Georgia Tech vs. Boston College
Wednesday, January 12, 2022 | 9 p.m. ET | Chestnut Hill, Mass. | Conte Forum
Television: Regional Sports Network (affiliates) | In-Market Stream | Out-of-Market Stream
Play-by-Play: Tom Werme | Analyst: Cory Alexander
Radio: Georgia Tech Sports Network by Legends Sports (In Atlanta: 680 AM/93.7 The Fan | XM 385, SiriusXM app 975 | Listen Online | Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets App | TuneIn
Play-by-Play: Andy Demetra | Analyst: Randy Waters
THE FLATS – Facing the first of two road games this week, Georgia Tech makes its longest, and perhaps coldest, trip of the season to face Boston College for a 9 p.m. tip Wednesday night at the Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Mass. It is the first of two scheduled meetings between the two teams this season, and the temperature when the Yellow Jackets wake up Wednesday morning is forecast to be 10 degrees.
Tech (6-8, 0-4 ACC) is seeking its first ACC victory after coming up short Saturday night to Notre Dame, 72-68 in overtime at home, its third straight loss and seventh in the last eight. The defending Atlantic Coast Conference champion Jackets have also lost at home to Louisville (67-64) and North Carolina (79-53 on Dec. 5) 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 leading scorer (21.1 points per game) and No. 2 three-point shooter by volume (2.77 per game) and percentage (42.4), leads the Jackets along with senior forward Jordan Usher (Canton, Ga.), averaging 14.9 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.
Boston College (6-7, 1-2 ACC) has lost four in a row after opening its ACC schedule with a 73-57 home win over Notre Dame on Dec. 3. The Eagles lost a pair of non-conference games to Saint Louis and Albany just prior to a long COVID pause, and lost to North Carolina (91-65) and at Pittsburgh (69-67) following the pause.
Wednesday’s game will be televised live on the ACC’s Regional Sports Network, available on Bally Sports South in the Southeastern United States. Live stream of the broadcast is available from BallySports.com in market, and through the ESPN app outside the ACC footprint. 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 385, SiriusXM app 975).
Locked and loaded#TogetherWeSwarm pic.twitter.com/xP1FkmSgnD
— Georgia Tech Men’s Basketball (@GTMBB) January 11, 2022
THE OPENING TIP
- On the road – Georgia Tech is playing its third road game of the season and has a 1-1 record after winning at Georgia in November and falling at No 2 Duke Tuesday night. Boiston College is 6-2 at home this season, posting a win over Notre Dame and losses to Albany and North Carolina. Ten of the Yellow Jackets’ 14 games this season have been played at McCamish Pavilion, where the Yellow Jackets are 5-5, including ACC losses to North Carolina, Louisville and Notre Dame.
- Mikey likes it – Senior guard Michael Devoe remains the ACC leader in scoring average (21.1 ppg) and is No. 2 three-point percentage (42.4), and ranks No. 10 and 28, respectively, in the nation on those categories. He also ranks No. 2 in the ACC in three-point field goals per game (2.77).
- Climbing the ladder – After beginning the season No. 36 in career points at Tech, Devoe has entered the top 20 on the Tech career points list with 1,423 points, passing such Tech luminaries as Iman Shumpert, Drew Barry, Jarrett Jack, Michael Maddox, Tico Brown, Marvin Lewis, Anthony Morrow and Lenny Horton. He needs seven points to pass Jose Alvarado (1,429 from 2017-21).
- Hot streak – Senior wing Jordan Usher, who posted his fourth double-double this season against Notre Dame (16 points, 14 rebounds), is averaging 16.8 points and 7.7 rebounds over Tech’s last six games, having hit 35-of-74 shots from the floor and 12-of-25 threes.
- Countdown to 1,000 – Usher is 28 points away from the 1,000-point milestone for his career. He has 972 points entering Saturday’s game, 698 of them scored in a Tech uniform. Tech already has a pair of 1,000-point scorers in its roster – Michael Devoe (1,423) and Bubba Parham (1,452).
