On to the next 🐝 pic.twitter.com/2zKiZp5sZv
— Georgia Tech Men’s Basketball (@GTMBB) March 7, 2023
Greensboro, N.C. – Georgia Tech came from five points down in the final two minutes, and Ja’von Franklin made the first of two free throws with 0.3 seconds remaining to break a tie and lift the Yellow Jackets to a 61-60 victory Tuesday afternoon in the opening round of the New York Life Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum.
Tech (15-17, 6-14 ACC) advances to face No. 5 seed Pittsburgh (21-10, 14-6 ACC) in a second-round game at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. The game will be televised on ESPN. The winner of that game will move to face No. 4 seed Duke (23-8, 14-6) at 2:30 p.m. Thursday.
The Jackets overcame an 11-point deficit with 15:51 left in the game, whittling the margin down until Tech forged a 53-all tie on Deebo Coleman’s only three-point basket of the game with 3:39 to go. The Seminoles built the lead back to five on Caleb Mills’ three-pointer with 2:04 to go, but didn’t score again.
Miles Kelly, who scored 16 of his game-high 21 points in the second half, drained his fourth three-pointer of the game with 1:46 to go, trimming the margin to 60-58. Coleman made the defensive play of the game, blocking a shot by Chandler Jackson and then drawing an offensive foul to give the ball back to Tech. Kyle Sturdivant followed with a jumper in the lane to tie the game at 60 with just under a minute on the clock, setting the stage for the dramatic finish.
After Darin Green, Jr., missed a three-pointer, Sturdivant found Lance Terry going back door for a dunk to win the game, but it bounced off into the hands of Franklin, who was fouled attempting a putback with 0.3 seconds left. He made the first and missed the second deliberately, allowing the clock to expire.
Franklin finished the game with 10 points and 19 rebounds, his ninth double-double of the season and sixth in his last seven games. The 19 rebounds were an all-time for a Tech player in an ACC Tournament game. Coleman also finished in double figures with 10.
Green, Jr., and Cameron Corhen led the Seminoles with 12 apiece.
Miles Kelly led the Jackets in scoring for the third straight game, tallying 21. (photo by Jaylynn Nash/ACC)
Post-Game Notes
- Georgia Tech has won its last four games, six of its last seven and seven of its last nine.
- Tech defeated Florida State despite scoring just 61 points, its second-lowest point total this season. The Yellow Jackets also won the game in which they scored their fewest points, 59-57 over Georgia State in the second game of the season.
- Tech has scored 70 points or more in seven of its last nine games (Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Florida Tech, Louisville, Syracuse, Boston College), the only exceptions being Tuesday’s game and its 68-point game at Pittsburgh. The Yellow Jackets are 12-2 this season when scoring 70 or more points (6-2 in the ACC), 3-15 when failing to reach 70.
- Tech has exceeded 100 points per 100 possessions (KenPom offensive efficiency rating) in each of its last nine games, the Yellow Jackets’ longest such streak since the 2021 ACC Championship unit did so in its final 10 games. Tech’s rating against FSU was 103.2 despite scoring just 61 points and shooting 37.7 percent from the floor.
- Tech also has limited four of its last seven opponents under 100 points per 100 possessions defensively.
- Tech has outshot seven of its last nine opponents from the floor, holding them collectively to 42.8 percent overall, 28.0 percent from three-point range. The Yellow Jackets are 12-2 this season when they have a higher field goal percentage.
- Tech has connected on 49 three-point field goals in 123 attempts in its last three games (42.7 percent). Tech had made 11 or more in three straight games before making just eight against FSU.
- Going back to Tech’s Feb. 15 win over Virginia Tech (last seven games), Tech has averaged 11.0 three-point field goals per game, making 40.4 percent.
- Over Tech’s last nine ACC games, Miles Kelly, Lance Terry, Deebo Coleman and Kyle Sturdivant have combined to hit 40.4 percent (90-of-223) from three-point range.
- Over Tech’s last nine ACC games (ACC Tournament included), the Yellow Jackets have averaged 73.6 points, connected on 44.6 percent from the floor and 38.9 percent from three-point range. 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 Kelly8, Ja’von Franklin 13.8, Lance Terry 13.1 ppg, Kyle Sturdivant 12.2) are averaging double digits in points over the Yellow Jackets’ last nine ACC games, and a fifth (Deebo Coleman) is averaging 9.1.
- Tech turned it over just five times against Florida State and has committed five or fewer turnovers in a game six times this season, 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 between then and this season. Tech’s current turnover rate of 10.7 per game exceeds its best on record going back to 1992-93, when turnovers became an official NCAA statistic, ahead of the 11.1-per-game rate established by the Jackets in 2015-16 and 2020-21.
- Tech has assisted on 56.1 percent of its field goals across its last 10 games.
- Four or more Yellow Jackets have reached double digits in the scoring column in 16 games this season, and Tech has won 12 of those games.
- Only three Tech players have fouled out of a game this season. The fewest disqualifications by fouls by the Yellow Jackets over the past 57 years (1966-67 to the present) is five, by the 2011-12 and 2015-16 teams.
- Tech has utilized the same starting lineup for 10 straight games, winning seven of them, the longest stretch of games this season that head coach Josh Pastner has sent out the same starting five for the opening tip. Tech has used 11 different lineups this season.
- Tech has used only six players in its rotation for its last five games. After having its bench play more than 33 percent of the minutes this season prior to that, Tech’s reserves have played only 77 of a possible 1000 minutes in the last five games (7.8 percent).
Ja’von Franklin set an ACC Tournament single-game record with 19 rebounds. (photo by Jaylynn Nash/ACC)
Game Highlights
Post-Game Reaction/Social Feed
Jay Frank with the ACC Tournament school record today by grabbing NINETEEN rebounds!! 🦾 @javonhooping pic.twitter.com/azajNcB5si
— Georgia Tech Men’s Basketball (@GTMBB) March 8, 2023
😤 😤 😤
𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐀𝐃𝐕𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 pic.twitter.com/jAGINwzB0n
— Georgia Tech Men’s Basketball (@GTMBB) March 7, 2023
