Pittsburgh Pulls Away Late, Downs Tech 73-64

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Pittsburgh, Pa. – Michael Devoe paced Georgia Tech with 22 points and had seven assists, but Georgia Tech was undone by 22 turnovers and fell, 72-64, to Pittsburgh Saturday afternoon at the Petersen Events Center.

The Yellow Jackets (11-13, 5-8 ACC) hung tough against the Panthers (15-9, 6-7 ACC), rallying from a nine-point deficit early in the second half to tie the game, but Pitt answered with an 8-2 run behind key baskets from Trey McGowens and Xavier Johnson to pull away. Tech could get no closer than three points after that

Devoe keyed the Tech rally, scoring eight of Tech’s points in an 11-2 run that tied the game at 52-52 with 7:12 left. The 6-5 sophomore hit 7-of-10 shots from the floor, 3-of-5 from three-point range and 5-of-5 from the foul line, but was responsible for eight of the Jackets’ turnovers.

Tech shot 48 percent for the game, getting 18 assists on 24 made field goals, and held Pitt to 42.1 percent, but the Panthers scored 20 points off the Jackets’ turnovers and had 14 points from offensive rebounds.

Pitt freshman Justin Champagnie scored a game-high 30 points, hitting 12-of-17 shots from the floor, including a trio of threes, with nine rebounds. Johnson scored 11 with seven assists, and McGowens added 14 with nine assists, and the duo turned the ball over just twice between them. The Panthers had 16 assists on 24 made field goals and turned the ball over just eight times total.

Moses Wright reached double figures for Tech with seven rebounds, and Jose Alvarado finished with nine points and four assists, but played the final 12:13 with four fouls.

Georgia Tech returns home to take on No. 5 Louisville at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 4 at McCamish Pavilion. The game will be televised on the ACC Network.

Michael Devoe scored 22 points, his eighth 20-point game this season. (file photo by Danny Karnik)

 

Post-Game Notes

TEAM NOTES

• Tech trailed at the half for the 17^th time this season (28-24) and has come back to win five of those games.
• Tech has won the rebounding battle six times and held even twice in 11 games since the beginning of January. The Jackets are plus-22 on the boards in ACC games for the season, averaging around one per game more than their opponents.
• Tech has averaged 39 points in the paint over its last 11 games (36 vs. Pittsburgh), compared to 27 for its opponents. Only Duke (38-36) and Louisville (32-30) have scored more than Tech in that stretch.
• None of Georgia Tech’s starters played as many as 32 minutes (Moses Wright played 31:56), and the Yellow Jacket reserves played nearly 50 minutes of the game.
• Tech shot 48 percent against Pittsburgh, missing by one field goal made in 50 attempts. The Jackets have hit the 50-percent mark from the floor seven times this season and for the five time in ACC play (all since Jan. 4)..
• Tech has hit 14-of-34 (41.2 percent) of its three-point attempts in its last two games.
• Tech hit the 20-turnover mark (22 vs. Pittsburgh for the fifth time this season. The Jackets had averaged just 10 turnovers in its prior four games (13 each vs. NC State and Morehouse, five at Notre Dame, 10 vs. Virginia Tech), and just 14.1 in the 14 games since the return of Jose Alvarado to the Yellow Jackets’ lineup.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• Michael Devoe scored 22 points at Pittsburgh, his first game over 20 points since Jan. 22 at Louisville (21 points), and his eighth this season. Three of those have come in ACC games (22 vs. Notre Dame on Jan. 15, 21 at Louisville, 22 at Pittsburgh). The sophomore guard hit 7-of-10 shots from the floor, 3-of-5 from three-point range and 5-of-5 from the foul line.
• Devoe’s seven assists matched a season high set against Nebraska on Dec. 4.
• Moses Wright scored 13 points (5-12 FG) with seven rebounds against Pittsburgh, his fifth double-digit scoring game in the last seven after a streak of eight straight with 10 or more. The 6-9 junior has failed to reach double figures just five times this season, never in back-to-back games.
• Wright has connected on 63 percent of his free throws (34-of-54) over Tech’s last 15 games after going just 4-of-14 in the first nine games of the season.
• Though Tech committed 22 turnovers against Pitt, only two of those came from Jose Alvarado and Bubba Parham (one each), who combined for seven assists.
• Jose Alvarado has hit 23-of-59 shots (39 pct.) from three-point range in his last 11 games (1-of-4 at Pitt) and is 59-of-121 overall (48.8 pct.) during that stretch.
• Alvarado and Devoe have combined to sink 38.5 percent of their three-point attempts in ACC games, 46.9 percent overall from the floor.
• Junior forward Evan Cole missed his second straight game with an injured right ankle, sustained in the team’s shootaround the day of the Virginia Tech game on Feb. 4.

Jose Alvarado was limited to nine points and four assists. (file photo by Danny Karnik)

 

 

Multimedia

Georgia Tech head coach Josh Pastner postgame press conference