- Getting Moore done – Senior forward Khalid Moore has averaged 7.8 points over Tech’s last eight games, after scoring a total of 23 points in the Jackets’ first six games of the season. He has hit 24-of-48 from the floor over that stretch.
- Two-point (guard) conversion – Splitting the point guard duties nearly evenly so far this season in the wake of the departure of Jose Alvarado, Kyle Sturdivant and Deivon Smith have combined to average 12.1 points and 3.6 assists over 14 games, while compiling a 51;42 assist/turnover ratio. Sturdivant has started 10 games, while Smith has started five. They both started and played together for much of Tech’s win over Charleston Southern in the absence of Michael Devoe.
- Big3 – To replace ACC Player of the Year Moses Wright, Tech has turned to a trio of big men in junior Rodney Howard, who started Tech’s first 11 games before missing the last three, along with sophomores Saba Gigiberia and Jordan Meka. With Howard slowed by an ankle injury, Gigiberia and Meka stepped up to play nearly 35 minutes in Tech’s victory over Georgia State and contribute 10 rebounds and four blocked shots. In Tech’s last three games, Meka started and averaged 20 minutes, grabbing 17 rebounds and blocking six shots combined. Gigiberia returned from protocols to notch season highs of six points and six rebounds in a career-long 14:06 at Duke.
- Fight the power – Six of Georgia Tech’s last seven losses have been to teams that were in the top 60 of the KenPom rankings and have a combined 2021-22 record of 81-17. The Jackets have already played four of the top five teams in the current ACC standings.
- Prepping for ACC play – Tech played four straight games against power conference foes in the month of December, three of whom were ranked in the nation’s top 25 (No. 23/21 Wisconsin, No. 25/24 LSU, No. 10/9 USC). It was the first time the Yellow Jackets have faced as many as three top-25 teams in its non-conference schedule since the 1995-96 season. That season, the Yellow Jackets went 2-3 against No. 4 Georgetown, No. 17 Michigan, No. 5 Kentucky, No. 20 Louisville and No. 2 Massachusetts.
- 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.
Sticking together and trusting the work#TogetherWeSwarm pic.twitter.com/ot8sBC0SHD
— Georgia Tech Men’s Basketball (@GTMBB) January 9, 2022
SERIES NOTES VS. BOSTON COLLEGE
- Georgia Tech leads the all-time series with Boston College, 16-12 (one win vacated by the NCAA Committee on Infractions), and won the teams’ nst recent meeting, 71-52 in Chestnut Hill during the 2019-20 season. The one scheduled meeting in 2020-21 in Atlanta was not played due to COVID-19.
- Boston College has won three of the four ACC Tournament meetings between the two schools, and each time the tournament result has mirrored the regular-season outcome.
- Ten of the games in the short series have been decided by less than 10 points, 14 of them by four points or less, and five in overtime.
- Tech is 8-2 against the Eagles at home, earning the last five wins on three different home courts – one each at Alexander Memorial Coliseum and Philips Arena and three at McCamish Pavilion.
- Tech has played BC at three different venues in the Boston area. The Jan. 29, 2005 game was Tech’s first visit to the Conte Forum, BC’s current home court, where the Jackets are 3-6. The first game in the series on Dec. 31, 1946, was played at Boston Arena, and the teams also played in the Boston Garden on Jan. 19, 1980.
- Prior to BC’s entry into the ACC, the teams met four times on neutral floors, including one outside the United States, a 65-62 overtime win for the Yellow Jackets in the 1986 Suntory Ball in Tokyo, Japan.
- The teams have met twice in NCAA Tournament competition, both of them won by Tech. The Yellow Jackets downed the Eagles, 103-89, in the 1996 Southeast Regional second round in Orlando, and eliminated the Eagles, 57-54 in a 2004 second-round game in Milwaukee.
Kyle Sturdivant has scored in double digits in three of Tech’s last four games. (photo by Danny Karnik)
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.
