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Tech Faces Maryland in ACC Tournament Quarterfinal

March 12, 2010

Live video streaming of Tech-Maryland game
Complete game notes
ACC Tournament Central
Raycom television information

Greensboro, N.C. – Having survived an opening round game against North Carolina, No. 7 seed Georgia Tech moves on to face No. 2 seed Maryland in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament at 7 p.m. Friday night at the Greensboro Coliseum.

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (20-11, 7-9 ACC, #7 seed) vs.
Maryland Terrapins (23-7, 13-3 ACC, #2 seed)
Date:
Friday, March 12, 2010
Tipoff: 7 p.m. Eastern time
Site: Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum
Television: Raycom/ESPN2
Radio: Georgia Tech/ISP Sports Network, live on flagship station WQXI-AM (790 the Zone) and WYAY-FM (106.7). Wes Durham play-by-play, Randy Waters color.
Satellite Radio: XM 190-191, Sirius 212
On the web: Audio and live stats available at Ramblinwreck.com. Live video streaming on TheACC.com.
Series History: Maryland leads, 37-33
Tech in the ACC Tournament: Tech is 22-27 all-time (7-9 under Paul Hewitt). Champions in 1985, 1990, 1993; runner-up in 1986, 1996, 2005.
As the No. 7 seed: Georgia Tech is 2-1 as the No. 7 seed (2008, Charlotte).
At the Greensboro Coliseum: Georgia Tech is 8-17 all-time in the Greensboro Coliseum, 6-12 in ACC Tournament games.
National Rankings: Georgia Tech is unranked; Maryland is No. 19 in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today polls.

The Yellow Jackets, 20-11 overall (7-9 in the ACC), overcame a 10-point halftime deficit to outlast the Tar Heels, 62-58, in the opening round Thursday night. Tech captured its 20th victory of the season for the first time since 2007, for the 14th time in its history, and for the fourth time under head coach Paul Hewitt. The win also completed a three-game sweep of the Tar Heels for the Yellow Jackets, something Tech has done only once before, in the 1984-85 season when they downed the Tar Heels in the ACC Tournament finals in Atlanta.

Tech came into the ACC Tournament having dropped five of its last seven contests, including losses to Clemson and Virginia Tech in the final week of the regular season.

Maryland, 23-7 overall and 13-3 in the ACC, won its last seven games of the regular season to tie for first place with Duke. One of those victories was a 76-74 win over Georgia Tech on Feb. 20 in College Park, the teams’ only regular season meeting.

> Tech is 3-4 all-time in ACC Tournament games against Maryland. Six of those nine meetings have occurred in Greensboro, and Maryland has won four of those. The Terrapins won the most recent encounter by an 84-62 score in 2006 in Greensboro.

> Tech has won its first-round game in the ACC Tournament each of the last three years, and in five of the last seven tournaments.

Tech’s ACC Tournament History

Georgia Tech has played in 30 ACC Tournaments, and has a 22-27 all-time record in the event. The Yellow Jackets have won three championships, in 1985, 1990 and 1993, but none of those occurred in Greensboro.

Tech has been a runner-up three other times (1986, 1996, 2005). The 1986 and 1996 runs to the finals occurred in Greensboro.

Tech is 6-12 all-time in ACC Tournament games played in the Greensboro Coliseum. Since 1996, when the Yellow Jackets reached the finals against Wake Forest, the Yellow Jackets have won just two of seven tournament games in Greensboro.

Tech has a 7-9 record in the tournament with Paul Hewitt as its head coach, including a runner-up finish in 2005 in Washington, D.C., and a 2-3 record in Greensboro.

The Yellow Jackets have won at least one tournament game in six of 10 years under Hewitt, including first-round victories over Virginia (2001, 2008), North Carolina (2004) and Clemson (2009), plus wins over Virginia Tech and North Carolina in 2005 to reach the finals.

Tech has been the No. 7 seed only once before, in 2008 in the Bobcats Arena in Charlotte. The Jackets defeated Virginia in the opening round before losing to Duke in the quarterfinals. Since the tournament has been played with 12 teams, Tech is 2-1 when it is the higher seed.

