Jackets Eliminated from ACC Tournament by Pitt, 89-81

Greensboro, N.C. – Ja’von Franklin scored 19 points with 15 rebounds to lead four Yellow Jackets in double figures, but were unable to slow down Pittsburgh’s offense Wednesday afternoon and were eliminated by the Panthers, 89-81, from the New York Life Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum.

Tech (15-17, 6-14 ACC), winners of seven of its last 10 games, finished the season 15-18 overall, 6-14 in the ACC. Pitt advances to face No. 4 seed Duke (23-8, 14-6 ACC) in a quarterfinal-round game at 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

Falling behind by as many as 15 points late in the first half and 13 at intermission (44-31), Tech battled back to take a 52-50 lead on Miles Kelly’s three-point play with 12:55 on the clock, and forged one more tie at 54-all on Lance Terry’s jumper with 11:40 to go. But the Panthers, who shot 56 percent, scored 40 points in the paint and made seven three-pointers in the game, continued to score efficiently and built their lead back to as many as nine points late in the game.

Kyle Sturdivant kept the Jackets within striking distance by scoring eight of the Jackets’ final 11 points, but Tech never crept closer than four points in the final four minutes.

Franklin made 8-of-11 shots from the floor and added four assists and six steals in posting his 10^th double-double this season and sixth in the last seven games. Deebo Coleman scored 17 points and reeled in a career-best nine rebounds, while Sturdivant and Kelly each finished with 16.

Five Pitt players scored in double figures, led by Jamarius Burton’s 21 points and eight assists. Federiko Federiko scored 29 with eight rebounds, followed by Greg Elliot with 16, Blake Hinson with 12 and Nelly Cummings with 11.

Ja’von Franklin led the Jackets with 19 points and 15 rebounds. (photos courtesy of the Atlantic Coast Conference)

 

Post-Game Notes

TEAM TRENDS

• Georgia Tech finished the season winning four of its last five games, six of its last eight and seven of its last 10.
• Tech is 17-9 under Josh Pastner in the month of March.
• Three Tech players – Ja’von Franklin, Deebo Coleman and Miles Kelly – played the full 40 minutes against Pitt, the first time three Yellow Jackets did so in the same game since Jose Alvarado, Ben Lammers and Josh Okogie did so Dec. 30, 2017 against Notre Dame. Lance Terry would have been the fourth to do it in Wednesday’s game, but fouled out with four seconds left.
• Only four Tech players fouled out of a game in 2022-23, a program record. The fewest disqualifications by fouls by the Yellow Jackets over the past 57 years (1966-67 to the present) was five, by the 2011-12 and 2015-16 teams.
• Tech lost when scoring 80 points for the first time since Jan. 6, 2016. The opponent then was Pittsburgh (89-84).
• Tech scored 70 points or more in eight of its last 10 games in 2022-23 (Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Florida Tech, Louisville, Syracuse, Boston College, Pittsburgh), the only exceptions being 61 points against Florida State in the ACC Tournament and its 68-point game at Pittsburgh Feb. 21. The Yellow Jackets were 12-3 this season when scoring 70 or more points (6-3 vs. ACC foes), 3-15 when failing to reach 70.
• Tech scored one point per possession (KenPom offensive efficiency rating) in each of its last 10 games, matching the Yellow Jackets’ longest such streak since the measure has been tracked (the 2021 ACC Championship unit did so in its final 10 games). Tech’s final measure of 104.1 was its second-best under Pastner, behind the 2021 ACC title team (113.7, No. 22 in the nation).
• Tech remains the ACC leader in three-point defense. The Jackets permitted opponents to make just 30.1 percent in 2022-23, which also ranks 18th nationally.
• Going back to Tech’s Feb. 15 win over Virginia Tech (last eight games), Tech averaged 10.6 three-point field goals per game, making 38.1 percent.
• Over Tech’s last 10 ACC games (including the ACC Tournament), Miles Kelly, Lance Terry, Deebo Coleman and Kyle Sturdivant combined to hit 39.5 percent (98-of-248) from three-point range.
• Over Tech’s last 10 ACC games (ACC Tournament included), the Yellow Jackets averaged 74.3 points, connected on 44.7 percent from the floor and 38.3 percent from three-point range. This trend coincided with Tech going to the starting lineup of Terry, Sturdivant, Coleman, Kelly and Franklin for its Feb. 4 game at NC State, which started the last 11 games of the season. In its first 12 ACC games, Tech averaged 61.2 points, hit 38.5 percent from the floor and 29.7 from three-point land.
• Four Tech players (Miles Kelly6, Ja’von Franklin 14.3, Lance Terry 12.7 ppg, Kyle Sturdivant 12.6) averaged double digits in points over the Yellow Jackets’ last 10 ACC games, and a fifth (Deebo Coleman) was just shy at 9.9.
• Tech turned the ball over an average of 10.6 times a game in 2022-23, a school record since that stat has been tracked in 1992-93. The previous mark was 11.1 by the 2015-16 and 2020-21 teams.
• Tech committed five or fewer turnovers in a game six times in 2022-23, including a Tech-record-tying four in a Feb. 21 loss at Pittsburgh. Going back to 1986-87, Tech is on record for seven games of five or fewer turnovers from then through the 2021-22 season (36 seasons). Tech’s previous best rate was 11.1-per-game established by the Jackets in 2015-16 and 2020-21.
• Four or more Yellow Jackets have double digits in the scoring column in 17 games in 2022-23, and Tech won 12 of those games.
• Tech utilized the same starting lineup for its last 11 straight games, winning seven of them, the longest stretch of games that head coach Josh Pastner sent out the same starting five for the opening tip in 2022-23. Tech used 11 different lineups this season.
• Tech used just six players in its rotation for its last six games. After having its bench play more than 33 percent of the minutes this season prior to that, Tech’s reserves played only 83 of a possible 1,200 minutes in the last six games (6.9 percent). The Jackets finished the season using its bench for 29.1 percent of the minutes by KenPom measure, below the national average and ranked No. 230 nationally.

