Honolulu, Hawai’i – Looking for its first three-game winning streak of the 2023-24 season, Georgia Tech is in Honolulu, Hawai’i to compete in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, and faces Massachusetts in its opening-round game at 9 p.m. EST Thursday night at Simplifi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Tech (6-3) has won its last two games, having passed its first post-exam test with an 82-81 overtime win over Penn State Saturday at Madison Square Garden, That came a week after the Yellow Jackets defeated Alabama A&M, 70-49, Dec. 9 at home. The Yellow Jackets have won four of their last five games, having also knocked off No. 21 Mississippi State, 67-59, in the ACC/SEC Challenge and No. 7 Duke, 72-68, in its Atlantic Coast Conference opener.
UMass (6-2) also has won its last two games, defeating West Virginia, 87-79, last Saturday in the Hall of Fame Classic in Springfield, Mass, a week after defeating UMass Lowell, 91-77, at home. The Minutemen have lost to Harvard at home, 78-75 in overtime on Nov. 17, and at Towson, 81-71, on Dec. 6.
Thursday’s game will be televised live on ESPN2 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). The Tech broadcast is also available on the SiriusXM app and SiriusXM channel 391.
THE TIP-OFF
- Tech is looking for its first three-game winning streak this season on the heels of wins over Alabama A&M and Penn State. The Yellow Jackets won their first two games of the season, then lost to UMass Lowell. Following back-to-back wins over No. 21 Mississippi State and No. 7 Duke, the Jackets lost at Georgia.
- Tech is 2-2 against Quad 1 and Quad 2 teams this season, and UMass represents the Yellow Jackets’ third Quad 2 opponent. The Jackets have eight Quad 1 and four Quad 2 opponents remaining on its schedule, all in the ACC. Tech was 3-14 last season against Quad 1/2 foes.
- Tech is playing its seventh holiday tournament in the state of Hawai’i, and for the second time in the Diamond Head Classic. The Jackets finished third in the 2019 Diamond Head Classic. Tech competed three times in the original Rainbow Classic, once in the Big Island Classic and once in the Maui Invitational.
- Tech does not play at home again until Jan. 6 vs. Boston College. That’s 27 calendar days between home games, the most for the Jackets since the 1986-87 season, when they went 43 calendar days between home games (Dec. 1 vs. Penn to Jan. 14 vs. North Carolina A&T). Tech plays its next four games away from Atlanta, traveling to New York Dec. 16 to play Penn State at Madison Square Garden, and Honolulu, Hawai’i to compete in the Diamond Head Classic, Dec. 21-24. After the New Year, Tech goes to Tallahassee to resume its ACC schedule Jan. 3 at Florida State.
- Tech is guaranteed to face five non-conference opponents that won 20 or more games in the 2022-23 season, including four that played in the post-season. Mississippi State (21-13), Penn State (23-14) and Howard (22-13) all played in the NCAA Tournament last season, while Cincinnati (23-13), a new member of the Big 12, reached the quarterfinals of the NIT. UMass Lowell (26-8) finished second in the America East Conference. The Yellow Jackets potentially could play two more 20-win teams in the Diamond Head Classic, with a possible game against Hawai’i (21-11) in the second round and TCU (22-13) in the final round.
- Tech has yet to play a game with its full complement of 13 scholarship players due to injury. Senior guard Lance Terry, Tech’s second-leading scorer last season, has been sidelined the entire season, while freshman forward Baye Ndongo missed the first three games.
- Tech has started two freshmen – forward Baye Ndongo and point guard Naithan George – in its last five games, winning four of them. The Jackets have not had two freshmen in its regular starting lineup since the 2018-19 season (Michael Devoe, Khalid Moore), and have not had a freshman regularly start at point guard since Jose Alvarado in 2017-18.
- Three of Tech’s four freshmen have seen action for the Yellow Jackets this season. Forward Ibrahima Sacko has played in eight games, averaging 12 minutes off the bench, while forward Ndongo and George debuted at Cincinnati and have played the last five.
- Tech’s returning scholarship players – Miles Kelly, Dallan “Deebo” Coleman and Kyle Sturdivant – have accounted for 43.5 percent of Tech’s points this season (minus Lance Terry, who has yet to play). That number has diminished as freshmen Baye Ndongo and Naithan George, and sophomore Tafara Gapare have taken on greater loads. Last season the quartet accounted for 59.4 percent of the Yellow Jackets’ points during the 2022-23 season. They collectively shot 35.6 percent from three-point range.
