Jan. 6, 2011
Complete game notes
Coach Hewitt Presser, January 5
ATLANTA – For the first time since the 2006-07 season, Georgia Tech opens its Atlantic Coast Conference schedule on the road with a 4 p.m. tip Saturday at Boston College, followed by a Tuesday game at Clemson.
Tech (7-6) has won three of its last five games entering conference play, but lost its last game on Sunday night to Charlotte, 86-83, in double overtime at home. the Yellow Jackets are looking for their first win on an opponent’s home court, where they are 0-3 this year.
Head coach Paul Hewitt’s team returns two starters and eight letterwinners from a team that won three games in last year’s ACC Tournament to reach the championship game, then won their first-round game in the NCAA Tournament. Tech has been picked to finish ninth in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Boston College (11-4) is off to a strong start in its first season under head coach Steve Donahue, and are 6-2 at home. The Eagles won their conference opener at Maryland on Dec. 12, and have won eight of their last 10 games, including an 85-70 win at South Carolina last weekend.
This is the only regular-season meeting between the two teams this year. The Yellow Jackets have played nearly half of their 2010-11 schedule to date away from Alexander Memorial Coliseum, and have a combined 2-4 mark away from home.
Hewitt is in his 11th season at Tech, the third-longest tenure of any ACC head coach behind Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski (30th season) and Maryland’s Gary Williams (22nd season), and has a record of 184-150.
Game Data
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (7-6, 0-0 ACC) vs. Boston College Eagles (11-4, 1-0 ACC)
Date: Saturday, January 8, 2011
Tipoff: 4 p.m. Eastern time
Site: Conte Forum (capacity 8,606), Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Television: FS South, FS Florida, CSN, NESN – Rich Waltz, play-by-play; Larry Conley, color
Radio: Georgia Tech/ISP Sports Network, live on flagship station WQXI-AM (790 the Zone) and WYAY-FM (106.7) – Wes Durham, play-by-play; Randy Waters, color.
Satellite Radio: Sirius Ch. 121; XM Ch. 141 (BC broadcast)
On the web: www.Ramblinwreck.com; www.twitter/com/gtathletics; www.facebook.com/gtathletics
Tech Record Breakdown: 5-2 at home, 0-3 on the road, 2-1 neutral
Series Record: Tech leads, 8-4 (2-2 in Chestnut Hill)
Series History – Tech vs. Boston College
> Georgia Tech won the only meeting between the two teams last year, a 73-68 decision Atlanta, after the Eagles had swept the regular-season series in 2008-09. Tech has an 8-4 advantage in the overall series, and the teams have split four meetings at Chestnut Hill.
> BC captured a 67-66 win on Tech’s last visit to the Conte Forum in 2009, and the Yellow Jackets’ last win there occurred on Mar. 8, 2008 (86-78).
> Tech has won five of the eight games played against BC with Paul Hewitt as its head coach. The Jackets are 3-0 against current Eagles’ coach Steve Donahue, all when he was the head coach at Cornell.
> Ten of the games in the short series have been decided by less than 10 points, seven of them by four points or less, and two by overtime.
> The teams split two meetings in 2005-06, each team winning at home in BC’s first season in the ACC, and Tech won single meetings in 2006-07 and 2007-08.
> The four meetings in Boston have been played at three different venues. The Jan. 29, 2005 game was Tech’s first visit to the Conte Forum, BC’s current home court. The first game in the series on Dec. 31, 1946, was played at Boston Arena, and the teams also played in the Boston Garden on Jan. 19, 1980.
> Prior to the 2005-06 season, the teams met four times on neutral floors, including one outside the United States, a 65-62 overtime win for the Yellow Jackets in the 1986 Suntory Ball in Tokyo, Japan.
> The teams have met twice in NCAA Tournament competition, Tech winning both times. The Yellow Jackets downed the Eagles, 103-89, in the 1996 Southeast Regional second round in Orlando, and eliminated the Eagles in 2004, 57-54 in the second round in Milwaukee.
Tech on the Road in the ACC
Georgia Tech has begun its ACC schedule on the road 16 times in 31 seasons in the conference, winning seven of them. The last time Tech won an ACC opener that was on the road was at Maryland in December of 1992.
Tech has begun its ACC schedule with two road games five times (1984-85, 1986-87, 1988-89, 1999-2000 and 2006-07). The Jackets went 1-1 the first three times, and lost both in 1999-2000 and 2006-07.
Last Meeting vs. Boston College
Iman Shumpert scored 24 points, including nine straight late in the second half, and Derrick Favors added 14 points to lead Georgia Tech to a 73-68 victory over Boston College in the teams’ only meeting last year.
Tech (19-9, 7-7 Atlantic Coast Conference), improved to 14-1 at home. The Yellow Jackets had lost three of four.
Boston College (14-14, 5-9) was led by Joe Trapani with 26 points. Reggie Jackson added 13 points and Corey Raji had 12 for the Eagles, who had their two-game winning streak snapped.
With Tech leading 56-45 with 8:49 left, Shumpert hit four straight shots, including a 3-pointer, to give the Yellow Jackets a 65-53 lead with 4:06 remaining. The Yellow Jackets biggest lead of the second half was 15 at 54-39 with 11:24 left and led 73-61 with 22 second left before the Eagles scored the last seven points.