Jackets Look to Avenge Heartbreaker in College Park

Georgia Tech has suffered its share of heartbreak in this ACC season, including last second losses at Miami and Florida State, but none shook the Yellow Jackets as much as its 76-74 loss at Maryland on Feb. 20.

Cliff Tucker hit a 25-footer at the buzzer to lift the Terrapins over Tech 76-74 in one of the most heavily contested games of the ACC’s regular season. Tucker’s basket produced the fourth lead change of the final 25 seconds and came after Greivis Vasquez’ 40-footer was invalidated because the Terrapins had called time out before the release of the shot. Derrick Favors had 21 points and 18 rebounds for the Jackets.

The Jackets put together one of their best games of the season only to fall short. Derrick Favors contributed a season-high 21 points and 18 rebounds, while Iman Shumpert added 17 points and three assists with no turnovers, and Gani Lawal scored 12.

Series History with Maryland

> Maryland has won the last nine games in the series to pull ahead of Georgia Tech all-time, 37-33. Up until this stretch, the Terrapins were one of four ACC teams against whom it had an all-time winning record (Clemson, Miami and Virginia are the others). Maryland has won 14 of the last 19 meetings.

> Still, Tech’s 33-33 record against Maryland since 1979-80 is its best mark against any ACC team since the Jackets joined the league.

> Tech is 4-13 against Maryland under head coach Paul Hewitt, 1-8 at College Park. Tech is 16-25 vs. Gary Williams-coached Maryland teams.

> Eleven of the 17 games between Tech and Maryland since Paul Hewitt became the head coach have been decided by 10 points or fewer.

> Tech is 17-10 against Maryland in Alexander Memorial Coliseum, 19-10 in games played in Atlanta. The Terps have won their last three games at the Thrillerdome, however, are 11-6 against Tech on its home court under Gary Williams, and are 4-3 in the building against Paul Hewitt-coached Tech teams.

> Percentage wise and in terms of the number of wins, Tech’s 11-23 road record vs. Maryland is the second-best it has against any team in the ACC. The Jackets are 1-6 in the Comcast Center, and were 10-17 at Cole Field House.

> Maryland won the first nine games of the series, but Tech turned the tables under head coach Bobby Cremins, winning 28 of 35 meetings (including 10 in a row at one point) through the 1995-96 season. The Terps won the next seven in a row before Cremins’ last Tech Jacket team won 69-68 at home on Jan. 15, 2000.

> Tech is 3-4 in ACC Tournament meetings with Maryland. The Terrapins were Tech’s first-ever ACC Tournament opponent, a 51-49 overtime win in the 1980 first round in Greensboro. Maryland also was Tech’s first ACC Tournament victim, in 1983 at the Omni by a 64-58 score.

How Tech Got Here

The Yellow Jackets wiped out a 10-point halftime deficit against North Carolina to defeat the Tar Heels 62-58 in Thursday’s first round. The deficit ws the largest any team has overcome to beat Carolina in an ACC Tournament game. The Heels had been 21-0 when leading by 10 or more points in tourney play; in 15 of those 21 games, UNC expanded on its halftime lead.

The halftime deficit was only the eighth of 10 or more points in any ACC Tournament game. Tech had done it once before. The No. 3 Jackets trailed sixth-seeded N.C. State 40-30 at halftime of the 1990 quarterfinals but rallied for a 76-67 victory in Charlotte. They would go on to win the second of their three ACC championships that year.

In Thursday’s first round, Derrick Favors (7-of-8, .875) set a freshman record for field-goal accuracy (with a minimum of seven FG made) in any ACC Tournament game. The previous record was .818 by Maryland’s Earnest Graham, 9-of-11 in a 109-106 triple-overtime win over N.C. State in 1978.

Favors blocked five shots. That’s one short of the ACC Tournament freshman record, held by Mike Gminski of Duke (1977 quarterfinals against Clemson) and Wake Forest’s Tim Duncan (1994 quarters against Georgia Tech.)

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