PLAYER UPDATES

• Ja’von Franklin, who scored 19 points and reeled in 15 rebounds against Pitt, posted a double-double in seven of Tech’s last nine games. He had 10 for the season.
• Franklin grabbed 15 or more rebounds in each of Tech’s last four games, something not accomplished by a Tech player as far back as the 2010-11 season.
• Franklin averaged a double-double over the Yellow Jackets’ last 11 games (14.2 points and 12.8 rebounds). He hit 61.3 percent of his shots from the floor (65-of-106) in that span, and also totaled 40 assists and team highs of 22 blocked shots and 20 steals.
• Franklin was the only player to rank in the top 15 in rebound average (7^th), steal average (7^th) and blocked shot average (5^th) in conference games. At 6-7 and 214 pounds, Franklin is out-sized by nearly every ACC center.
• Lance Terry lacked a total of one minute of playing the full 40 minutes in each of Tech’s final five games. At Syracuse, he came out for the final 56 seconds when Tech emptied its bench in the 20-point victory. Against Pitt in the second round of the ACC Tournament, he fouled out with four seconds remaining. In the 11 games he played after returning from a hamstring injury, he played 40 minutes in five of them.
• Terry played the full 40 minutes in six of Tech’s seven ACC wins (ACC Tournament games included). In those seven games, Terry averaged 17.7 points while connecting on 47.3 percent of his field goals (43-of-91), 52.1 percent of his three-point attempts (25-of-48).
• In 11 games since returning from a hamstring injury, Terry averaged 13.3 points while hitting 43.4 percent of his field goals (53-of-122) and 43.3 percent of his threes (26-of-60). Terry reached double figures in points seven times in those 11 games, including his season-high-matching 24 points at Syracuse.
• Miles Kelly reached double figures in eight straight games to end the season, averaging 19.8 points and hitting 47.7 percent (53-of-111) from the floor and 43.3 percent (35-of-79) from three-point range.
• Kelly finished the season with an 89.8 success rate on 59 free throw attempts, breaking the Tech record of 88.73 percent by Anthony Morrow (63-of-71) in 2005-06. Kelly had a streak of 24 straight makes that ended Jan. 17 against NC State.
• Kyle Sturdivant averaged 12.6 points over his last 12 games, having reached double figures in nine of them, including his career nigh of 20 points at Syracuse. He made 20-of-57 from three-point range (35.1 pct.), 80.6 percent from the free throw line, and had a 53/19 assist-to-turnover ratio over that stretch.
• Deebo Coleman compiled an 20/4 assist-to-turnover ratio across his last seven games. After missing double digits for five straight games, he finished the season scoring 10 vs. Florida State and 17 vs. Pitt in the ACC Tournament.
• Jalon Moore was the only Tech reserve to see significant action over Tech’s last six games, averaging 12.8 minutes and 4.8 points per game.

Deebo Coleman scored 17 points and grabbed a career-high nine rebounds. (photos courtesy of the Atlantic Coast Conference)

 

Game Highlights