Tech Resumes ACC Schedule at Florida State

GEORGIA TECH (8-4, 1-0 ACC) vs. FLORIDA STATE (6-6, 0-1 ACC)

Wednesday, January 3, 2024 | 7 p.m. EST | Tallahassee, Fla. | Donald L. Tucker Center

• Television:  ACC Network  (Announcers:  Anish Shroff, Debbie Antonelli)
• Radio: Georgia Tech Sports Network by Legends Sports (In Atlanta: 680 AM/93.7 The Fan) | SiriusXM channel 383
• Other ways to listen:  SiriusXM app | Listen Online | Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets App | TuneIn
• Announcers: Andy Demetra, Randy Waters
• Live Stats:  Statbroadcast.com

THE FLATS – Finishing off a stretch of five straight games away from home, Georgia Tech resumes its Atlantic Coast Conference schedule at 7 p.m. EST Wednesday night against Florida State at the Donald L. Tucker Center in Tallahassee, Fla.

The FSU game ends a nine-day break for Tech (8-4, 1-0 ACC), which dropped a 72-64 decision to Nevada on Christmas Eve to finish as the runner-up at the Diamond Head Classic. The Yellow Jackets had won four in a row prior to that, including victories over Massachusetts (73-70) and host Hawai’i (73-68) to reach the championship game in Honolulu. Tech also defeated No. 7 Duke (72-68) and No. 21 Mississippi State (67-59) in the month of December.

Florida State (6-6, 0-1 ACC) enters the New Year on the heels of a 78-75 homecourt loss on Saturday to Lipscomb, which snapped a three-game winning streak. The Seminoles earned key wins over UNLV and Colorado to win the Suncoast Classic in November, and lost their ACC opener at North Carolina, 78-70, on Dec. 2, which was part of a four-game skid that included losses to Georgia, South Florida and SMU.

Wednesday’s game will be televised live on the ACC Network with a live stream available on the ESPN app. Radio coverage is on the Georgia Tech Sports Network by Legends Sports and flagship station 680 the Fan (680 AM/93.7 FM). The Tech broadcast is also available on SiriusXM channel 383 and the SiriusXM app.

THE TIP-OFF

• Georgia Tech’s win over Duke Dec. 2 marked the Yellow Jackets’ first win in an ACC opener since the 2018-19 season. Tech has not won its first two ACC games since 2005-06 (Virginia, Boston College).
• Tech has seen its NCAA NET ranking leap from No. 162 following its loss to Georgia on Dec. 5 to No. 110 after its runner-up finish in the Diamond Head Classic.
• Tech concluded its non-conference schedule 7-4 against a slate that included six teams that won 20 or more games in the 2022-23 season, four of them post-season teams. Tech’s four non-conference losses came to teams that currently have a combined record of 43-10.
• Tech is 3-3 against Quad 1 and Quad 2 teams this season, with a Quad 1 win over Duke and Quad 2 wins over Mississippi State and Massachusetts. The Jackets have 10 Quad 1 and four Quad 2 opponents remaining on its schedule. Tech was 3-14 last season against Quad 1/2 foes.
• Tech has lost its last five games in the Donald L. Tucker Center. The Jackets last defeated the Seminoles in Tallahassee on Feb. 17, 2016 (86-80).
• Tech head coach Damon Stoudamire faced Florida State as a senior at Arizona. He scored a game-high 25 points (9-19 FG, 2-5 3pt FG, 5-7 FT) with 12 assists to lead his Wildcats to a 96-78 win over the Seminoles at the McKale Center in Tucson.
• Tech does not play at home again until Jan. 6 vs. Boston College. That’s 27 calendar days between home games, the most for the Jackets since the 1986-87 season, when they went 43 calendar days between home games (Dec. 1 vs. Penn to Jan. 14 vs. North Carolina A&T). FSU is Tech’s fifth straight game away from home, a stretch that has included trips to New York Dec. 16 to play Penn State at Madison Square Garden, and to Honolulu, Hawai’i to compete in the Diamond Head Classic, Dec. 21-24.
• Freshman forward Baye Ndongo has won the ACC’s Rookie of the Week honor three times this season (Dec. 2, Dec. 18, Dec. 26), most for a Yellow Jacket since current NBA star Josh Okogie did so during the 2016-17 season.
• Tech has started two freshmen – Ndongo and point guard Naithan George – in its last eight games, winning six of them. The Jackets have not had two freshmen in its regular starting lineup since the 2018-19 season (Michael Devoe, Khalid Moore), and have not had a freshman regularly start at point guard since Jose Alvarado in 2017-18.
• Miles Kelly, Tech’s leading scorer in 2022-23 at 14.4 points per game, is Tech’s leading scorer again this season at 14.8 points per game. The junior guard leads three Jackets averaging in double figures with freshman forward Baye Ndongo (11.9 ppg) and junior forward Kowacie Reeves, Jr. (11.7 ppg). Five other Jackets average between 5.1 and 8.0 points per game.
• Tech’s returning scholarship players – Kelly, Dallan “Deebo” Coleman and Kyle Sturdivant – have accounted for 42.4 percent of Tech’s points this season. That number has diminished somewhat as freshmen Baye Ndongo and Naithan George and sophomore transfer Tafara Gapare have taken on greater loads.
• Senior guard Lance Terry, Tech’s second-leading scorer last season, has elected to red-shirt after missing the season’s first nine games, as well as pre-season practice, with a leg injury. He has been cleared to practice.

