By Andy Demetra | Voice of the Yellow Jackets
Between Kowacie Reeves and Luke O’Brien, Georgia Tech (8-10, 2-5 ACC) already has the most boots in Atlanta this side of a Midtown parking lot. The Yellow Jackets then went from short-handed to shorter-handed on Tuesday, losing leading scorer Lance Terry to a hand injury before their game against Clemson.
Depleted? Ravaged? Marred? The thesaurus may be running out of synonyms to describe the state of Georgia Tech’s injuries. In spite of that, the Yellow Jackets didn’t let their injuries deplete their fight, battling for 40 minutes in a 70-59 loss to the Tigers at McCamish Pavilion.
That may be of small comfort in the end, but ultimately that type of resilience gets rewarded. Georgia Tech (8-10, 2-5 ACC) will now try to bring that fight to Tallahassee as it searches for its first road win of the season against Florida State (12-5, 3-3 ACC).
Oh, and the irony: Florida State Athletics has an official injury lawyer sponsor.
Enjoy you pre-tip reads before the Jackets and Seminoles clash at the Tucker Center (12 p.m. ET, Georgia Tech Sports Network):
Javian McCollum (2) has connected on 40% of his three-point tries in ACC games. (photo by Danny Karnik)
Georgia Tech’s short bench will now face the team whose bench stretches approximately to the parking lot.
Florida State regularly trots out a 10- and 11-man rotation, full of agile, long-armed, switchable players. The Seminoles use that length to swipe, trap, shoot gaps, deny up the line, and make teams play hurried, helter-skelter basketball.
“They try to force you into chaos,” Damon Stoudamire said succinctly.
Pittsburgh felt the brunt of that scrambling defense, shooting 27% and committing 14 turnovers in the first half of an 82-70 loss on Wednesday. That tracks with some of Georgia Tech’s recent first half numbers:
| Georgia Tech – Last 3 games | ||
| FG% | TO’s | |
| 1st half | 29.70% | 10.7 |
| 2nd half | 47.30% | 5.7 |
The Seminoles are at their best when they wear teams down and choke the finesse out of an offense. Tech will need to avoid the forced drives and risky attacks of switches that FSU’s defense likes to create. They’ll also need to be comfortable finishing through contact and length, something they’ve done erratically over the lpast three games. Can Naithan George, who has scored in double figures in five straight games, tidy up his ball security against the Seminoles? He’s committed 12 turnovers over the last two ACC games after only committing 12 in the first five.
Georgia Tech’s two ACC wins have come by a combined 32 points.
Their seven ACC wins last year were by a combined 27 points.
And that includes an 85-76 “rout” over Florida State at McCamish.
Clean looks can be scarce against Florida State’s size, but the Seminoles do have a tendency to give up threes. FSU is allowing the second highest volume of three-pointers in the ACC, and they’ve allowed 40.1% three-point shooting in ACC play. A player like Javian McCollum may need to be assertive looking for his shot.
Asked what Baye Ndongo needed to do to reassert himself, associate head coach Karl Hobbs gave his sophomore a simple checklist: avoid foul trouble and attack the boards.
Do those things, Hobbs insisted, and the scoring would come. Sure enough, Ndongo stayed out of foul trouble and hunted rebounds against Clemson, finishing with 14 points and a season-high 12 boards.
Ndongo scored 15 points and grabbed an ACC-high 14 rebounds in Tech’s win over Florida State last March. He’ll duel with 6-11 forward Malique Ewin (14.1 ppg, 7.9 rpg), who has posted three-straight double-doubles and has some Ian Schieffelin-esque qualities with his body control, touch around the rim, and feel for facilitating.
Rebounding may feel like a chore against Florida State’s length, but it can be done: The Yellow Jackets outrebounded the Seminoles +22 in their win at McCamish last season. They also held Clemson to its lowest offensive rebounding percentage of the season on Tuesday.
Baye Ndongo (11) scored 15 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in last year’s 85-76 win over the Seminoles in Atlanta. (photo by Danny Karnik)
Foul trouble is a constant hazard for a team wracked by injury.
Georgia Tech now faces the team that racks up more free throw trips than anyone in the ACC.
Florida State – Free Throws
- Free Throw Rate (FTA/FGA): 9% (#22 NCAA)
- % of points from FTM: 7% (#39 NCAA)
Forward Jamir Watkins (18.6 ppg) is the Seminoles’ chief foul magnet, a preseason second-team All-ACC pick who leads the nation in fouls drawn per 40 minutes (8.6). The 6-7 redshirt senior, who scored 26 points against Pitt, is a sturdy, uninhibited shooter and straight-line driver. Alongside him, freshman point guard Daquan Davis (9.0 ppg) is a twitchy slasher; Taylor Bol Bowen (8.3 ppg) is a gliding, 6-10 forward with range to the three-point line; and combo guard Chandler Jackson (7.6 ppg) had 14 points against Tech in Tallahassee last season.
Florida State’s top scorers can change by the game, but they all like to spread the floor and leverage their athleticism for downhill drives. Tech will need to do a good job keeping the ball in front of them – and of course, avoid the kind of reckless contests that could put them in foul trouble against the ACC’s deepest rotation.
There won’t be a repeat of the “Miracle on Techwood” Saturday, but Florida State’s roster does feature a Justin Thomas.
And Florida State may not have Damon Stoudamire, a Portland native who wore #3 and worked in Boston. But they do have a guard from Portland who wears #3 and is named Bostyn. Stoudamire said he knows Holt’s Dad well.
Now that we’re prepared, we hope you are as well. Join us for pregame coverage starting with the “Ramblin’ Wreck Tipoff Show” at 11:30 a.m. ET on the Georgia Tech Sports Network. See you in Tallahassee.
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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.
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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.
