Men's Basketball Travels for Rematch with Pitt

GEORGIA TECH (11-16, 3-13 ACC) vs. PITTSBURGH (19-8, 12-4 ACC)

• Tuesday, February 21, 2023 | 7 p.m. ET | Pittsburgh, Pa. | Petersen Events Center
• Television:  ACC Network
• Play-by-Play:  Anish Shroff  |  Analyst: Jordan Cornette
• Radio:  Georgia Tech Sports Network by Legends Sports (In Atlanta: 680 AM/93.7 FM | SiriusXM ch. 383, SXM app 973 | Listen Online | Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets App | TuneIn
• Play-by-Play: Andy Demetra  |  Analyst: Randy Waters

THE FLATS – Resuming its Atlantic Coast Conference schedule following a 79-56 win over Division II Florida Tech Saturday, Georgia Tech travels to face Pittsburgh for a 7 p.m. contest Tuesday at the Petersen Events Center.

Georgia Tech (11-16, 3-13 ACC) has won three of its last four games, taking down Virginia Tech last Wednesday night, 77-70, a week after squeezing by Notre Dame, 70-68, both at home. In between, the Yellow Jackets lost by one point, 71-70, in the final seconds at Wake Forest. The recent strong play lifted Tech out of last place into 13th place in the ACC standings, ahead of Notre Dame and Louisville. The Jackets’ other conference win came Jan. 4 over Miami, the ACC’s current second-place team.

Pittsburgh (19-8, 12-4 ACC) saw a six-game winning streak come to an end Saturday in a 79-72 loss at Virginia Tech. Prior to that, the Panthers had won eight of nine games to ascend to a share of first place in the ACC, one of those wins by a 71-60 score against the Yellow Jackets in Atlanta on Jan. 14. Pitt begins the week in third place in the conference, one game behind first-place Virginia.

Tuesday’s game will be televised live on the ACC Network, with a live stream of the broadcast available on the ESPN app. Radio coverage is on the Georgia Tech Sports Network by Legends Sports and flagship station 680 the Fan (680 AM/93.7 FM), and on satellite radio (SiriusXM channel 392, SXM app 982).

THE TIP-OFF

• Georgia Tech finishes its home schedule Saturday against last-place Louisville. Tech finishes out the regular season next week with road games at eighth-place Syracuse and 10th-place Boston College.
• Panther quadrilateral – Tuesday’s game is the fourth this season for Georgia Tech against teams called the Panthers. Besides the two meetings against Pitt, Tech has played Florida Tech and Georgia State. The Yellow Jackets also have faced two teams called the Huskies (Northern Illinois, Northeastern).
• Pitt’s Jan. 14 win in Atlanta was the largest margin of victory for the Panthers in the series. The previous five Tech losses came by an average of 5.6 points. It also was Pitt’s first win in Atlanta since the same date in 2014.
• Georgia Tech has utilized the same starting lineup (Lance Terry, Kyle Sturdivant, Deebo Coleman, Miles Kelly, Ja’von Franklin) for its last five games, only the second time this season that head coach Josh Pastner has sent out the same starting five for the opening tip for as many as five straight games. The other occurrence happened for the five-game stretch from North Alabama (Nov. 26) and North Carolina (Dec. 10), in which the starting five were Coleman, Kelly, Franklin, Deivon Smith and Jalon Moore.
• Tech has used 11 different starting lineups this season, and no Yellow Jacket has started every game. Nine Jackets have started at least two games, and eight of them have started a minimum of 13 times.
• Tech leads the ACC in three-point defense and is 25th nationally, allowing 30.1 percent from distance.
• Tech is No. 2 in the ACC in bench scoring, its reserves contributing 19.5 points per game this season. The bench has provided 30 or more points six times this season, and has outscored its opponents’ reserves in 14 of 26 games.
• Tech’s February upswing has been led by its two transfers, guard Lance Terry and center Ja’von Franklin, who have averaged 14.0 and 13.8 points, respectively, over the last five games.
• Since Terry returned from his hamstring injury (last five games), Tech has averaged 72.0 points per game, connected on 44.5 percent of its shots from the floor and 39.4 percent (43-of-109) of its three-point attempts. In the four games he missed, Tech averaged 53.8 points, hit 34.5 percent of its field goals and 25.2 percent of its threes.
• Tech has scored 70 points or more in four straight games (Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Florida Tech), a threshold the Yellow Jackets had reached just twice (Miami, first meeting vs. Notre Dame) in their first 13 conference games.

