March 11, 2014
Complete Game Notes | Coach Gregory Monday Presser | Coach Gregory ACC Teleconference audio
Watch Online | ACC Tournament Bracket | ACC Tournament Interactive Bracket
Greensboro, N.C. – Riding momentum built with a pair of victories in the final week of the regular season, Georgia Tech enters the 61st Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament as the No. 11 seed and will face Boston College, the No. 14 seed, in the opening round at 7 p.m. Wednesday night at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C.
The game will get a national audience on ESPN2, but viewers in the ACC region will see the ACC Network telecast (WATL-TV in Atlanta). Radio coverage of the game will be provided by the Georgia Tech IMG Sports Network and can be heard in Atlanta on All News 106.7 FM. The radio broadcast can be heard nationally on Sirius and XM satellite radio (channel 85).
Tech (15-16, 6-12 ACC) won its last two games in the regular season, defeating No. 7 Syracuse, 67-62, at the Carrier Dome, then downing Virginia Tech, 62-51, Saturday at McCamish Pavilion. Tech finished the regular season tied for 11th place in the ACC with the same record it achieved a year ago, and earned the 11th seed by virtue of its 2-1 record against Notre Dame and Wake Forest.
In its third season under head coach Brian Gregory, Tech played its first 10 ACC games with no more than nine scholarship players, sometimes with as few as seven. Senior guard and leading scorer Trae Golden (groin), who missed most if not all of the first five games in February, and sophomore forward Robert Carter, Jr. (knee), who missed Tech’s first 10 ACC games, performed well in the last two weeks after returning to the lineup.
Boston College (8-23, 4-14 ACC) has lost four of its last five games, including close losses to Florida State, 74-70, and NC State, 78-68, in the final week of the regular season.
Tech won both meetings against the Eagles during the regular-season, capturing a 68-60 win at Chestnut Hill on Jan. 21 and a 74-71 win on Feb. 13 at McCamish Pavilion (recaps and box scores on page 3).
The winner of Wednesday’s game will face the No. 6 seed, Clemson, in the second round at 9 p.m. Thursday night.
Tech’s ACC Tournament History
Georgia Tech has played in 34 ACC Tournaments, and has a 24-31 all-time record in the event. The Yellow Jackets have won three championships, in 1985 (Atlanta), 1990 (Charlotte) and 1993 (Charlotte).
Tech has been a runner-up four times (1986, 1996, 2005, 2010). The 1986, 1996 and 2010 runs to the finals occurred in Greensboro.
Tech is 6-4 in ACC Tournament games played in Atlanta, going 4-2 in three tournaments at the Omni, including the 1985 title, and 2-2 in two tournaments at the Georgia Dome.
Tech was 0-2 in the ACC Tournament under coach Dwane Morrison, 15-16 under Bobby Cremins (including all three titles) and 9-11 under Paul Hewitt (runner-up in 2005 and 2010).
Best is ACC Tournament Legend
Travis Best, a sharp-shooting point guard who helped Georgia Tech win the 1993 Atlantic Coast Conference championship, is among 15 basketball legends in the 2014 ACC Men’s Basketball Legends Class who will be honored on Saturday in Greensboro.
Best, who played for the Yellow Jackets from 1991-95, was one of an amazing line of gifted point guards to play for then head coach Bobby Cremins at Georgia Tech. He started for the Yellow Jackets for four seasons, leading them to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances, one NIT berth and one ACC Championship.
The Legends will be honored at the annual ACC Legends Brunch, which will be held Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. in the Guilford Ballroom of the Sheraton Four Seasons Hotel, and, later that day, will be introduced to the Greensboro Coliseum crowd at halftime of the first semifinal game. Brunch are priced at $35 each, and tables of 10 are available for $350 each. Information on purchasing tickets may be obtained at the official ACC website–http://theacc.co/MBB14legendstix
Fast Break Points
• In Boston College, Georgia Tech is attempting to beat a team three times in the same season, both regular-season meetings and an ACC Tournament contest, for the first time since 2010 (North Carolina). The Yellow Jackets have accomplished this nine times previously – 1985 vs. North Carolina, 1986 vs. Clemson and Maryland, 1990 vs. NC State, 1992 vs. Virg9inia, 1996 vs. NC State, 2001 vs. Virginia and 2010 vs. North Carolina.
• Georgia Tech is in the bottom half of the ACC Tournament bracket and will play the last game of the day as long as it survives.
• Tech is 8-15 in its ACC Tournament games in Greensboro, never having won a title there, but making the finals three times.
• Tech is 0-3 in the ACC Tournament as the No. 11 seed (2012 in Atlanta, 2011 in Greensboro, 2006 in Greensboro).
• Tech is looking for its first ACC Tournament win since 2010, when the Yellow Jackets reached the finals in Greensboro.
• Wednesday will be the fourth time Georgia Tech and Boston College have met in an ACC or NCAA Tournament game.
• Tech has averaged 57 points over its last seven ACC Tournament games, with a high of 69 in its first-round win over North Carolina in 2010.
• Tech currently has its fullest complement of players available that it has had since the conference schedule began – nine scholarship players with the return of Robert Carter, Jr., from a knee injury and Trae Golden from a groin pull. Neither Carter, Jr., nor Golden is 100 percent effective, however, and senior forward Kammeon Holsey is playing through persistent pain in his right knee, which he injured prior to his freshman year.
• Tech’s two leading scorers – Trae Golden and Marcus Georges-Hunt – also made the ACC All-Academic team this season. Georges-Hunt made the team for the second time.
Series Notes vs. Boston College
Georgia Tech leads the all-time series with Boston College, 11-8, having swept the regular-season series from the Eagles in 2013-14. Tech earned its second win in seven tries at the Conte Forum, and first since the 2007-08 season, with a 68-60 victory on Jan. 21, then captured a last-second 74-71 win over BC on Feb. 13 in Atlanta.
• The victories evened Tech’s record against Boston College at 7-7 since the Eagles joined the ACC, but BC has won six of the last 10.
• Boston College won both meetings between the two teams in 2012-13, a 74-72 decision in Chestnut Hill in the final regular-season game, and an 84-64 rout in the opening round of the ACC Tournament in Greensboro.
• The BC win in Greensboro was the first-ever meeting between the two teams in the ACC Tournament.
• Fifteen of the games in the short series have been decided by less than 10 points, 11 of them by four points or less, and two in overtime.
• Tech is 5-1 against the Eagles at home, winning the last three on three different home courts – Alexander Memorial Coliseum, Philips Arena and 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 2-5. 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 two seasons ago, 57-54 in the second round in Milwaukee.
About Georgia Tech Men’s Basketball
Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team is in its third year under head coach Brian Gregory. The Yellow Jackets have been a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference since 1979, won three ACC Championships, played in the NCAA Tournament 16 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 (@GTMBK). For more information on Tech basketball, visit Ramblinwreck.com.
