Jan. 15, 2011
Game Notes in PDF Format
Coach Hewitt Previews UNC Game
ATLANTA – In the first of three ACC Sunday Night Hoops national television games involving Georgia Tech, the Yellow Jackets return home from a two-game road trip to host North Carolina at 7:45 p.m. Sunday night at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
Tech (7-8, 0-2 ACC) is looking for its first Atlantic Coast Conference win after dropping games at Boston College and Clemson, and also looking to snap a three-game losing streak in Sunday’s game. The Yellow Jackets are 5-2 at home this season.
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.
Tickets for the game are available and can be purchased at gate 1 Sunday.
North Carolina (12-4, 2-0) has won its first two conference games, a road game against Virginia and a home game against Virginia Tech, and comes to Atlanta on a five-game winning streak since a two-point loss to Texas on Dec. 18. The Tar Heels, who are unranked but receiving votes in both national polls, are 2-1 in road games this season.
This is the only regular-season meeting between the two teams this season. Tech won all three games between the two teams last season, including a 62-58 win in the ACC Tournament and a 68-51 decision in Atlanta.
Tech has two more Sunday Night Hoops games scheduled this season – Jan. 30 at home against Maryland, and Feb. 20 at Duke.
Game Data
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (7-8, 0-2 ACC) vs. North Carolina Tar Heels (12-4, 2-0 ACC)
Date: Sunday, January 16, 2011
Tipoff: 7:45 p.m. Eastern time
Site: Alexander Memorial Coliseum (capacity 9,191), Atlanta, Ga.
Television: Fox Sports Net – Tim Brando, play-by-play; Mike Gminski, color; Jenn Hildreth, reporter
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. 122; XM Ch. 143
Tickets: 888-TECH-TIX (available at the arena beginning at 6:30 p.m.)
Tech Record Breakdown: 5-2 at home, 0-5 on the road, 2-1 neutral
Series History: UNC leads, 60-23 (UNC leads 12-10 at Alexander Memorial Coliseum)
At Alexander Memorial Coliseum: Georgia Tech is 551-190 in its 54th and final season in the building.
Series History – Tech vs. North Carolina
> North Carolina has a 60-23 lead in the all-time series between the two teams, and a 46-21 advantage since Tech joined the ACC. The Tar Heels have won 20 of the last 29 meetings, but Tech swept the regular-season series in 2010 for the first time since 1996, and added an ACC Tournament victory to make it three wins over North Carolina for the first time since 1985.
> The teams have played 34 times in the city of Atlanta, but only 22 times at Alexander Memorial Coliseum, where the Tar Heels hold an 12-10 lead. Tech has won five of the last six meetings in the Thrillerdome, however, and is 5-2 against UNC in the Coliseum under Paul Hewitt. The top-ranked Tar Heels’ 83-82 win during the 2007-08 season was head coach Roy Williams’ first win at the Thrillerdome.
> Between 1982 and 1996, the Yellow Jackets played eight of their home games with the Tar Heels at the old Omni arena in downtown Atlanta (2-6 record). Counting ACC and SIC Tournament games played in the city, Tech is 13-21 vs. North Carolina in Atlanta.
> Tech is 9-11 against UNC under Paul Hewitt, but 8-3 in games played away from Chapel Hill, including three ACC Tournament wins. The Jackets are 7-6 against the Tar Heels under Roy Williams, 7-7 against Williams all-time.
> In ACC Tournament play, the Yellow Jackets have won five of nine meetings, and Tech has won the last three encounters (2004, 2005, 2010). Two of Tech’s five tournament wins occurred in championship games, the 1985 final in Atlanta and the 1993 final in Charlotte.
> Tech’s greatest success in its series with North Carolina occurred during the middle 1990s when the Jackets won five of seven meetings, including three straight wins over No. 1-ranked Tar Heel teams during the 1993 and 1994 campaigns.
Last Year vs. North Carolina
Jan. 16 in Chapel Hill – Zachery Peacock made the go-ahead shot with 25.7 seconds left to rescue the 20th-ranked Yellow Jackets, who blew a 20-point lead and held off the 12th-ranked Tar Heels 73-71. Iman Shumpert finished with a career-high 30 points to lead the Yellow Jackets, who figured out a way to pull out a win after falling behind in the wild final minutes. Peacock managed just six points with one second-half field goal, but that shot in the lane rolled around the rim before dropping through to give Georgia Tech its first win in Chapel Hill since 1996.
Feb. 16 in Atlanta – Freshman Derrick Favors shook off a scoring slump with 13 points and Georgia Tech beat North Carolina 68-51 in the Tar Heels’ lowest scoring game in the Roy Williams era. Georgia Tech ended a two-game losing streak and completed its first regular-season sweep of the Tar Heels since 1995-96.
March 11 in the ACC Tournament – Derrick Favors had 18 points and nine rebounds to help Georgia Tech hold off North Carolina 62-58 in the first round of the ACC Tournament. Gani Lawal added 12 points for the seventh-seeded Yellow Jackets, who trailed by 13 points in the first half, but rallied early in the second half to tie the game before finally pushing ahead in the final four minutes. Favors had a huge game, hitting his first seven shots while coming up with a key block of Tyler Zeller’s lay-up attempt to tie it with about two minutes left.
