Inside The Chart – Notre Dame

By Andy Demetra | Voice of the Yellow Jackets

Welcome to McCamish Pavilion, cardiologist’s paradise.

So far this season, five of Georgia Tech’s nine home games – Miami (OH), Georgia Southern, Wisconsin, Georgia State, and Louisville – came down to the final minute of regulation.  And Yellow Jacket fans have every reason to expect another white-knuckle finish Saturday.

Coming off a hard-fought but empty-handed trip to Duke, Georgia Tech (6-7, 0-3 ACC) now looks for its first ACC win of the season when it takes on suddenly surging Notre Dame (8-5, 2-1 ACC) at McCamish Pavilion.  In eight all-time meetings between the Jackets and Irish at McCamish, the games have been decided by a comically minuscule 28 points – an average of 3.5 points.

That includes last year, when Tech rallied from a 15-point halftime deficit to knock off the Irish 82-80.  With the teams seemingly fated to play close games until the end of time, Georgia Tech knows it can’t afford a lapse or lull.  They’ll try to keep their alertness up – and for Tech fans, their heart rates down – as they jump back into conference play.

Enjoy the top five notes from my chart before Saturday’s contest at McCamish (6 p.m. ET, Georgia Tech Sports Network from Legends Sports):

Michael Devoe drained seven of nine shots from the floor for 19 points last year vs. Notre Dame. (photo by Danny Karnik)

Georgia Tech beat Notre Dame last year in spite of having its worst defensive efficiency rating of the season according to KenPom.  Only twice in the last 20 years has Tech had a worse efficiency rating in a win:

Defending the three will once again be a top priority Saturday.  No team in the ACC attempts a higher volume of three-pointers than the Irish, who excel at making the pump fakes and plus-one passes that lead to open looks.  Six-foot-10 Nate Laszewski, who had a team-high 27 points against Georgia Tech last season, made 6 of 7 threes in Notre Dame’s win over North Carolina and thrives on quick pick-and-pops.  Leading scorer Dane Goodwin (15.1 ppg, 46.8 pct. 3pt.) comes off screens well and has a fondness for elbow jumpers.  Guard Prentiss Hubb, who’s slowly emerging from a season-long shooting slump, had 15 points and 10 assists against Tech last year and is a clever creator off the dribble.

With the Irish’s blocker-mover continuity offense, the Jackets can’t overcommit on help or close out soft on Notre Dame’s shooters.  They’ll also need to make Laszewski feel their physicality – he’s adept at ranging and relocating for threes.

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How supercharged was last year’s game offensively?  It was only the ACC game in the last decade – and just the third between power-conference opponents in the last decade – in which both teams shot better than 58 percent from the field.

Notre Dame has allowed better than 50-percent shooting against Tech in each of its last two games at McCamish.  The Irish won’t extend up the line as breathlessly as Duke or Louisville did.

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Josh Pastner had to cut himself a deal.

Pastner likes the cutting and read-and-react concepts of his motion offense, and he trusts his players to braid the ball into a good shot.  But he also saw his team continue to commit an ungainly number of turnovers as ACC restarted.

In an effort to curb that, Pastner said he decided to call more designed plays going into the Louisville game.  It may be anathema to his coaching philosophy, but it’s worked:  the Yellow Jackets committed nine turnovers each against Louisville and Duke.  The Blue Devils ranked 13th nationally in turnover margin; Tech finished with a +1 edge on Tuesday.

Why will turnovers be so crucial against Notre Dame?  The Irish have a perennially low turnover rate, and combined with their penchant for shooting threes, any “possession gap” created by Tech turnovers could be costly.  Also, can the likes of Parham, Deebo Coleman, Miles Kelly and Deivon Smith provide some relief from outside?  The four are a combined 1 for 20 over the last two games.  North Carolina kickstarted its comeback in the second half by switching to a four-guard lineup; if Tech follows suit, any one of them could be thrust into the spotlight.

Jordan Usher has averaged 16.8 points and 6.8 rebounds over Tech’s last six games. (photo by Jaylynn Nash)

Georgia Tech faced the likely ACC Freshman of the Year Tuesday in Duke’s Paolo Banchero.

They may face the second highest vote-getter Saturday.

Though he didn’t receive any of the 81 votes for preseason Freshman of the Year, Notre Dame’s Blake Wesley has rocketed into the first round of several NBA mock drafts.  The 6-5, 185-pounder (13.5 ppg) has already flashed his big-game ability, scoring 24 points against Illinois and hitting the game-winning three-pointer against No. 10 Kentucky.  Strong and crafty, Wesley has an ability to attack against multiple pick-and-roll coverages.  He’s also a surprising second in the ACC in usage rate (30.3 pct.).  The defense of Jordan Usher and Khalid Moore, Tech’s sturdy senior wings, could make for interesting theatre Saturday.

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Notre Dame doesn’t get its offense exclusively from outside – pay attention to 6-9 Yale transfer Paul Atkinson, Jr. (11.3 ppg, 3rd on the team), who along with Laszewski uses slips and ghost screens to get looks at the rim.

A former Ivy League Player of the Year, Atkinson Jr. arrived in South Bend after the Ivy League cancelled its winter sports last year.  And prior to that, he could have been teammates with … Jordan Usher.  The Canton, Ga., native told me he took an official visit to Yale on the same weekend as Atkinson.

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Now that we’re prepared, we hope you are as well.  Join us for pregame coverage starting at 5:30 p.m. ET on the Georgia Tech Sports Network from Legends Sports.  See you at McCamish.

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