January 30, 2021

Jackets Topple No. 16 Florida State, 76-65

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THE FLATS – Moses Wright scored 23 points and Jose Alvarado added 21 as Georgia Tech men’s basketball used a late first-half surge and stout defense to defeat No. 16 Florida State, 76-65, on Saturday evening at McCamish Pavilion, picking up Tech’s first win over FSU since 2017.

With 3:51 left in the first half Georgia Tech (8-5, 4-3 ACC) was down 25-22, before the Jackets went on an 11-1 run to close out the opening half at 33-26. Florida State (10-3, 6-2 ACC) tried to steal the momentum from Tech in the second-half, bringing the score to 38-35 with 14:25 left to play. The Yellow Jackets answered back with a 14-5 run over the next 3:44, putting Tech up 52-40 with just over 10 minutes of game time left.

Tech was able to hold on to the lead and pick up the win, with a 43.9 percent (25-for-57) shooting effort from the field. Michael Devoe had a 19-point performance, scoring 14 in the second-half. Wright and Alvarado each picked up eight rebounds, while Alvarado also dished out six assists.

On the defensive end of things, the Jackets scooped up 13 total steals, with six coming from Wright and five from Alvarado. Alvarado and Wright became the first ACC teammates to record 20 points and five steals in the same game in the last 25 seasons.

RaiQuan Gray was the Seminoles top scorer tallying up 19 points. Gray was the only FSU player to score in double-digits.

The Yellow Jackets will lace it up again on Monday, Feb. 1, when the squad heads to Louisville, Ky., to take on Louisville. Tip-off is slotted for 2 p.m. and will be televised on ACC Network.

Moses Wright scored 20-plus points for the sixth time this season. (photo by Danny Karnik)

Post-Game Notes

TEAM NOTES

Georgia Tech won its 10^th consecutive ACC home games, which is a program record. The previous mark of nine was set during the 1995-96 season (last home game of 1994-95, 8-0 at home in 1995-96).
Tech is 3-3 vs. top 25 teams this season, both wins at home, and is 9-24 against top-25 teams under Josh Pastner (8-8 at home).
Tech changed its starting lineup for the first time since playing Kentucky on Dec. 6, inserting Khalid Moore for Bubba Parham. Parham missed the game due to a death in the family (funeral was today). Moore made his first start of the season, 23^rd of his career.
When Alvarado and Devoe both score in double figures this season, Tech is 5-1. The Jackets are 18-6 since the beginning of the 2019-20 season when they do so. When Alvarado, Devoe and Moses Wright all score in double figures this season, Tech is 3-1.
For the 10th time in its last 11 games, Tech won the turnover battle and had more assists than turnovers. Only in the first meeting against Florida State on Dec. 15 (11 assists, 12 turnovers, FSU has 12 turnovers) did the Jackets fall short.
Tech forced 20 Florida State turnovers, the fifth time this year the Yellow Jackets have forced 20 or more, and scored 22 points from them. The Jackets have forced 16.0 turnovers per game this season, 16.0 per game against ACC foes, and has the second-best turnover margin in the conference (plus-4.4 overall, plus-4.6 in conference games)
Tech (7-of-24 against FSU) has connected on 77 of its 182 three-point attempts in its last seven games (42.3 percent) and is up to 37.0 percent for the season, 40.5 percent in ACC games.
The Jackets are averaging 8.7 made threes per game (3.4 per game more than they made in 2019-20), making at least eight in all but three games (Georgia State, both games vs. Florida State), and rank fourth in the ACC. Tech is averaging a league-high 9.1 threes in ACC games.
Since going to its smaller lineup, Tech has had just 22 shots blocked in its last 13 games, seven of those by Virginia. The Yellow Jackets had 13 shots blocked in their two season-opening losses. Florida State, with the No. 1 team in the nation in average height according to KenPom.com, blocked just four shots by Tech (No. 280) in two meetings this season.
Tech has collected 52 steals in its last six games and is averaging an ACC-high 9.9 in conference games. The Jackets are averaging 9.4 in all games.

Jose Alvarado snagged five steals, with four coming in just the first-half alone. (photo by Danny Karnik)

Game Highlights

MOOD IN THE 4⃣0⃣4⃣#ACCMBB | @GTMBB pic.twitter.com/D3HFV2ZYZB
— ACC Digital Network (@theACCDN) January 30, 2021

Jose The Magician 🪄
21 points, 6 assists and 3 rebounds in the GT upset over FSU 🐝 @AlvaradoJose15 | @GTMBB
pic.twitter.com/XnKVZ9hZ6y
— ACC Men's Basketball (@accmbb) January 30, 2021