In his five games back from injury, Lance Terry has led the Jackets in scoring at 14 points per game. (photo by Danny Karnik)

SERIES NOTES VS. PITTSBURGH

• Pittsburgh won the first scheduled meeting between the two teams in 2022-23, a 71-60 decision in Atlanta that snapped a three-game Georgia Tech winning streak in the series. Tech still leads the series 12-6, including a 7-6 mark since Pitt became an ACC member.
• The teams are playing twice this season for just the third time since the Panthers joined the ACC. Tech and Pitt split the games previously, in 2017 and 2020.
• Tech’s 73-57 win in its final home game of the 2019-20 campaign was the widest margin of victory for either team in 13 meetings as ACC foes.
• Tech has won six of nine games between the two teams since Josh Pastner became the head coach.
• Tech is 5-1 against the Panthers’ current head coach, Jeff Capel, having scored an 86-65 victory over VCU during the 2003-04 season when Capel was the Rams’ head coach.

TEAM TRENDS

• Four or more Yellow Jackets have reached double digits in the scoring column in 13 games this season, and Tech has won 10 of those games.
• Tech has scored 70 points or more in four straight games (Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Florida Tech). The Yellow Jackets are 9-2 this season when scoring 70 or more points (3-2 in the ACC), 2-14 when failing to reach 70.
• Tech has outshot four of its last five opponents from the floor, holding them collectively to 40.6 percent overall, 27.4 percent from three-point range. The Yellow Jackets are 10-1 this season when they have a higher field goal percentage.
• Four Tech players (Lance Terry 14.0 ppg, Ja’von Franklin 13.8, Miles Kelly 11.4, Deebo Coleman 10.8) are averaging double digits in points over the Yellow Jackets’ last five games, and a fifth (Kyle Sturdivant) is averaging 9.6.
• Tech has outrebounded each of its last five opponents, doing so by an average of 3.4 per game.
• Tech’s 47.7-percent clip from the floor against Florida Tech was its highest percentage on field goals since Dec. 17 vs. Alabama State (54.4).
• After slipping below 100 points per 100 possessions (KenPom offensive efficiency rating) in nine straight games, all losses, Tech has been above 100 points per 100 possessions in each of its last four games (Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Florida Tech), three of which the Jackets won and the other they lost by one point.
• Florida Tech’s 56 points were the fewest Georgia Tech has given up since yielding 50 to Northern Illinois in the second game of the season. The Panthers’ 82.5 points per 100 possessions also was the lowest since that game.

PLAYER UPDATES

• Center Ja’von Franklin has averaged a double-double over the Yellow Jackets’ last five games (13.8 points and 11.2 rebounds). He has hit 57.7 percent of his shots from the floor (30-of-52) in that span, and also has totaled a team-high 17 assists, 13 blocked shots and eight steals
• Franklin has posted double-doubles in each of Tech’s last three games (14 pts/15 rebs at Wake Forest, 10 pts/10 rebs vs. Virginia Tech, 13/14 vs. Florida Tech), and has six for the season, three in conference games.
• In five games since returning from his hamstring injury, which kept him out of four games, Lance Terry has averaged 14.0 points, hit 49.1 percent of his shots from the floor (26-of-53 pct.) and 42.9 percent from three-point range (9-of-21).
• Terry has reached double figures in points four times in five games since his return from injury, including highs of 19 points each vs. Notre Dame and Florida Tech.
• Terry surpassed 800 career points in the Florida Tech game, and now had 816, most among the Yellow Jackets. Franklin is next with 642, followed by Sturdivant with 573. Deivon Smith crossed 500 points in his last game.
• Miles Kelly (12 points vs. Florida Tech) scored his second straight game in double figures and fifth in the last 11. Kelly remains the Yellow Jackets’ leading scorer in all games (12.8 ppg) and in ACC games (12.6).
• Jalon Moore reached double figures (15 points vs. Florida Tech) for the first time since Jan. 21 vs. Syracuse, eight games ago.
• Kyle Sturdivant has averaged 10.8 points over his last six games, having reached double figures in four of them (17 at Louisville, 13 at NC State, 12 vs. Notre Dame, 10 vs. Virginia Tech). He has made 13-of-29 from three-point range over that stretch.
• Deebo Coleman set a career highs in assists (5) and steals (4) against Florida Tech.
• Deivon Smith has missed Tech’s last two games with a sprained right ankle.

Alexander-Tharpe Fund

The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Georgia Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of developing Georgia Tech’s Everyday Champions and helping the Yellow Jackets compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes. To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.

ABOUT GEORGIA TECH MEN’S BASKETBALL

Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team has completed six seasons under head coach Josh Pastner, winning the Atlantic Coast Conference championship in 2021 and making its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 11 years. 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 Twitter (@GTMBB) and Instagram. For more information on Tech basketball, visit Ramblinwreck.com.