Men’s Hoops Concludes Road Trip with Visit to PittMen’s Hoops Concludes Road Trip with Visit to Pitt
Men's Basketball

Men’s Hoops Concludes Road Trip with Visit to Pitt

Yellow Jackets and Panthers tip off at 7 p.m. EST Tuesday at the Petersen Events Center

GEORGIA TECH (13-14, 7-9 ACC) vs. PITTSBURGH (16-11, 7-9 ACC)

 

Pittsburgh, Pa. – Georgia Tech concludes its two-game road trip Tuesday night at 7 p.m. when the Yellow Jackets visit Pittsburgh at the Petersen Events Center in the only scheduled meeting between the two teams this regular season.

Tech (13-14, 7-9 ACC) dropped a 69-54 decision at Boston College Saturday in the first game of the current trip, coming off a bye in its schedule. But the Yellow Jackets have won four of their last six games, including a 60-52 win over Stanford and a 90-88 overtime win against Stanford, 60-52, and escaped with a 90-88 win in overtime over California at home just prior to the bye. Tech also has defeated Louisville (77-70) and Clemson (89-86 in 3 OT) during this six-game stretch. The Clemson game has been the only road win this season for Tech, which is 1-9 away from home.

Pittsburgh (16-11, 7-9 ACC) has lost five of its last seven games, defeating Miami (74-65) and Syracuse (80-69) at home, where the Panthers are 12-3 this season. Pitt is coming off a 76-72 loss at Notre Dame Saturday, and four of its five losses in this recent stretch have come on the road. The Panthers’ home ACC losses include Virginia, North Carolina and Clemson.

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). The Tech broadcast is also available on Sirius XM channel 384 and the SiriusXM app.

Saturday’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). The Tech broadcast is also available on Sirius XM channel 386 and the SiriusXM app.

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Baye Ndongo (11) has 5 double-doubles in Tech’s last 6 games. (photo by Keith Swindell)

 

THE TIP-OFF

  • Despite its loss at Boston College, Georgia Tech is tied for 8th place in the ACC standings with Pitt, Florida State and Virginia Tech. The Yellow Jackets, Panthers and Seminoles all lost on the road Saturday, while the Hokies won at Miami to join the group. The Jackets have matched their ACC win total from 2023-24 with 4 games remaining.
  • A win Tuesday would put Tech back at .500 for the season, a position the Jackets have not been in at this point in the season since 2020-21.
  • Tech is 2-5 vs. NCAA NET Quad 1 teams this season and 6-12 under head coach Damon Stoudamire. Pittsburgh (55) and Wake Forest (63) are Quad 1 opportunities remaining on the Yellow Jackets’ schedule.
  • Tech is the only ACC team this season to defeat both Clemson and Louisville, the teams tied for 2nd place in the standings, this season. The Jackets stopped a 10-game winning streak by Louisville (2/1), which has gone on to win 4-straight since, and stopped a 6-game win streak by Clemson (2/4), which responded by winning its last 3, including Duke and North Carolina.
  • Tech has played with just 8 scholarship players over its last 4 games, continuing to compete without forwards Kowacie Reeves, Jr. (out 21 games with a foot injury) and Luke O’Brien (out last 16 games with a toe injury) and guard Javian McCollum (out last 4 games with a head injury). The Jackets are 2-2 in those 4 games.
  • Tech has utilized 9 different starting lineups through 27 games this season, all because of injury. Twelve different players have started a game for Tech this season, 11 different players have started an ACC game.
  • Eight of Tech’s 16 ACC games this season have been decided by single digits, including 6 of the last 8 (71-64 win over Virginia Tech, 71-68 loss at Notre Dame, 77-70 win over Louisville, 89-86 win over Clemson, 60-52 win over Stanford, 90-88 win over California).
  • Tech’s last 4 wins have come by a total of 17 points, the 2 losses by a total of 29 points.
  • Five Yellow Jackets have averages in double-digits for ACC games – Naithan George (14.7), Lance Terry (13.8), Duncan Powell (13.3), Baye Ndongo (13.3) and Javian McCollum (12.9).

SERIES NOTES VS. PITTSBURGH

  • Pittsburgh has won the last four meetings, but Georgia Tech still holds a 12-9 overall lead in a series that began in 1966.
  • Pitt won the only scheduled regular-season game in 2023-24 by a 72-64 score in Atlanta, after sweeping three games from Tech in 2022-23, winning 71-60 in Atlanta and 76-68 in Pittsburgh, and adding an 89-81 win over the Yellow Jackets in the ACC Tournament.
  • Tech had won three straight meetings prior to that and trail the Panthers, 7-9, since Pitt became an ACC member.
  • Pitt swept a regular-season series from Tech for the first time in 2022-23. Tech and Pitt split the games the other two times they have played twice, in 2017 and 2020.
  • Tech’s 73-57 win in its final home game of the 2019-20 campaign was the widest margin of victory for either team in 16 meetings as ACC foes.
  • Tech won the first five games in the series, prior to Pitt’s entry into the ACC, all of which took place between 1966 and 1989. The Panthers won the first three meetings after joining the conference.
  • Tech is 5-4 against the Panthers’ current head coach, Jeff Capel, having scored an 86-65 victory over VCU during the 2003-04 season when Capel was the Rams’ head coach.
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Jaeden Mustaf (3) grabbed a season-high 8 rebounds against Boston College. (photo by Keith Swindell)

