@GTWBB Opens Up ACC Play at Notre Dame

Dec. 29, 2015

STARTING FIVE

1. Georgia Tech hits the road for its first ACC game of the season, traveling to #3 Notre Dame on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN3 and can be heard on 91.1 WREK/WREK.org.
2. This will be the fifth meeting between Georgia Tech and Notre Dame and the fourth in the past two seasons. Notre Dame leads the all-time series, 4-0. This is the third of Tech’s three trips to the state of Indiana in the month of December and its second-straight trip. The Yellow Jackets played at Indiana on Dec. 2 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and wrapped up the nonconference season at IUPUI on Dec. 20.
3. Senior Aaliyah Whiteside is averaging a team-best 20.1 points per game which leads the ACC and is 26th in the nation. She is also Tech’s leading rebounder with 7.5 boards per game. She became the 29th Yellow Jacket to score 1,000 career points against Southeastern Louisiana. She has scored at least 21 points in 10 of 13 games and had four-straight double-doubles this season. She notched a career-best 28 points in the Yellow Jackets’ most recent victory at IUPUI.
4. The Yellow Jackets finished off the nonconference season with a 10-3 record and a perfect 8-0 record at home. Tech is currently riding a five-game winning streak and has averaged a +23.7 scoring margin in its last six wins.
5. Head coach MaChelle Joseph became the all-time winningest coach in Georgia Tech women’s basketball history last year and has a career record of 242-152 and the highest winning percentage in Yellow Jacket history at 61.4 percent. She is currently in her 13th season at the helm of the Jackets.

a win would…
– Be the first win against Notre Dame in program history at put the all-time series record at 4-1 in favor of Notre Dame.
– Make the Yellow Jackets 5-8 in ACC Openers under Joseph
– Be the first time the Yellow Jackets defeated a top-10 opponent since a 71-70 victory against No. 8/8 North Carolina on Jan. 6. 2011
– Be the first time Tech defeats a top-25 opponent since the Jackets upset No. 16/17 last season, 71-62, on Feb. 26, 2015
– Be the first win against a top-25 opponent on the road since a 56-54 win at No. 23/RV North Carolina on Feb. 12, 2012
– Be the first win in an ACC opener since the Jackets opened up the 2011-12 season with a win at NC State, 76-66.
– Be the 243rd win of Coach Joseph’s career and her 394th game at the helm of the Jackets putting her just six games away from hitting the 400 mark.
– Give Georgia Tech its 618th program win and put Georgia Tech at 618-579 overall over 41 years of women’s basketball.

acc openers
Under head coach MaChelle Joseph, the Yellow Jackets are 4-8 in ACC opening games. This will be the first time the Yellow Jackets will kick off conference play against Notre Dame and the fourth time in the past five season Tech will be away for the first conference game. This is the seventh time the Jackets are opening up ACC play on the road under Coach Joseph. Tech is 2-4 in road ACC openers under Joseph.

This will be only the third time in the last 10 years that Georgia Tech hasn’t opened the ACC season with a team from the state of North Carolina.

hello again, indiana
Georgia Tech will be very used to the state of Indiana by the end of December. All three of Georgia Tech’s road trips in the month of December are to Coach Joseph’s home-state of Indiana – Dec. 2 at Indiana, Dec. 20 at IUPUI and Dec. 30 at Notre Dame. It will be the first meeting in school history against Indiana and IUPUI and the fifth in the series against Notre Dame. Tech fell at Indiana, 69-60, and defeated IUPUI, 60-50.

series notes vs. notre dame
This will be the fifth meeting in the series against Notre Dame and the fourth-straight. The Yellow Jackets are winless against the Fighting Irish and are 0-2 when playing in South Bend. Like this year, the two teams met twice last season.

In the first meeting at #6/5 Notre Dame, four Yellow Jackets scored in double figures in the 89-76 loss, including current Jackets Zaire O’Neil (10 pts), Aaliyah Whiteside (16 pts), and Katarina Vuckovic (12 pts). The Yellow Jackets shot 50 percent from the floor (32-for-64) and scored 40 of its points in the paint.

The game in Atlanta was a lot closer with Tech only losing by 10 points 71-61 to the #4/4 Irish. O’Neil scored a team-best 20 points while Rogers recorded a double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds. The Yellow Jackets had a 34-33 lead going into halftime but were outscored 38-27 in the second 20 minutes by the Irish.

leading by example
With Tech’s roster featuring nine freshmen and sophomores, seniors Aaliyah Whiteside and Roddreka Rogers’ leadership is key. The veteran duo has teamed up to score 42.9 percent of GT’s offensive output this season and have pulled down 36 percent of the Jackets’ rebounds this season. Whiteside has scored at least 21 points in 10 of 13 games while Rogers has tallied three double-doubles.

The senior duo led the Yellow Jackets to a 60-50 victory at IUPUI. Rogers and Whiteside combined to score 48 of Tech’s 60 points and the two went a combined 6-for-6 from the free throw line in the final 30 seconds of the game to secure the victory. Whiteside scored a career-best 28 points while Rogers recorded a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds.

hoosier state
Head coach MaChelle Joseph was born and raised in Auburn, Indiana and was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in April 2015. Joseph played at DeKalb High School and at Purdue University.

A four-year starter for the Boilermakers from 1989-1992, Joseph is one of the most decorated players in Purdue and Big Ten Conference history as she garnered numerous conference and national accolades. After earning Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors, Joseph was a first-team all-Big Ten selection in 1990, 1991 and 1992 and was named the Big Ten Player of the Year as a senior. She also earned Kodak All-America honors in 1992, when she was tabbed the Women’s Basketball News’ College Player of the Year. Joseph graduated from Purdue as the all-time leading scorer in school (men or women) and Big Ten Conference history (2,405 points) and was the only player in conference history to rank in the top-10 in both points and assists.

When Tech faced Indiana in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, the was a familiar face on the opposing bench, former Tech associate head coach and current head coach of Indiana, Teri Moren. Moren coached alongside Joseph for three years, aiding Tech to three NCAA Tournament appearances and three consecutive 20-win seasons from 2007-10 before heading to Indiana State to become the head coach in 2010. Moren, like Joseph, was a four-year letter winner at Purdue and is a member of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.

keeping track of aaliyah

Senior Aaliyah Whiteside has scored at least 21 points in 10 out of 13 games this season. Her 10 20 point games are the most by any player in the ACC. She is averaging an ACC-high 20.1 points per game, which is 26th in the nation, and has scored 261 points so far, which is the most by an ACC player and ninth in the NCAA. Whiteside has scored at least 20 points in 17 games in her career.

After recovering from being sick, Whiteside only scored eight points against Alabama, snapping an 18-game streak of scoring at least 10 points, which dated back to last season. She followed up her eight-point game with a career-high 28 points at IUPUI. She has scored in double figures in 19 out of 20 games.

Whiteside has four double-doubles this season and nine in her career.  Her four this season came in consecutive games from Indiana to Prairie View A&M. Against Prairie View A&M, she scored 14 points and handing out 11 assists for her first points/assists double-double. In the contest, she had nine rebounds, putting her one rebound away from a triple-double.