SERIES VS. FLORIDA STATE

• Georgia Tech has won four of the last five games in the series, defeating the Seminoles, 61-60, in the 2023 ACC Tournament after dropping a 75-64 decision in Tallahassee in the teams’ only regular-season meeting last season.
• Still, The Seminoles have won 16 of the last 22 meetings in the series and hold a 45-33 advantage all-time.
• Since FSU joined the ACC, Tech is 23-31 against the Seminoles. Florida State won the first six in a row, Tech followed by winning five straight, and is 18-25 against the Seminoles since then.
• In those 54 games, 23 have been decided by four points or less, 34 by fewer than 10 points. One of those games went to double-overtime, which the Yellow Jackets won 111-108 on Feb. 11, 1999 in Tallahassee.
• Tech is 12-19 against Seminoles teams led by head coach Leonard Hamilton. Tech is 13-19 against Hamilton overall, with a victory over his Miami team in December of 1997.
• Tech is 11-25 in games played in Tallahassee, including an 8-18 mark at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, formerly known as the Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center.
• Tech and Florida State were both members of the old Metro Conference from 1976-78, and the Seminoles won three of those four meetings.
• Florida State has won two of the three ACC Tournament meetings between the schools, but Tech defeated the Seminoles, 80-75, in the championship game of the 2021 tournament. The three games have been decided by a total of eight points.

TEAM TRENDS

• Tech is 6-2 since freshmen Baye Ndongo and Naithan George entered the starting lineup Nov. 28 against Mississippi State.
• Tech has outrebounded nine of 12 opponents and tied one this season; only Nevada and Cincinnati have won the board battle against the Jackets. For the season, Tech has a plus-6.5 rebounding margin and ranks No. 2 in the ACC, No. 54 nationally.
• Nevada held Tech below 40 percent from the floor for the fifth time this season and first time since Dec. 5 at Georgia. The Jackets had connected on 46.4 percent of its field goal tries in its prior three games (Penn State, UMass, Hawai’i), its best three-game aggregate percentage this season. The Jackets’ season rate is 41.5 percent.
• Nevada’s 49.1 percent from the floor was the best an opponent has shot since Howard hit 50 percent in the second game of the season. Tech had held each of its previous four opponents under 40 percent from the floor, limiting them to 36.1 percent (93-for-257) collectively. The Jackets rank No. 47 nationally in effective field goal percentage defense (KenPom).
• Tech has been disruptive to opponents on the defensive end, limiting opponents to 42.2 percent assists-to-made field goals, which ranks No. 17 nationally, and also ranks 34th in block percentage at 13.1 (blocked shots/opponent 2-pt FGA).
• Tech has committed fewer than 10 turnovers in each of its last two games (9 each vs. Hawai’i and Nevada) after averaging more than 19 in the three games prior.
• Tech remains one of the nation’s better offensive rebounding teams this season, grabbing 10 against Nevada and averaging 14.3 per game. The Jackets lead the ACC in that category and ranked 15th-best nationally. Tech is No. 2 in the ACC in total rebounds per game and is No. 19 nationally.
• Tech has not connected on more than 30.4 percent of its threes in any one game since going 13-for-29 in its 2023-24 opener against Georgia Southern. The Jackets have connected on 28.5 percent this season from beyond the arc.
• Miles Kelly and Kowacie Reeves, Jr., are the only Tech players to start every game this season.