 

TECH BYTES

  • Tech has attempted 59 more free throws than its opponents in ACC play (+3.7 per game). The Yellow Jackets have not finished a season with more free throw attempts than their opponents since the 2016-17 season, and only once since 2000.
  • Tech leads the ACC in limiting league opponents’ trips to the free throw line, holding them to a 24% rate of FTA to FGA. Tech has committed just 48 fouls in its last 4 games.
  • Tech has utilized 9 different starting lineups through 27 games this season, all because of injury. Twelve different players have started a game for Tech this season, 11 different players have started an ACC game.
  • Tech has played 6 or 7 players in its last 10 games (dating back to the 1/14 game vs. Clemson), one exception being 8 on 2/4 at Clemson as Ryan Mutombo and Darrion Sutton saw rare minutes, and 2/8 at Virginia when two walk-ons finished the game. The Jackets had played 8 or more in every game prior to the first Clemson meeting, 9 or more in 11 games.
  • Sophomores Baye Ndongo and Naithan George are the only Yellow Jackets to have appeared in every game this season. No one else has started more than 19, and only one has started more than 11.
  • Ndongo has started 56 consecutive games, George 55, dating back to last season.
  • Despite Tech’s shorter rotation the last three weeks, the Yellow Jackets’ bench remains productive, ranking No. 10 in the ACC in points per game (20.4), and 185th nationally.
  • Tech’s defense inside the three-point arc has improved nearly more than 90 spots nationally over last year. The current Yellow Jackets yield 46.7% within the arc, ranked No. 32 nationally by KenPom.com, compared to 49.5% in 2023-24 (137th).

PLAYER NOTES

  • Baye Ndongo has 5 double-doubles in Tech’s last 6 games after tallying 17 points and 15 rebounds at Boston College. The 6-9 sophomore has averaged 17.2 points (58.1% FG/43-of-74) and 12.2 rebounds over the last 6 games.
  • Ndongo has averaged 9.44 rebounds in ACC games, which ranks No. 3 in the league. He also ranks 3rd in offensive rebounds per game and defensive rebounds per game.
  • Naithan George was held to just 9 points at Boston College (3-13 FG, 3-10 3pt FG), not only snapping a string of 4-straight games scoring 20 or more points, but also snapping a 13-game streak of scoring in double digits.
  • George has averaged 21.0 points (43.8% FG, 43.9% 3pt FG, 81.3% FT) in his last 5 games, along with 5.2 rebounds and 6.2 assists.
  • George leads the ACC in minutes per game in conference games (38.24), and ranks 3rd in all games (35.1). He is No. 78 nationally in KenPom.com’s measurement of usage (has played 86% of available minutes) for the full season, and has been in the court for 98% of the minutes in Tech’s last 5 games.
  • George sat for 2 minutes and 50 seconds of Tech’s game at BC, more than twice the time he wasn’t on the court in the previous 4 games (1:07). George played all 55 minutes of Tech’s 3-overtime win at Clemson.
  • George leads the ACC in assist average with 6.3 per game (13th in the nation), and ranks No. 9 in assist/turnover ratio at 2.24 per game. He has posted 13 games of 7 or more assists this season. He ranks No. 36 according to KenPom in assist rate (34.1%, assists divided by FG made by teammates while he is on the floor).
  • George has connected on 36.6% of his 93 3-point field goal attempts in ACC games, both team highs. He is 8th in the ACC in 3-point FG attempted (2.13 per game) in conference games.
  • Duncan Powell scored just 3 points vs. BC (1-11 FG, 0-6 3-pt FG), snapping a streak of 8 games scoring in double figures.
  • Powell has reached double figures in 11 of Tech’s last 14 games dating back to his 21-point performance vs. Notre Dame on Dec. 31. He had just three double-digit scoring games among his first 12 this season.
  • Powell has shot 35.9% on 78 3-point attempts in ACC play which ranks 13th in the conference, and has been to the foul line a team-high 70 times (70%).
  • Ibrahim Souare has started Tech’s last 10 games as injuries ravaged the Jackets’ rotation. The redshirt freshman has averaged 27.7 minutes, averaging 3.8 points (62.9% FG) with 5.0 rebounds and 6 blocked shots.
  • Freshman Jaeden Mustaf returned to action against Stanford after missing 6 games with a foot injury, scoring 21 points while playing 73 total minutes. He snared a career-high 8 rebounds at Boston College.
  • Freshman Darrion Sutton has played more than 78 minutes in Tech’s last 4 games after totaling 54 minutes over Tech’s first 23 games (of which Sutton appeared in seven). He made his first collegiate start against Stanford, and made two key free throws in the final minute of play.

 

Full Steam Ahead

Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.

ABOUT GEORGIA TECH MEN’S BASKETBALL

Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team is in its second season under head coach Damon Stoudamire. 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.