Work after dark#StingEm 🐝 pic.twitter.com/cKfmfynkOh
— Georgia Tech Men’s Basketball (@GTMBB) February 22, 2025
By Andy Demetra | Voice of the Yellow Jackets
They deserved a break. But did they want it?
After playing – and succeeding – with six- and seven-man rotations for most of the last month, Georgia Tech (13-13, 7-8 ACC) certainly welcomed the chance to recharge its legs during its second ACC bye. But the Yellow Jackets have also undeniably found a rhythm with those short benches, winning four of their last five to catapult themselves into contention for an ACC Tournament bye.
Finding that balance between rhythm and rest can be tricky. But as Damon Stoudamire reminded his players this week, defense should never get rusty. Intensity should never take a break. And the Yellow Jackets have fought too hard to let a bye week cause them to regress.
The Yellow Jackets can’t afford a lag in energy on Saturday – not only do they play on the road, but they face a re-energized Boston College team (11-5, 3-11 ACC) that’s fighting to get into the ACC Tournament.
The Jackets stretched their legs.
Now the stretch run begins.
Enjoy the top notes from my chart as the Yellow Jackets hunt for a road win in Chestnut Hill (2 p.m. ET, Georgia Tech Sports Network):
Naithan George (1) has scored 20 points in each of Tech’s last four games, longest streak by a Tech player since 2008-09. (photo by Danny Karnik)
No team may have felt more snake bitten in ACC play than Boston College, which has lost games in overtime (North Carolina), double overtime (Notre Dame), and triple overtime (Syracuse). The Eagles finally earned a breakthrough on Tuesday, holding Virginia Tech to its fewest points since 1967 in a 54-36 win at Conte Forum.
Contrast that with Georgia Tech, which shot a season-high 58.5% in an 85-64 rout of BC at McCamish Pavilion in early January. The Jackets hadn’t shot that high a percentage since … last Saturday in their overtime win over versus Cal (54.7%). BC likes to swipe and stab at ball handlers, with a tendency to over-help at times. Tech will need to make plus-one passes and avoid live-ball turnovers against the Eagles, which forced Virginia Tech into an astounding 27% turnover rate.
Boston College will rightfully come in galvanized following a shutdown defensive performance against the Hokies. Then again, when they played at McCamish last month, the Eagles were coming off a 78-68 win over Miami in which they erased a 19-point first half deficit. Tech has snuffed out BC’s momentum once before.
It looked like business as usual as first. In the first game at McCamish, Donald Hand Jr., Boston College’s leading scorer (16.5 ppg), scored two baskets in the opening 3:23.
He didn’t make a field goal the rest of the game.
The Yellow Jackets collectively clamped down on the 6-5 guard, bodying him up and forcing him into tough, off-platform shots. Hand ranks third in the ACC in three-point percentage (41.2%) and fourth in three-pointers per game (2.8) in ACC play; he finished 0-for-2 against the Yellow Jackets.
“They’ve got guys that can get downhill, but we did a great, great job of staying between our man and the basket after the first four minutes,” Stoudamire said.
Hand remains a kinetic, three-level scorer, able to strafe threes off stagger screens while running from the corner to the wing. He has a lightning quick release, but opponents can’t simply play him for the closeout – he also ranks fifth in the ACC in free throw attempts on 87% foul shooting.
With Hand held in check in Atlanta, Boston College leaned more on 6-9, 270-pound center Chad Venning (12.9 ppg), who scored a team-high 19 points against the Jackets. In addition to isolating him at the elbows, the Eagles like to run cross screens for Venning where he can post up and use his deliberate, technically sound toolkit. Can Baye Ndongo and Ibrahim Souare wall up and steer clear of foul trouble as Venning tries to battering-ram his way across the paint? One bellwether number to watch: when BC finishes with a 30% offensive rebounding percentage, they’re 7-2.
Coaches will take intel from any source, and Stoudamire may have some extra insight on BC guard Roger McFarlane, the Eagles’ leader in steals. A 6-4 transfer from Southeastern Louisiana, McFarlane’s starting backcourt mate in Hammond, La., was Georgia Tech grad assistant Roscoe Eastmond.
Tech shot a season-high 58 percent from the floor in the first meeting vs. BC on Jan. 4. (photo by Danny Karnik)
The free throw line hasn’t exactly been a place of refuge for Georgia Tech, but that may need to change in Chestnut Hill. Boston College allows the fourth highest free throw rate of any Power 4 team in the nation:
Highest FT Rate Allowed – Power 4
- UCONN
- Ohio State
- Ole Miss
- Boston College
Nait George has made eight straight free throws, which has helped the ACC Player of the Week extend a remarkable streak. After his 26-point performance against Cal, George has now scored 20 or more points in four straight ACC games.
That’s the longest streak by a Yellow Jacket since Lewis Clinch in 2008-09.
The last Jacket with five straight 20-point games in ACC play? Matt Harpring in 1997-98.
Damon Stoudamire may have found a solution for his dwindling numbers at practice.
As an assistant with the Celtics, Stoudamire said he and his fellow staffers would regularly engage in pregame pickup runs. That included head-to-head battles between Stoudamire and another former collegiate point guard, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla.
With the Jackets coming to Boston for the first time since Stoudamire went to Tech, why not hit up his old buddies to fill out the ranks?
“Maybe I’ll call Joe Mazzulla and the rest of the staff so they can come and we can play,” he laughed.
Now that we’re prepared, we hope you are as well. Join us for pregame coverage starting with the “Ramblin’ Wreck Tip-off Show” at 1:30 p.m. ET on the Georgia Tech Sports Network. See you in Chestnut Hill.
-AD-
Shipping up to Boston#StingEm 🐝 pic.twitter.com/z39zuwXEVE
— Georgia Tech Men’s Basketball (@GTMBB) February 21, 2025
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
ABOUT GEORGIA TECH MEN’S BASKETBALL
Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team is in its second year under head coach Damon Stoudamire. 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 X (@GTMBB) and Instagram. For more information on Tech basketball, visit Ramblinwreck.com. Tickets for men’s basketball can be reserved here.
