Tech Hosts Boston College on Senior Day

Georgia Tech vs. Boston College

GEORGIA TECH VS. BOSTON COLLEGE

Saturday, March 5, 2022 | 12 p.m. ET | Atlanta, Ga. | McCamish Pavilion

Television:  ACC’s Regional Sports Networks

Play-by-Play:  Evan Lepler  |  Analyst: Brian Oliver

Radio: Georgia Tech Sports Network by Legends Sports (In Atlanta: 680 AM/93.7 The Fan | XM 388, SiriusXM app 978 | Listen Online | Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets App | TuneIn

Play-by-Play: Andy Demetra  |  Analyst: Randy Waters

THE FLATS – Closing out its regular season at home and celebrating its Senior Day, Georgia Tech entertains Boston College for a 12 p.m. Atlantic Coast Conference game Saturday at McCamish Pavilion. Tech has an opportunity to earn a season sweep of the Eagles, whom the Yellow Jackets defeated, 81-76, on Jan. 12 in Chestnut Hill.

Tech (11-19 overall, 4-15 ACC) has lost its last four games, including a 68-65 defeat Wednesday at Clemson, and are tied for last place in the ACC standings with NC State. Three of the Yellow Jackets’ losses during this streak were decided by four points or less. Tech is looking to even its home record on the season at 9-9 with a win Saturday.

Michael Devoe (Orlando, Fla.), the reigning ACC Tournament MVP and the conference’s No. 3-leading scorer (18.00 points per game), No. 7 three-point shooter by volume (2.31 per game) and No. 4 by percentage (36.8), leads the Jackets along with senior forward Jordan Usher (Canton, Ga.), averaging 14.1 points and 6.5 rebounds per game.

Boston College (11-18 overall, 6-13 ACC) is tied with Louisville and Pittsburgh for 11th place in the ACC standings. The Eagles have lost their last two games, both at home, to Clemson (70-60) and Miami (81-70) after defeating Florida State (71-55) and NC State in the two games before that.

Saturday’s game will be televised live on the ACC’s Regional Sports Networks, with a live stream available through Bally Sports South and the ESPN app. Radio coverage will be on the Georgia Tech Sports Network by Legends Sports and flagship station WCNN (680/93.7 the Fan), and on satellite radio (XM channel 388, SiriusXM app 978).

SENIOR DAY ON THE FLATS

Georgia Tech will recognize four seniors Saturday playing their final home game against Boston College – guard Michael Devoe (Orlando, Fla.), wing Jordan Usher (Canton, Ga.), forward Khalid Moore (Briarwood, N.Y.) and guard Bubba Parham (Snellville, Ga.).

This group has combined to play 12,879 minutes over 477 games (27 minutes per game) and score 4,813 points (10.1 per game).

Devoe, Usher and Parham finish their collegiate careers as 1,000-point scorers.

