Men’s Basketball Travels to Face Notre DameMen’s Basketball Travels to Face Notre Dame
Men's Basketball

Men’s Basketball Travels to Face Notre Dame

Yellow Jackets and Fighting Irish tip off at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Purcell Pavilion

Georgia Tech (8-7, 1-4 ACC) vs. Notre Dame (8-8, 0-5 ACC)

THE FLATS – Looking for its first Atlantic Coast Conference road win of the season, Georgia Tech sets out for South Bend, Ind., Tuesday to face Notre Dame in a 7 p.m. contest at Purcell Pavilion.

Tech (8-7, 1-4 ACC) upended the league’s first-place team, Miami, 76-70 on last Wednesday night at home, but were unable to follow up after dropping a 75-64 decision Saturday at Florida State. All four of the Yellow Jackets’ ACC losses have come by double digits. Tech is 1-3 in true road games this season, defeating Georgia State in the season’s second game before dropping decisions at Iowa in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge and North Carolina and FSU in conference play.

Notre Dame (8-8, 0-5 ACC), who began the season with five straight wins, has lost six of its last seven games, including consecutive ACC losses to Miami, Boston College and North Carolina by an average of 11.7 points. Looking for their first ACC victory of the season, the Fighting Irish suffered a pair of one-point losses to Syracuse (62-61) and Florida State (73-72) in their first two conference games. All eight of Notre Dame’s wins have conme at home.

Tuesday’s game will be televised live on the ACC Network, with a live stream 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 also on satellite radio (SiriusXM channel 384, SXM app 974.

THE TIP-OFF

  • Tech has not won at Purcell Pavilion since Notre Dame became a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, going 0-8.
  • Tech won the first meeting with Notre Dame under Josh Pastner but has lost eight of 11 since.
  • Tech and Notre Dame have a pair of common non-conference opponents in Georgia and Marquette. The Jackets defeated the Bulldogs by two at home, while the Fighting Irish lost 77-62 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. Both teams lost to the Golden Eagles, Tech by an 84-60 score on a neutral floor and Notre Dame 79-64 at home.
  • Tech has used six different starting lineups this season. Nine Yellow Jackets have started at least two games, and eight of them have started a minimum of six times.
20-Georgia-Tech-Basketball-1-7-23-Ross-ObleyLance Terry vs. Florida State - Jan. 7, 2022

Lance Terry has scored 41 points in Tech’s last two games. (photo by Ross Obley)

 

SERIES VS. NOTRE DAME

  • Notre Dame has won six of the last seven meetings to take a 14-12 lead in the all-time series. Georgia Tech’s only win was an 82-80 win on Feb. 6, 2021 at McCamish Pavilion. The Fighting Irish swept the regular season series in 2019-20 and 2021-22, and had won the last two meetings of 2018-19, the final regular season contest and an ACC Tournament meeting.
  • Since Notre Dame joined the ACC, the teams have split their regular season series four times, and the Fighting Irish have swept the Yellow Jackets three times. Tech has yet to sweep the Irish.
  • The Yellow Jackets are 6-12 against Notre Dame since the Fighting Irish joined the ACC The first 17 meetings were decided by a total of 88 points, and the widest margin of victory was 10 points by Notre Dame on Feb. 10, 2019 before the Fighting Irish scored a 34-point win (90-56) in the most recent meeting on Feb. 26 2022 in South Bend.
  • Notre Dame has won all eight meetings at South Bend since the Fighting Irish became a member of the ACC.
  • Tech is 2-10 in games played in South Bend, and 1-9 in Purcell Pavilion, including an 88-80 overtime win on Feb. 24, 1990, with the Jackets headed toward an ACC title and Final Four berth later that season.
  • The Yellow Jackets won five straight meetings between the two teams from 1972 through Tech’s 74-69 victory in McCamish Pavilion on Jan. 11, 2014, the team’s first meeting as ACC foes.
  • That game and a 90-80 Tech victory in Atlanta a year earlier were the only two face-offs ever between legendary coaches Bobby Cremins and Digger Phelps.
  • All but one game in the series has been played on the two campuses, the exception being a 2007 meeting in the third-place game of the Paradise Jam. The Yellow Jackets erased a 9-point deficit in the final 5:11 and won the game on a three-point basket by Matt Causey with two seconds remaining.

