Jan. 13, 2015
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THE FLATS – Georgia Tech goes in search of its first Atlantic Coast Conference win of the season when the Yellow Jackets host 12th-ranked Notre Dame at 7 p.m. Wednesday night at McCamish Pavilion.
Tech, in its fourth season under head coach Brian Gregory, is 9-6, 0-3 in the ACC, after suffering a 76-69 loss at Wake Forest Saturday. The Yellow Jackets opened ACC play with a double-overtime loss at Notre Dame Jan. 3 and dropped a 46-45 decision to Syracuse at home on Jan. 7.
Notre Dame, 15-2 overall and 3-1 in the ACC, won its first three ACC games before losing to No. 3-ranked Virginia, 62-56, at home Saturday night. The Fighting Irish defeated Florida State, 83-63, in December, and scored a 71-70 win at North Carolina Jan. 5.
Wednesday’s game will be televised regionally on the ACC Regional Sports Cable Network (Fox Sports South in Georgia) and will be streamed live on ESPN3. The Georgia Tech IMG Radio Network, with flagship station WCNN (680 AM/93.7 FM) will also carry the game. Tech’s radio coverage can be heard in satellite radio nationally (Sirius Ch. 134, XM Ch. 194).
Following Saturday’s game, Tech makes its third road trip in five ACC games with a visit to Pittsburgh Saturday at 4 p.m.
STARTING FIVE FOR WEDNESDAY’S GAME
• Georgia Tech and Notre Dame are playing at McCamish Pavilion for the second time. The Yellow Jackets defeated the Irish, 74-69, last year and are 4-0 against them at home.
• Notre Dame is Tech’s second game this year against a team ranked in the Associated Press top 25. The Fighting Irish, ranked 13th now, also were the first, ranked 14th at the time of their 83-76 double-overtime win against Tech on Jan. 3.
• Tech fell to No. 57 in the CBS Sports RPI rankings after its loss at Wake Forest, which was No. 159 at the time of the game. The Jackets are 4-3 vs. teams currently in the top 100, having defeated Georgia, Rhode Island, Vanderbilt and Charlotte.
• Eleven days separate Georgia Tech’s two meetings with Notre Dame this season, the fewest days between regular season meetings against one opponent in the Yellow Jackets’ ACC history. The fewest days between regular-season meetings for Tech previously was 13, in 1983 against Clemson (January 11 and 24). Late this season, Tech will face Clemson twice in a 12-day span, and North Carolina twice in 10 days.
• Notre Dame assistant coach Rod Balanis is a 1993 graduate of Georgia Tech and lettered in basketball for the Yellow Jackets from 1991-94. After red-shirting during Tech’s 1989-90 Final Four season, Balanis played on Tech’s ACC Championship team in 1993 and on three NCAA Tournament teams under Bobby Cremins. Balanis has been on Brey’s Notre Dame staff all 15 years.
SERIES NOTES VS. NOTRE DAME
Georgia Tech holds a 7-4 lead in the all-time series with Notre Dame that began in the 1940-41 season. The Yellow Jackets had won five straight meetings between the two teams from 1972 through Tech’s 74-69 victory in McCamish Pavilion on Jan. 11, 2014, the team’s first meeting as Atlantic Coast Conference foes.
• The Irish earned a split of the regular-season series and snapped the skid with a 65-62 win in South Bend on Feb. 26.
• Notre Dame won its second straight in the series with an 83-76 double-overtime victory Jan. 3 in South Bend.
• All but one game in the series has been played on the two campuses, the exception being a 2007 meeting in the third-place game of the Paradise Jam. The Yellow Jackets erased a 9-point deficit in the final 5:11 and won the game on a three-point basket by Matt Causey with two seconds remaining.
• Tech is 2-4 in games played in South Bend, and 1-2 in Purcell Pavilion, including an 88-80 overtime win on Feb. 24, 1990, with the Jackets headed toward an ACC title and Final Four berth later that season.
• That game and a 90-80 Tech victory in Atlanta a year earlier were the only two face-offs ever between legendary coaches Bobby Cremins and Digger Phelps.
• Tech is 4-0 all-time against Notre Dame in Atlanta, three of those wins at Alexander Memorial Coliseum and one at McCamish Pavilion.
• Four of the five meetings before that were played with Whack Hyder as Tech’s head coach, and the Jackets won three of those, including an 82-62 win in 1972 at Alexander Memorial Coliseum in Phelps’ first season as the Fighting Irish head coach.
ABOUT GEORGIA TECH MEN’S BASKETBALL
Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team is beginning its fourth year under head coach Brian Gregory. The Yellow Jackets have 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 (@GTMBK).
For more information on Tech basketball, visit Ramblinwreck.com. Tickets for men’s basketball can be purchased here.
