By Andy Demetra | Voice of the Yellow Jackets
The new year arrives eight hours early for Georgia Tech.
After a ragged-in-spurts but otherwise comfortable win over Florida A&M, the Yellow Jackets (9-4, 0-0 ACC) now ring in a new year of ACC play in the ears-ringing din of Cameron Indoor Stadium, where No. 6 Duke (11-1, 0-0 ACC) awaits on Wednesday.
Twenty turnovers against FAMU may not have sat well with Damon Stoudamire, but after a bumpy stretch of non-conference play, Tech’s head coach has seen his team elevate its efficiency during its four-game win streak. Shooting numbers are up. Assist rates are climbing. Free throw accuracy has jumped. And Stoudamire believes his team has rightfully restored some confidence heading into the grind of the ACC.
“(We have) four or five guys a night that are capable of getting in double figures,” Stoudamire said on his radio show.
The Jackets will need all the efficiency they can muster against the sixth-ranked Blue Devils, who have been stewing for 11 days following their first loss of the season on December 20. Duke has also won 18 straight ACC openers in Durham.
Before the ball drops, the ball tips. Enjoy the top notes from my chart as Tech looks for a signature sendoff to 2025 (4:00 p.m. ET, Georgia Tech Sports Network).
Kam Craft (12) is second on the team in three-pointers made. (photo by Danny Karnik)
The analytics intelligentsia may scoff, but they can’t argue with the results.
Georgia Tech’s four lowest Three Point Rates of the season – i.e., the percentage of its field goal attempts that are threes – have come during their four-game win streak. The Jackets have been selective, but they’ve also been effective: Tech has made an impressive 54.7% of its three-point attempts during that span (29 of 53).
Lowest 3pt. Rates (3pt. FGA / Overall FGA)
- Marist 3%
- Florida A&M 4%
- Lafayette 7%
- Monmouth 8%
In the threes-or-layups world of modern basketball, those types of numbers fly against convention. Stoudamire says his team’s lower three-point volume hasn’t been by design, though he chalks it up as a byproduct of something else.
“We’ve put an emphasis on getting paint touches – not necessarily post touches, but paint touches, and I think that we’re getting in the paint and we’re getting fouled,” he said.
“We’re getting to the foul line more and we’re making more free throws. Maybe that’s been the tradeoff.”
Indeed, three of Tech’s five highest Free Throw Rates of the season – i.e., its ratio of free throw attempts to field goal attempts – have come during their win streak. Even more promising: The Jackets have made 81% of their free throws during that span (77 of 95).
Can they now maintain that effectiveness in ACC play? Duke coughed up a 17-point second half in its last game, an 82-81 defeat to No. 15 Texas Tech at Madison Square Garden, but the Blue Devils remain a wagon of a team that has won 23 straight games at Cameron Indoor.
6-9, 250-pound freshman Cameron Boozer, the son of Duke legend Carlos Boozer, leads the nation in scoring (23.3 ppg) while also leading the Blue Devils in rebounds (10.0), assists (4.0) and steals (1.7). Head coach Jon Scheyer moves him all over the court – post-ups, elbow isos, pick-and-rolls both as a screener and ballhandler – where he’s able to create muscular mismatches in a manner more like former Duke forward Paolo Banchero than his Dad (though Stoudamire described him as “like his Dad, but with a jump shot”). 6-11 sophomore Patrick Ngongba II has solidified himself as a lob threat and deep post complement to Boozer, while point guard Caleb Foster may be Duke’s best downhill driver. 6-6 Isaiah Evans (11.8 ppg) has only made 33% of his three-point attempts this year, but he’s a sinewy, streaky guard who sparked Duke with four threes in last year’s ACC Tournament win.
Worth watching: The Blue Devils annually roll out one of the longest, rangiest teams in the ACC. Georgia Tech has assembled one of its longest teams in a while. How much can that neutralize the Blue Devils’ advantage in that area?
Freshman Akai Fleming is averaging 10.2 points per game entering ACC play. (photo by Danny Karnik)
Coaches look for any connection they can during the recruiting process, and their intel on players’ families can be extensive. Yet when Damon Stoudamire was courting freshman guard Akai Fleming out of Marietta, Ga., he didn’t know – and Fleming never volunteered – that his grandfather, Donnie Collins, is the building coordinator at Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.
Stoudamire didn’t learn that until he and Fleming were walking out together for a 7 a.m. conditioning workout this fall.
“We went to the [freshman] hill. I’m running, I’m running, I’m tired,” Fleming recalled.
“I see someone in the distance. I’m like, ‘Oh, is that my grandfather?’ It happened to be him. I pause for a second (and) say what’s up to him.”
Fleming will now make his maiden voyage in ACC play against a Duke team that’s equally snarling on defense.
Duke – NCAA Ranks
Category NCAA Rank
FG% defense 36.2% #4
Scoring defense 62.6 #9
3pt.% defense 27.4% #13
Rebounding margin +10.5 #17
The Blue Devils have length, switchability and spacing, and they gear their defense – fighting over screens, drop coverage – so teams are forced to take tough two’s. They’ll also likely be recommitting themselves to defense after allowing 55% field goal shooting against Texas Tech. Watch out for 6-8 senior Malique Brown, who remains one of the best 1-through-5 defenders in the ACC. Among the keys for Tech: Get second-side opportunities, avoid live ball turnovers, play off two feet, and keep hunting for paint touches in spite of Duke’s length.
Chas Kelley III carries three years of ACC experience to The Flats. (photo by Danny Karnik)
Chas Kelley III will never be confused with a volume shooter. As Stoudamire told his senior guard earlier this year, “’You don’t have to impress me. I’ve seen a lot of basketball.’”
That said, the veteran from Boston College has quietly been on a heater heading into ACC play. Kelley has made his last six three-pointers, and his last nine field goals, dating back to the second half of the Monmouth game. He was a career 36% shooter before coming to Tech.
Now that we’re prepared, we hope you are as well. Join us for pregame coverage starting with the “Ramblin’ Wreck Tipoff Show” at 3:30 p.m. ET on the Georgia Tech Sports Network. See you in Durham.
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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.
ABOUT GEORGIA TECH MEN’S BASKETBALL
Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team is in its third 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.
Season tickets for men’s basketball can be reserved here.