TEAM TRENDS

  • Tech is 1-3 in road games this season, 0-2 in conference road games.
  • Tech is 2-7 this season when it fails to score 70 points, 6-9 when it scores 70 or more.
  • Tech is 1-7 this season when the opponent makes a higher percentage of its field goal attempts, 7-0 when it has a better percentage.
  • Tech’s bench has outscored that of its opponent nine times in 15 games this season, though the Yellow Jacket reserves scored just 13 points against Florida State (7) and has tallied just 17 in its last two games. The Jackets entered the weekend No. 2 in the ACC in bench scoring (22.5 ppg).
  • Tech used nine players against Florida State and has utilized nine or more in 12 of 15 games this season. After using just three bench players for a total of 43 minutes against Miami (21.5 percent), four reserves played a total of 50 minutes against the Seminoles (25 percent). The Jackets rank No. 148 in the nation this season in bench minutes (32.2 pct.); only one other Josh Pastner Tech team has seen its reserves play more.
  • Tech’s sophomore group of Deebo Coleman, Miles Kelly and Jalon Moore scored 34 of the Yellow Jackets’ 64 points against Florida State. That group has accounted for 47.5 of Tech’s total points this season.
  • Tech is 25-of-64 (39 percent) from three-point range over its last three games. The Jackets were 9-of-24 each against Miami and Florida State, 7-of-16 against Virginia.
  • The trio of Miles Kelly, Deebo Coleman and Lance Terry have connected on 37.9 percent from three-point range (80-of-211) this season, 42 percent (37-of-88) in ACC games.
  • Tech led the ACC and ranks ninth in the nation in three-point defense before Florida State hit 10-of-25 against the Jackets. Tech has allowed 27.7 percent from distance in all games, 30 percent in ACC games. Virginia and FSU combined to hit 20-of-47 against the Jackets, while North Carolina, Clemson and Miami were 13-for-63 combined.
  • Tech is 26-of-31 from the foul line in its last two games.
  • Tech has averaged 17 turnovers in its last three games, surrendering an average of 20 points off those turnovers. The Jackets had averaged 10.1 turnovers across its first 12 games and led the ACC in that category.

PLAYER UPDATES

  • Miles Kelly has reached double figures in points in 10 straight games, leading the Yellow Jackets in the scoring column in six of those. Kelly has averaged 16.4 points and 3.7 rebounds over that stretch. He has connected on 55-of-121 shots from the floor (45.5 pct.), 31-of-69 from three-point range (44.9 pct.) and 23-of-24 from the foul line across those eight games.
  • Kelly is averaging 17.8 points and has hit 43.9 percent of his threes over five ACC games.
  • Kelly has hit his last 21 free throw attempts dating back to the Iowa game on Nov. 28, when he made the second of his two attempts. He was 7-for-7 against Miami and is 14-for-14 over Tech’s last four games.
  • Lance Terry has led Tech in scoring each of its last two games (24 vs. Miami, 17 vs. Florida State), tallying a total of 41 points with 13 rebounds while connecting on 14-of-28 from the floor, 7-for-11 from three-point range and 6-of-8 from the foul line.
  • Terry has scored in double digits six times this season and is averaging 11.8 points in ACC games while hitting 10-of-21 from three-point range (47.6 percent).
  • In two career games at the Donald L. Tucker Center, Terry has scored 40 points. He scored 23 against the Seminoles in a 2020 game while playing at Gardner-Webb.
  • Deebo Coleman has scored 25 points in Tech’s last two games with six assists, hitting 8-of-20 from the floor and 4-of-13 from three-point range. He is averaging 9.8 points in ACC games.
  • Jalon Moore has started Tech’s last 10 games, averaging 11.2 points, 6.0 rebounds and hitting 50 percent from the floor over that stretch.
  • Rodney Howard has connected on 26-of-36 shots from the floor dating back to Nov. 23 vs. Marquette, covering 10 games. That includes a streak of 13 consecutive makes from his last two attempts of the Northeastern game through his first four of the Alabama State game (4-for-4 vs. Georgia, 3-for-3 at North Carolina). For the season he has connected on 63 percent of his field goal tries, 64.7 percent in ACC games.
3-Georgia-Tech-Basketball-1-7-23-Ross-ObleyJalon Moore vs. Florida State - Jan. 7, 2022

Jalon Moore has started Tech’s last 10 games and averaged 11.2 points across them. (photo by Ross Obley)

 

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 is playing his seventh season 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.