PLAYER HIGHLIGHTS

• Freshman Baye Ndongo averaged 18.0 points and 9.3 rebounds at the Diamond Head Classic, earning a spot on the all-tournament team. He hit 23-of-26 shots from the floor in the tournament, the best percentage (.885) of any tournament participant.
• Ndongo is Tech’s leader in rebound average (9.1 rpg), field goal percentage (62.2 pct., No. 23 in NCAA) and blocked shots (15 total). He has averaged 11.8 rebounds over his last four games.
• Freshman Naithan George averaged 10.7 points and 3.3 assists in the Diamond Head Classic.
• George has started Tech’s last eight games at the point guard position and has averaged 7.5 points and 4.6 assists in those games. He had eight dimes each against Alabama A&M and Penn State, and nine vs. Duke.
• Senior point guard Kyle Sturdivant averaged 10.3 points in the Diamond Head Classic, hitting 10-of-22 from the floor, 3-of-7 from three-point range and 8-of-8 from the foul line. Sturdivant’s 21 points against UMass was a career high. The six highest scoring games of his Tech career have occurred away from home.
• Kowacie Reeves, Jr., has scored in double digits in seven of Tech’s 12 games. He has hit 44.3 percent of his shots from the floor, a team-best 37.8 percent from three-point range and 85.3 percent from the foul line.
• Miles Kelly averaged 10.3 points in the Diamond Head Classic, but hit just 10-of-37 shots from the floor and 2-of-18 from three-point range. He remains Tech’s top scorer at 14.8 points per game.
• Kelly leads Tech in getting to the free throw line, attempting 67 foul shots this after trying 59 all of 2022-23.
• Kelly is 2-for-25 from behind the three-point line in Tech’s last four games, 13-of-50 overall from the floor.
• Kelly grabbed five more rebounds against Nevada and averages 6.0 this season, second on the team. Kelly averaged just 2.5 rebounds per game over his first two seasons.
• Deebo Coleman has just six turnovers this season in 282 minutes.

Competitive Drive Initiative Turn 2

Looking to build on the success of last year’s Competitive Drive Initiative, Georgia Tech, the Georgia Tech Foundation and Georgia Tech athletics are partnering once again for Competitive Drive Initiative Turn 2. Initially launched on Nov. 7, CDI Turn 2 has reached its initial goal of raising $2.5 million in new gifts to the Alexander-Tharpe Fund’s Athletic Scholarship Fund and has a new goal of raising $3 million in new gifts to the A-T Fund by Dec. 31. Georgia Tech and the Georgia Tech Foundation will match eligible gifts to accelerate the impact for Tech athletics and, like last year, not only will gifts to CDI Turn 2 be matched, but so will the contributor’s benefits in the way of A-T Fund giving levels and priority points. To learn more and contribute online, visit atfund.org/turn2.

ABOUT GEORGIA TECH MEN’S BASKETBALL

Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team is in its first year under head coach Damon Stoudamire. Tech has been a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference since 1979, won four ACC Championships (1985, 1990, 1993, 2021), played in the NCAA Tournament 17 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 (@GTMBB) and Instagram. For more information on Tech basketball, visit Ramblinwreck.com.