March 7, 2010
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech begins play in the 57th annual Atlantic Coast Conference Basketball Tournament at 7 p.m. Thursday night against North Carolina. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN2.
Georgia Tech has earned the No. 7 seed in the tournament, while North Carolina is seeded No. 10. The winner will advance to face No. 2 seed Maryland at 7 p.m. Friday.
Tech, 19-11 overall, 7-9 in the ACC, is within a victory of winning 20 games in the regular season for the 13th time in its history, and for the fourth time under head coach Paul Hewitt. A win would complete a three-game sweep of the Tar Heels for the Yellow Jackets, something that has happened only once before, in the 1984-85 season when they downed the Tar Heels in the ACC Tournament finals in Atlanta.
The Yellow Jackets prepare for Thursday night’s game having dropped five of their last seven contests, including losses to Clemson and Virginia Tech in the final week of the regular season.
North Carolina enters the tournament with a 16-15 overall record and a 5-11 mark in ACC play. The Tar Heels have lost four of their last six games coming into the tournament, including an 82-50 defeat at Duke Saturday night.
Tech won both regular-season meetings with North Carolina, holding off a Tar Heels’ rally for a 73-71 win in Chapel Hill on Jan. 16, and cruising to a 68-51 win in Atlanta on Feb. 16.
Since joining the ACC in 1979, Georgia Tech has won three conference tournament championships (1985, 1990, 1993) and been a runner-up three times (1986, 1996, 2005).
Thursday’s game will be the ninth meeting between the two teams in the ACC Tournament, and the teams have split the previous eight encounters. It matches the most ACC Tournament games between Tech and any other ACC team (Duke and Virginia). The teams are 1-1 in games played in Greensboro.
Tech has won its last two ACC Tournament games against North Carolina, including a 78-75 decision in 2005 in Washington D.C., when Will Bynum scored 35 points, and an 83-82 win in 2004 in Greensboro, when Jarrett Jack hit a last-second shot.
2010 ACC Tournament
Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum
First Round – Thursday, March 11
#8 Boston College vs. #9 Virginia Raycom Noon
#5 Wake Forest vs. #12 Miami Raycom 2:00*
#7 Georgia Tech vs. #10 North Carolina ESPN2 7:00
#6 Clemson vs. #11 NC State Raycom 9:00*
Quarterfinals – Friday, March 12
#1 Duke vs. 8/9 winner Raycom/ESPN2 Noon
#4 Virginia Tech vs. 5/12 winner Raycom/ESPN2 2:00*
#2 Maryland vs. 7/10 winner Raycom/ESPN2 7:00
#3 Florida State vs. 6/11 winner Raycom/ESPN2 9:00*
Semifinals – Saturday, March 13
Game 9 (game 5 & 6 winners) Raycom/ESPN 1:30
Game 10 (game 7 & 8 winners) Raycom/ESPN 3:30*
Finals – Sunday, March 14
Game 11 (championship game) Raycom/ESPN 1:00
*denotes estimated game time
