four times (1986, 1996, 2005, 2010). The 1986, 1996 and 2010 runs to the finals occurred in Greensboro. Tech also made the finals in 2005 at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.

Tech was 0-2 in the ACC Tournament under coach Dwane Morrison, 15-16 under Bobby Cremins (including all three titles), 9-11 under Paul Hewitt (runner-up in 2005 and 2010), 2-5 under Brian Gregory. and 1-3 under Josh Pastner.

Tech did not play in the 2020 tournament while serving an NCAA postseason ban.

SERIES NOTES VS. FLORIDA STATE

• Florida State snapped a three-game losing streak in the series with a 75-64 win over Tech in Tallahassee in the teams’ only scheduled regular-season meeting of the 2022-23 season. The Seminoles have won 16 of the last 21 meetings in the series and hold a 45-32 advantage all-time.
• Since FSU joined the ACC, Tech is 22-31 against the Seminoles. Florida State won the first six in a row, Tech followed by winning five straight, and is 17-25 against the Seminoles since then.
• In those 53 games, 22 have been decided by four points or less, 33 by fewer than 10 points. One of those games went to double-overtime, which the Yellow Jackets won 111-108 on Feb. 11, 1999 in Tallahassee.
• Tech is 11-19 against Seminoles teams led by head coach Leonard Hamilton. Tech is 12-19 against Hamilton overall, with a victory over his Miami team in December of 1997.
• Tech and Florida State were both members of the old Metro Conference from 1976-78, and the Seminoles won three of those four meetings.
• Florida State has won two of the three ACC Tournament meetings between the schools, but Tech defeated the Seminoles, 80-75, in the championship game of the 2021 tournament. The three games have been decided by a total of eight points.

Lance Terry has averaged 19.2 points in Tech’s ACC victories. (photo by Danny Karnik)

TEAM TRENDS

• Georgia Tech finished the regular season winning six of its final nine games, and five of its final eight ACC games.
• Tech finished the regular season by winning back-to-back road games for the first time since beating Miami and Virginia Tech back to back in February of 2021.
• Tech’s late-season run lifted the Yellow Jackets from No. 228 in the NCAA NET rankings to No. 177.
• Tech has scored 70 points or more in seven of its last eight games (Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Florida Tech, Louisville, Syracuse, Boston College), the only exception being its 68-point game at Pittsburgh. The Yellow Jackets are 12-2 this season when scoring 70 or more points (6-2 in the ACC), 2-15 when failing to reach 70.
• Tech continues to lead the ACC in three-point defense and is 17th nationally, allowing 29.8 percent from distance.
• Tech has outshot seven of its last nine opponents from the floor, holding them collectively to 42.8 percent overall, 28.0 percent from three-point range. The Yellow Jackets are 12-2 this season when they have a higher field goal percentage.
• Going back to Tech’s Feb. 15 win over Virginia Tech (last six games), Tech has averaged 11.5 three-point field goals per game, making 40.4 percent.
• Over Tech’s last eight ACC games, Miles Kelly, Lance Terry, Deebo Coleman and Kyle Sturdivant have combined to hit 41.8 percent (82-of-196) from three-point range.
• Four Tech players (Miles Kelly 17.4, Ja’von Franklin 14.3, Lance Terry 13.6 ppg, Kyle Sturdivant 12.6) are averaging double digits in points over the Yellow Jackets’ last eight ACC games, and a fifth (Deebo Coleman) is averaging 9.0.
• Tech has used only six players in its rotation for its last four games. After having its bench play more than 33 percent of the minutes this season prior to that, Tech’s reserves have played only 70 of a possible 800 minutes in the last four games (8.8 percent).

PLAYER UPDATES

• Ja’von Franklin has grabbed 15 rebounds in two straight games, the first time a Tech player has taken 15 or more in back-to-back games since Charles Mitchell had 15 vs. Wake Forest and 19 vs. Clemson back-to-back during the 2015-16 season.
• Franklin has averaged a double-double over the Yellow Jackets’ last nine games (14.1 points and 11.9 rebounds). He has hit 63.5 percent of his shots from the floor (54-of-85) in that span, and also has totaled team-highs of 34 assists, 18 blocked shots and 16 steals.
• Franklin is the only player to rank in the top 10 in rebound average (7th), steal average (7th) and blocked shot average (5th) in conference games. At 6-7 and 214 pounds, Franklin is out-sized by nearly every ACC center.
• Lance Terry has played the full 40 minutes in five of Tech’s six ACC wins. At Syracuse, he came out for the final 56 seconds when Tech emptied its bench in the 20-point victory. In those six games, Terry has averaged 19.2 points while connecting on 48.8 percent of his field goals (40-of-82), 54.8 percent of his three-point attempts (23-of-42).
• In nine games since returning from a hamstring injury, Terry has averaged 14,2 points while hitting 45.5 percent of his field goals (46-of-101) and 46.9 percent of his threes (23-of-49). Terry has reached double figures in points seven times in those nine games, including his season-high-matching 24 points at Syracuse.
• Miles Kelly has reached double figures in six straight games, averaging 20.2 points and hitting 41-of-83 from the floor (49.4 pct.) and 28-of-61 from three-point range (45.9 pct.). This comes after a stretch in which he scored in double digits just three times in nine games and averaged 9.8 points.
• Kelly is the first Tech player to make at least five three-point field goals in four consecutive games (6 vs. Pitt, 5 vs. Louisville, 7 vs. Syracuse, 5 vs. Boston College) since Lewis Clinch did so during the 2008-09 season (6 vs. Wake Forest, 6 vs. Clemson, 6 vs. North Carolina, 9 vs. Miami). Clinch’s streak ended at four games.
• Kyle Sturdivant has averaged 12.6 points over his last 10 games, having reached double figures in eight of them, including his career nigh of 20 points at Syracuse. He has made 19-of-47 from three-point range (40.4 pct.) over that stretch and has a 38/16 assist/turnover ratio in his last 10 games.

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ABOUT GEORGIA TECH MEN’S BASKETBALL

Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team has completed six seasons under head coach Josh Pastner, winning the Atlantic Coast Conference championship in 2021 and making its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 11 years. Tech has been a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference since 1979, won four ACC Championships (1985, 1990, 1993, 2021), played in the NCAA Tournament 17 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.