Men's Hoops Announces 2015-16 Schedule

Sept. 2, 2015

2015-16 Schedule | Purchase Season Tickets | Complete ACC Schedule Release | ACC Composite Schedule

THE FLATS – A minimum of nine nationally-televised games, as well 17 games against teams that played in last year’s NCAA or NIT championships highlight the 2015-16 schedule for Georgia Tech men’s basketball, announced Wednesday by the Atlantic Coast Conference office.

McCamish Pavilion will be the site of ACC games against 2015 NCAA tournament teams Virginia (Jan. 9), Louisville (Jan. 23, ESPN or ESPN2), defending NCAA champion Duke (Feb. 2, ESPNU)) and defending ACC champion Notre Dame (Feb. 20, ESPN2), as well as non-conference dates against Tennessee (Nov. 13) and VCU (Dec. 15) which will be televised nationally on ESPNU and ESPN2, respectively.

Tech also will get national television exposure in both of its games in the NIT Season Tip-Off Nov. 26-27 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. The Yellow Jackets face NCAA third-round opponent Arkansas on Thanksgiving Day (ESPNU) and either pre-season top-10 Villanova or defending NIT champion Stanford on the Friday after Thanksgiving (ESPNU or ESPN2).

In the ACC, games against Louisville (Jan. 23), Syracuse (Jan. 30) and NIT finalist Miami (Feb. 7) are also slated for telecast on one of the ESPN networks.

All 13 remaining conference games will be televised regionally over the ACC Network or the ACC’s Regional Sports Networks. Tip times and television coverage for those games and for some of Tech’s non-conference games will be determined and announced later in September.

For the second time in the last five years, Tech opens its ACC slate with a pair of road games, Jan. 2 at North Carolina and Jan. 6 at Pittsburgh, and the Yellow Jackets are on the road three times in their first four conference games, including the Jan. 13 contest at Notre Dame.

Beginning Jan. 16 against Virginia Tech, however, the Jackets are home for five games in a seven-game stretch, including Louisville (Jan. 23), Duke (Feb. 2), Miami (Feb. 7) and Wake Forest (Feb. 10).

Gregory’s fifth Tech team returns three starters, including senior forward Marcus Georges-Hunt, the sixth-leading returning scorer in the ACC and promising sophomore scoring guard Tadric Jackson, as well as one of the ACC’s top double-double practitioners in senior forward Charles Mitchell. All told, 10 letterwinners are back, including six of the team’s top nine scorers. The Jackets also welcome to their ranks the ACC’s top three-point shooter from last season, Adam Smith, a Virginia Tech transfer, and high-scoring forward Nick Jacobs, a transfer from Alabama who sat out the 2014-15 season.

SCHEDULE NOTES

• Including both conference and non-conference foes, Georgia Tech will have 17 games during the regular season against teams that played either in the NCAA Championship or NIT last season. That’s four more than last season.
• ESPN’s early top-25 rankings include North Carolina (2), Virginia (4), Duke (6), Villanova (10) and Notre Dame (16).
• All of Tech’s weekend games fall on a Saturday except Feb. 7 against Miami, which is a Sunday. The Yellow Jackets will not play on Monday in 2015-16 after playing three Monday games last year.
• The six ACC teams that played in the NCAA Championship last year all won at least one game. NC State and North Carolina each won two, Louisville and Notre Dame won three each, and Duke won the national championship.
• Four of those six teams come to McCamish Pavilion in 2015-16 – Virginia (Jan. 9), Louisville (Jan. 23), Duke (Feb. 2) and Notre Dame (Feb. 20).
• Miami reached the championship game of the NIT, where it lost to Stanford, a possible Tech opponent on Nov. 27 in the NIT Season Tip-Off. The Hurricanes visit McCamish Pavilion on Feb. 7.
• Tech opens its ACC schedule on the road for the third straight year, Jan. 2 at North Carolina, a team projected to contend for the national title. The Yellow Jackets actually open with two straight road games for the second time in three years, following the trip to Chapel Hill with a Jan. 6 game at Pittsburgh.
• Unlike last year’s slate, Tech’s ACC schedule features consecutive road games four times – North Carolina and Pittsburgh in early January, NC State and Syracuse in late January, Clemson and Florida State in mid-February, Boston College and Louisville on Feb. 27 and March 1.
• Tech has consecutive home games twice – Duke, Miami and Wake Forest in early February and Notre Dame and Clemson in late February. The Jackets host Virginia Tech and Louisville on Jan. 16 and 23, but Tech has a mid-week bye between those games.
• Tech will play in Louisville’s KFC Yum! Center for the first time. The Yellow Jackets have played at Louisville a number of times in the past, but 11 of the 13 games were contested at Freedom Hall, and the other two at the Louisville Convention Center. Tech’s last visit to Louisville occurred Feb. 14, 1999.
• Tech and Wake Forest play only once this season (Feb. 10 at McCamish Pavilion), the first time that the teams haven’t played twice in the regular season. The Jackets and Demon Deacons were permanent home-and-away partners through the 2013-14 season, and also played twice last year.
• Tech has won its last meeting with every team on its non-conference schedule that it has previously played, except Stanford, and leads the all-time series with all except the Cardinal and Tennessee, which visits McCamish Pavilion Nov. 16.
• The Volunteers will return to Atlanta during the 2017-18 season, and the Yellow Jackets will play Tennessee in Knoxville during the 2016-17 and 2018-19 seasons … Tech will travel to Richmond to play VCU in 2016-17, while Tulane will play the Yellow Jackets at McCamish Pavilion next season … Wofford will return to Atlanta to play Tech again in 2016-17, and the Jackets will visit Wofford in 2017-18.
• Four of the teams on Tech’s non-conference schedule finished 2015-16 with RPI rankings 102 and above – VCU (21), Georgia (45), Wofford (49) and Tennessee (102).
• Tech is playing in the NIT Season Tip-Off for the fifth time, and first since winning the title in 2003, on its way to a 12-0 start and a berth in the national championship game.
• Tech is 10-7 in road games at non-Power 5 conference venues since the 2001-02 season, and the Yellow Jackets will visit Tulane on Dec. 5.
• Tech has defeated Georgia four straight years, its longest winning streak in the series since leaving the Southeastern Conference. The Jackets won four in a row during the 1962-63 and 1963-64 seasons. Tech won 10 in a row over the Bulldogs between 1958-61.
• Among non-ACC foes, Tech has faced Tennessee and Tulane (69 times each) more than anyone except Georgia (191 times), Auburn (114 times) and Vanderbilt (73 times).

ABOUT GEORGIA TECH MEN’S BASKETBALL
Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team is beginning its fifth year under head coach Brian Gregory. The Yellow Jackets have been a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference since 1979, won three ACC Championships (1985, 1990, 1993), played in the NCAA Tournament 16 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 (@GTMBK).