Georgia Tech Travels for Rematch with UNC

Georgia Tech vs. North Carolina

Saturday, January 15, 2022 | 8 p.m. ET | Chapel Hill, N.C. | Dean Smith Center

Television:  ACC Network

Play-by-Play:  Jay Alter  |  Analyst: Malcolm Huckaby

Radio: Georgia Tech Sports Network by Legends Sports (In Atlanta: 680 AM/93.7 The Fan | XM 381, SiriusXM app 971 | Listen Online | Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets App | TuneIn

Play-by-Play: Andy Demetra  |  Analyst: Randy Waters

THE FLATS – In the back end of a two-game road swing this week, Georgia Tech travels to face North Carolina for an 8 p.m. tip Saturday night at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill. It is the second of two scheduled meetings between the two Atlantic Coast Conference teams this season, with the Tar Heels having won the first, 79-62, on Dec. 5 in Atlanta.

Tech (7-8, 1-4 ACC) stopped a three-game losing streak and earned its first ACC victory Wednesday night with an 81-76 win at Boston College. The defending ACC champion Jackets had lost at home to Louisville (67-64) and North Carolina and on the road to No. 2 Duke (69-57). Their Dec. 29 game at Syracuse was postponed.

Reigning ACC Tournament MVP Michael Devoe (Orlando, Fla.), the ACC’s second-leading scorer (20.5 points per game), No. 3 three-point shooter by volume (2.57 per game) and No. 2 by percentage (41.4), leads the Jackets along with senior forward Jordan Usher (Canton, Ga.), averaging 14.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.

North Carolina (11-4, 3-1 ACC) has won three of its last four games and eight of 10 following a 74-58 victory over Virginia at home last Saturday. Before that, the Tar Heels defeated Georgia Tech (79-62 on Dec. 5) and Boston College (91-65) before falling to Notre Dame (78-73) all on the road. North Carolina is tied for third place with Duke in the ACC standings.

Saturday’s game will be televised live on the ACC Network, with a live stream of the broadcast available through the ESPN app. Radio coverage will be on the Georgia Tech Sports Network by Legends Sports and flagship station WCNN (680/93.7 the Fan), and on satellite radio (XM channel 381, SiriusXM app 971).

THE OPENING TIP

• On the road – Georgia Tech is playing its fourth road game of the season and has a 2-1 record after winning at Georgia and Boston College around a loss at Duke. North Carolina is undefeated at home (8-0), including a Big Ten/ACC Challenge win over Michigan.
• Small ball – Head coach Josh Pastner elected to start a lineup without a true “5” player Wednesday night at Boston College, where Georgia Tech’s tallest starters were Jordan Usher and Khalid Moore, both 6-foot-7. The seventh different lineup used by Tech this season produced the Yellow Jackets’ first ACC win and their most efficient offensive performance in 11 games.
• Mikey likes it – Senior guard Michael Devoe has dropped to No. 2 in the ACC in scoring average (20.5 ppg) for the first time after leading the conference all season. Alondes Williams of Wake Forest is No. 1 (20.7 ppg). Devoe is No. 2 in the ACC in three-point percentage (41.4) and No. 3 in three-point field goals per game (2.57).
• Climbing the ladder – After beginning the season No. 36 in career points at Tech, Devoe has risen to No. 19 on the Tech career points list with 1,436 points, passing such Tech luminaries as Iman Shumpert, Drew Barry, Jarrett Jack, Michael Maddox, Tico Brown, Marvin Lewis, Anthony Morrow, Lenny Horton and former teammate Jose Alvarado. The senior needs 24 points to take over 18th place from Jim Wood (1,459 from 1974-77).
• Hot streak – Senior wing Jordan Usher, who posted his fourth double-double this season against Notre Dame (16 points, 14 rebounds) and scored 30 against Georgia State, is averaging 16.3 points and 7.3 rebounds over Tech’s last seven games, having hit 41-of-86 shots from the floor and 13-of-29 threes.
• Countdown to 1,000 – Usher is 14 points away from the 1,000-point milestone for his career. He has 986 points entering Saturday’s game, 712 of them scored in a Tech uniform. Tech already has a pair of 1,000-point scorers in its roster – Michael Devoe (1,436) and Bubba Parham (1,452).
• Getting Moore done – Senior forward Khalid Moore has averaged 7.2 points over Tech’s last nine games, after scoring a total of 23 points in the Jackets’ first six games of the season. He has hit 24-of-51 from the floor over that stretch.
• Good to the last drop – Tristan Maxwell became the 13th player in Georgia Tech history to drain seven or more three-point field goals in an ACC game when he dropped seven Wednesday night at Boston College. He did so in his fourth career game, not having made a three-pointer in the first three.
• PPD – Two Georgia Tech games were postponed in December under health and safety ptorocols, a Dec. 23 home game against Alabama A&M and a Dec. 29 road game at Syracuse. Neither game has a makeup date.

Business trip complete ✔️#HugTheWin pic.twitter.com/fSJJIDSPhU

— Georgia Tech Men’s Basketball (@GTMBB) January 13, 2022

SERIES NOTES VS. NORTH CAROLINA

• North Carolina has a 70-26 lead in the all-time series between the two teams, and a 56-24 advantage since Tech joined the ACC (70-27 all-time, 56-25 in ACC on court. one win vacated by NCAA Committee on Infractions).
• The Tar Heels have won 10 of the last 13 games in the series, but Tech has won two of the last three, including a 72-67 win at McCamish Pavilion in the teams’ only 2020-21 meeting. Tech also captured a 96-83 victory at the Dean Smith Center in the teams’ only meeting of the 2019-20 season.
• North Carolina won the first meeting between the two teams this season, 79-62 at McCamish Pavilion on Dec. 5.
• 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. (Win was 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 13-14 against North Carolina dating back to the 2001-02 season.
• The teams have played 42 times in the city of Atlanta, including seven at McCamish Pavilion, where Tech is 2-5 (on court) against the Tar Heels. 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.
• Tech is 8-6 in games played away from Chapel Hill since 2000-01, including three ACC Tournament wins. The Jackets are 9-15 against the Tar Heels under Roy Williams, 9-16 against Williams all-time.
• Tech has lost 12 of the last 14 meetings in the Smith Center and is 5-25 all-time in the building. Counting regular-season games in Greensboro, Tech is 6-32 on the road against UNC.
• 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.

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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.