Tech Opens ACC Play vs. North Carolina

Georgia Tech vs. North Carolina

Sunday, December 5, 2021 | 3 p.m. ET | Atlanta, Ga. | McCamish Pavilion

Television: ESPN2 | Live Stream

Play-by-Play: Doug Sherman  |  Analyst: Cory Alexander

Radio: Georgia Tech Sports Network by Legends Sports (In Atlanta: 680 AM/93.7 The Fan | XM 382, SiriusXM app 972 | Listen Online | Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets App | TuneIn

Play-by-Play: Andy Demetra  |  Analyst: Randy Waters

THE FLATS – Facing each other in December for the third time in the last six seasons, Georgia Tech opens Atlantic Coast Conference play against North Carolina in a nationally-televised 3 p.m. contest Sunday afternoon at McCamish Pavilion.

Coming off its first ACC championship season since 1993 and its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2011, the Yellow Jackets (5-2) enter Sunday’s game following a 70-66 home court loss to Wisconsin Wednesday night in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The loss snapped a five-game winning streak that included an 88-78 win on the road at Georgia.

Reigning ACC Tournament MVP Michael Devoe (Orlando, Fla.), the nation’s leading scorer (25.0 points per game) and three-point shooter (59 percent, 3.83 made per game), leads the Yellow Jackets along with senior forward Jordan Usher (Canton, Ga.), averaging 14.2 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.

North Carolina (5-2), playing a true road game for the second time early this season, trampled Michigan, 72-51, at home in its Big Ten/ACC matchup last Wednesday. The Tar Heels, under first-year head coach Hubert Davis, suffered their only two losses to Purdue and Tennessee, both neutral site games in the Basketball Hall of Fame Tournament just before Thanksgiving in Uncasville, Conn.

Sunday’s game will be televised live on ESPN2, and also streamed live on the ESPN app. Radio coverage will be on the Georgia Tech Sports Network by Legends Sports and flagship station WCNN (680/93.7 the Fan), and on satellite radio (XM channel 371, SiriusXM app 371).

Defense ➡️ Offense ➡️ Jacket Nation#TogetherWeSwarm pic.twitter.com/8bcptkkA8S

— Georgia Tech Men’s Basketball (@GTMBB) December 3, 2021

THE OPENING TIP

• Tar Heel blues – Georgia Tech and North Carolina have played two December games in McCamish Pavilion in the last five seasons, and the Yellow Jackets won them both, 75-63 on New Year’s Eve 2016, and 72-67 last Dec. 30.
• Fight the power – Sunday’s game is the second in a stretch of four straight for Georgia Tech against power conference foes. Tech hosted Wisconsin Wednesday night, a 70-66 loss, then meets LSU Dec. 11 at State Farm Arena and No. 20 Southern California Dec. 18 in Phoenix, Ariz.
• From downtown – Tech enters Wednesday’s game ranked No. 3 in the ACC and No. 16 nationally in three-point percentage (40.7). After hitting just four 3s in 17 attempts (all by Michael Devoe) against Miami of Ohio, Georgia Tech has gone 46-of-106 (43.4 percent) in the last six games, including 6-of-16 vs. Wisconsin.
• Friendly confines – The Jackets play seven of their first eight games this season at McCamish Pavilion. Tech does not leave the state of Georgia to play until Dec. 18, when it travels to Phoenix, Ariz., to play Southern California.
• Gang rebounding – Tech has outrebounded six of its seven opponents this season and has a plus-7.0 rebound margin collectively, second in the ACC only to North Carolina (plus-7.43).
• Finding the basket – North Carolina (.483) and Georgia Tech (.482) rank 3-4 in the ACC in field goal percentage, and 2-3 in the conference in three-point percentage (.415 and .407).
• Mikey likes it – Michael Devoe leads the nation in scoring average (25.0 ppg) and three-point percetage (59.0) following his 33-point performance Wednesday night against Wisconsin, in which he made 5-of-10 from three-point range. He leads the ACC and is 12th nationally in three-point field goals per game (3.83).
• Efficiency – Devoe has scored 96 points on 54 field goal attempts in 107 minutes over his last three games (37 vs. Georgia, 26 vs. Georgia Southern, 33 vs. Wisconsin). He missed the Charleston Southern game with flu symptoms.
• Climbing the ladder – After beginning the season No. 36 in career points at Tech, the 6-5 guard is now No. 27 on Tech’s all-time list with 1,299 points, passing such Tech stars as Iman Shumpert, Drew Barry and Jarrett Jack.
• Two-point conversion – Splitting the point guard duties nearly evenly, Kyle Sturdivant and Deivon Smith have combined to average 13.1 points and 4.7 assists over seven games, while compiling a 33:18 assist/turnover ratio. Sturdivant has started all seven games, but Smith has averaged about two more minutes per game. They played together for much of Tech’s win over Charleston Southern in the absence of Michael Devoe.
• Big3 – A rotation of Rodney Howard and Saba Gigiberia, and Jordan Meka in a more limited role, has filled the 5-spot vacated by ACC Player of the Year Moses Wright, Tech has received an aggregate 10.0 points and 8.9 rebounds per game from those three. Howard, who has started all seven games and averaged 29.9 minutes, has accounted for most of that production, and has posted a positive plus-minus in each game thus far (aggregate +59).

SERIES NOTES VS. NORTH CAROLINA

• North Carolina has a 69-26 lead in the all-time series between the two teams, and a 55-24 advantage since Tech joined the ACC.
• The Tar Heels have won nine of the last 12 games in the series, but Tech has won the last two, including a 72-67 win at McCamish Pavilion in the teams’ only 2020-21 meeting. Tech also captured a 96-83 victory at the Dean Smith Center in the teams’ only meeting of the 2019-20 season.
• Tech’s only other win in that stretch occurred on New Year’s Eve of 2016, opening its ACC schedule with a 75-63 homecourt upset of the Tar Heels, who would go on to win the national championship. (Win was vacated by the NCAA Committee on Infractions.)
• Before that, Tech had won four games in a row for its longest winning streak in the series. Tech is 13-13 against North Carolina dating back to the 2001-02 season.
• The teams have played 41 times in the city of Atlanta, including six at McCamish Pavilion. The teams met 23 times at Alexander Memorial Coliseum, where the Tar Heels won 12 of 23. Tech won six of the last seven meetings in the Thrillerdome, however, and won six of eight against UNC in the Coliseum under Paul Hewitt.
• 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 15-25 vs. North Carolina in Atlanta.
• 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.

 

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Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team won the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship in 2021 after finishing fourth in the regular season. Tech has been a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference since 1979, winning four ACC Championships (1985, 1990, 1993, 2021), playing in the NCAA Tournament 17 times and playing 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.