THE OPENING TIP

• Happy endings – Georgia Tech has finished its regular season with a victory each of the last four years. One of those wins came at home (Wake Forest in 2017), the last three on the road (NC State in 2019, Clemson in 2020, Wake Forest in 2021)
• Tuesday’s child – Georgia Tech is guaranteed to play Tuesday in the opening round of the ACC Tournament, and if the tournament started this weekend, the Yellow Jackets would be the 15th seed and play 10th-place Clemson at 4:30 p.m. Tech is tied for 14th place with NC State but lost to the Wolfpack in the teams’ only meeting this season. The Jackets can gain the 14th seed with a win over Boston College and a Wolfpack loss at Florida State, in which case they would face the No. 11 seed at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
• Water under the bridge – Since the first meeting between Georgia Tech and Boston College on Jan. 12, the Yellow Jackets are 4-11, and the Eagles are 5-10.
• Second chances – The Yellow Jackets are finishing the regular season with rematches against Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, Clemson and Boston College. Tech went 2-2 against those teams the first time around, and the Hokies and Fighting Irish completed season sweeps of the Jackets last week. Clemson earned a split with the Jackets Wednesday night.
• Upper hand – Tech has a current winning streak against three ACC teams (Boston College, Florida State, Pittsburgh), having won the last three meetings against each.
• Dynamic duo – Georgia Tech seniors Michael Devoe and Jordan Usher have accounted for 46.4 percent of the Yellow Jackets’ scoring this season, and as the top two assist purveyors on the team, have had a hand in 68.5 percent of Tech’s field goals made. Those numbers for ACC games are similar (45.2, 69.4). In Tech’s 11 wins, however, they account for just 41.9 percent of the Jackets’ points; in Tech’s four ACC wins: 37.5 percent.
• Grand theft basketball – The Jackets are No. 2 in the ACC in forcing turnovers against conference opponents (13.26 per game) and are No. 2 in steals (8.11). Tech’s last 13 ACC foes (beginning Jan. 19 vs. Wake Forest) have coughed it up 174 times (13.38 per game), 114 of them takeaways for Tech (8.76 per game).
• Nine lineups – Tech has utilized nine different starting lineups this season, and Jordan Usher is the only player to start all 30 games. Tech’s most frequent lineup has been the original one (Michael Devoe and Kyle Sturdivant at the guards, Jordan Usher and Khalid Moore at the forwards, Rodney Howard at center), which the Jackets 17 times.
• Coming up short – Tech has lost seven games by five points or fewer this season, five of them in conference play and three of them in its current four-game losing streak. Four other ACC losses have come by 10 points or fewer.
• Iron Mike – Senior guard Michael Devoe fell from the top spot in the ACC in scoring average for the first time this season after Tech’s game at at Boston College, but has held steady as the league’s No. 3 scorer since when (18.00 points per game). Devoe is No. 4 in the ACC in three-point percentage (36.8), No. 7 in three-point field goals per game (2.31) and No. 4 in minutes (35.01 per game).
• Exclusive – Devoe is one of only nine players in Division I to average at least 18.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.3 steals this season (per Sports-Reference.com). Devoe is the only power conference player among them.
• Climbing the ladder – In Tech’s last six games, Michael Devoe has passed Georgia Tech legends John Salley (1,587 from 1982-86), Bruce Dalrymple (1,588 from 1983-87), B.J. Elder (1,616 from 2001-05), Roger Kaiser (1,628 from 1958-61) and Tony Akins (1,658 from 1998-2002) on the program’s career scoring chart, reaching 12th place with 1,671 points.
• House of Usher – Jordan Usher is one of only 11 Division I players to average at least 14.1 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.4 steals this season (per Sports-Reference.com). Only three of those seven play for a power conference team – Usher, Dereon Seabron of NC State and Jake Laravia of Wake Forest.
• Three over a thousand – Jordan Usher cleared the 1,000-point milestone for his career Jan. 15 at North Carolina. He has 1,188 points, 913 of them scored in a Tech uniform, giving Tech three 1,000-point scorers on its roster, including Michael Devoe (1,671) and Bubba Parham (1,452).
• Rookies rising – Tech’s highly-regarded freshman class has scored 56 points over Tech’s last four games and totaled 213 minutes on the floor, their most extensive time as a group this season. Deebo Coleman has averaged 24 minutes per game in ACC play this season, but Miles Kelly has played 62 minutes in the last three games and Jalon Moore 47.
• Three-bo – Kick-started by a strong game against Clayton State on Jan. 23, Tech freshman Deebo Coleman has hit 22 of 53 shots (41.5 percent) from three-point range over Tech’s last 13 games. That includes a 0-for-6 game at Notre Dame.
• Rad Rodney – Center Rodney Howard has put together his best basketball this season in Tech’s last five games, scoring in double digits in six of Tech’s last seven games and posting a pair of double-doubles. He has averaged 12.3 points (37-of-58 from the floor) and 7.0 rebounds, with nine assists and five blocks.
• Sturdy Sturdivant – Kyle Sturdivant has a 45:16 assist/turnover ratio over Tech’s last 17 games and played eight of those games without committing a turnover. The junior guard has also posted six double-digit scoring efforts over that stretch.

SERIES NOTES VS. BOSTON COLLEGE

• Georgia Tech leads the all-time series with Boston College, 17-12 (one win vacated by the NCAA Committee on Infractions), and won the teams’ last two meetings, 71-52 in Chestnut Hill during the 2019-20 season and 81-76 on Jan. 12, 2022. The one scheduled meeting in 2020-21 in Atlanta was not played due to COVID-19.
• Boston College has won three of the four ACC Tournament meetings between the two schools, and each time the tournament result has mirrored the regular-season outcome.
• Eleven of the games in the short series have been decided by less than 10 points, 14 of them by four points or less, and five in overtime.
• Tech is 7-2 against the Eagles at home, 3-1 at Alexander Memorial Coliseum, 1-0 at Philips Arena and 3-1 at McCamish Pavilion.
• Tech has played BC at three different venues in the Boston area. The Jan. 29, 2005 game was Tech’s first visit to the Conte Forum, BC’s current home court, where the Jackets are 5-6. The first game in the series on Dec. 31, 1946, was played at Boston Arena, and the teams also played in the Boston Garden on Jan. 19, 1980.
• Prior to BC’s entry into the ACC, the teams met four times on neutral floors, including one outside the United States, a 65-62 overtime win for the Yellow Jackets in the 1986 Suntory Ball in Tokyo, Japan.
• The teams have met twice in NCAA Tournament competition, both of them won by Tech. The Yellow Jackets downed the Eagles, 103-89, in the 1996 Southeast Regional second round in Orlando, and eliminated the Eagles, 57-54 in a 2004 second-round game in Milwaukee.

Alexander-Tharpe Fund

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ABOUT GEORGIA TECH MEN’S BASKETBALL

Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team won the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship in 2021 after finishing fourth in the regular season. Tech has been a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference since 1979, winning four ACC Championships (1985, 1990, 1993, 2021), playing in the NCAA Tournament 17 times and playing 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.