By Andy Demetra | Voice of the Yellow Jackets
They’ve had different levels of motivation and momentum. They’ve had sound game plans and solid players. They’ve come in hot, they’ve come in hungry, as favorites and underdogs, at the beginning of conference play and toward the end of it. But through it all, the result has stubbornly stayed the same.
In eight trips to Purcell Pavilion since they joined the ACC in 2013-14, Georgia Tech (8-7, 1-4 ACC) has yet to win a conference game at Notre Dame – 0-8, a winless streak that’s as puzzling as it’s been frustrating.
Puzzled and frustrated may have described the Yellow Jackets after they watched a red-hot shooting start dissolve into a 75-64 loss to Florida State. They’ll now try to avenge that loss – and stop their drought in South Bend – against a team that’s hungry to snap a winless streak of its own. After surprising the league with a third-place finish a year ago, Notre Dame (8-8, 0-5 ACC) remains one of the last two ACC teams without a conference win.
Enjoy the top five notes from my chart as the Yellow Jackets brave the cold in South Bend (7 p.m. ET, Georgia Tech Sports Network from Legends Sports):
Miles Kelly has scored 30 points in the first half of Tech’s last two games, but only six in the second half. (photo by Ross Obley)
At 0-5, Notre Dame has already equaled its ACC loss total from last season.
Good luck convincing Josh Pastner their Irish are down.
Three of Notre Dame’s conference losses have come by a total of nine points. They have six graduate students, the most in Division I. They returned the most career points in Mike Brey’s 23 seasons as head coach. Contrast that with Georgia Tech, the ACC’s youngest team:
Career points entering season
- Notre Dame – 5,849
- Georgia Tech – 2,356
Six-foot-10 super-senior Nate Laszewski, Notre Dame’s leader in scoring (13.6 ppg) and rebounding (7.7 rpg), can be a particularly tricky matchup, able to run off picks for threes or set “ghost screens” and get sneaky dive-cuts to the rim. He’s one of the cogs of a four-out offense that can beguile teams with pick-and-pops, pick-and-slips and plus-one passes.
The Fighting Irish no longer have first-round NBA Draft pick Blake Wesley or point guard Prentiss Hubb, who was a perennially pesky matchup for Tech, but they did welcome back 6-6 super-senior Dane Goodwin (11.6 ppg, 45.1% 3pt.), a streaky swingman whom Pastner describes as the key to their team. He’s a cunning scorer who thrives off baseline out-of-bounds plays while also lurking in the middle of zones. Six-foot-5 Cormac Ryan is a similarly crafty scorer, and 6-4 freshman J.J. Starling, a former McDonald’s All-American, is an athletic, downhill playmaker who scored 20 points against Florida State.
It may strain belief for a team that’s 0-5 in the ACC, but Notre Dame ranks third in the ACC in three-point percentage (37.7%). So expect the Irish to let it fly on Tuesday.
“We’re probably going to have to make 13 to 14 threes to win league games. That’s just how we are built offensively right now,” Brey said recently. The Yellow Jackets can’t overcommit on help or get caught in long close-outs. More importantly, they’ll have to be prepared for an Irish team that will play with far more urgency than their record suggests.
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Georgia Tech may be facing the most balanced team in America.
Notre Dame is 8-8.
They’ve scored 1,109 points on the season.
They’ve allowed 1,109 points.
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The Yellow Jackets also come to South Bend looking to reverse a recent rash of turnovers. Three of Georgia Tech’s highest turnover rates of the season have come in the last four games:
Opponent – TO Rate
- Florida State – 19.6%
- North Alabama – 20.6%
- Miami (FL) – 21.1%
- Virginia – 35.2%
“We’ve just had too many live ball turnovers. The live ball actions, we’re not being as sound,” Pastner said on his radio show Monday.
They may get some relief Tuesday: Notre Dame only forces 8.7 turnovers per game, the second lowest average in the nation. The Irish rarely gamble, pick up high, or ambush ballhandlers from the weak side. They also rarely turn it over themselves – their offensive turnover rate ranks sixth nationally. Tech will need to recapture its sound passing and strong ballhandling, both in the halfcourt and in transition.
Graduate manager Rob Mbenoun at his basketball camp in Cameroon. (photo courtesy of Rob Mbenoun)
Notre Dame sometimes goads teams into matching them three-pointer-for-three-pointer. Check out the Irish’s splits in ACC play, though, and you may notice a giant, glowing sign for where Georgia Tech ought to attack:
Notre Dame – ACC only
- % defense – 28.4%
- % defense – 58.1%
The Irish play drop coverage in their man-to-man, but they’ll also play a 2-3 zone with their guards trying to deny the high post. Tech struggled to feed the elbow against Florida State, though the Seminoles run a different defensive scheme.
North Carolina had success playing a three-guard lineup in an 81-64 win over Notre Dame Saturday. Could the Yellow Jackets deploy something similar on Tuesday? Pastner also said his team will need to offensive rebound well and be efficient in transition. And can Miles Kelly get reactivated after halftime? In his last two games, the sophomore is only 1 of 15 from the field in the second half.
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Rob Mbenoun’s flight to South Bend went considerably smoother than his last one.
Georgia Tech’s graduate manager, who’s working on his Master’s in Aerospace Engineering, flew home to his native Yaoundé, Cameroon, over the holidays to visit family. On the way there, not all of his bags arrived on time. On the way back, some bureaucratic hang-ups with his passport; a mechanical issue with his plane in Brussels; and a missed connection in New York City prevented him from rejoining the team for several days.
Travel hiccups aside, it was still a memorable trip for Mbenoun, who joined the Yellow Jackets last year after playing at Embry-Riddle, Gulf Coast State College and Berry College. Since the start of the fall semester, with the help of his parents and former coach in Cameroon, he had planned a two-day, pre-Christmas basketball camp for approximately 40 kids aged 12 and under in Yaoundé. And thanks to Director of Operations Tyler Benson, Mbenoun brought a bag full of Georgia Tech basketball gear to distribute to his campers.
Which explains how some kids on the courts of Yaoundé, alums of the first-ever Rob Mbenoun Basketball Camp, are now hooping in Georgia Tech White and Gold.
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Now that we’re prepared, we hope you are as well. Join us for pregame coverage starting at 6:30 p.m. ET on the Georgia Tech Sports Network from Legends Sports. See you in South Bend.
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ABOUT GEORGIA TECH MEN’S BASKETBALL
Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team has completed six seasons under head coach Josh Pastner, winning the Atlantic Coast Conference championship in 2021 and making its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 11 years. 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 Twitter (@GTMBB) and Instagram. For more information on Tech basketball, visit Ramblinwreck.com.
