Jan. 16, 2013
Georgia Tech will try for its second ACC win when the Yellow Jackets (8-8, 1-4 ACC) travel to Miami to take on the Miami Hurricanes (12-4, 3-2 ACC) in a 7 p.m. contest Thursday night at the BankUnited Center in Coral Gables, Fla.
This will be the second trip to South Florida in a month as the Jackets won the FIU Sun & Fun Classic with wins over Quinnipiac and FIU on Dec. 29 and 30.
Freshman Brittany Jackson earned her second ACC Rookie of the Week award after scoring a game-high 20 points in contests against Virginia and at No. 11 North Carolina last week. She is only the fourth Jacket to win multiple ACC Rookie of the Week awards. Jackson scored 40 points in only 53 minutes of play last week and made nine 3-pointers.
Tech will be trying for its first win at Miami since Feb. 21, 2010, a 77-73 victory. The Jackets’ last trip to Coral Gables was an 84-74 overtime loss on Jan. 30, 2011, in which four GT starters fouled out. Mo Bennett’s jumper with six seconds left in regulation tied the game at 70 and forced overtime. Then freshman Tyaunna Marshall had 11 points and five rebounds for the Jackets.
ROOKIE AWARD
Freshman Brittany Jackson earned her second ACC Rookie of the Week honor on Jan. 14. She is only the fourth Yellow Jacket to earn multiple ACC Rookie of the Week awards. Niesha Butler earned it seven times in the 1998-99 season. Ty Marshall was named five times in 2010-11 and Alex Montgomery earned it twice in 2007-08.
Jackson scored game-high 20 points in Tech’s games against Virginia and at No. 11 North Carolina. Jackson made nine 3-pointers in the two games. She scored 40 total points in only 53 minutes of play.
Jackson was also named ACC Rookie of the Week on Nov. 19 for her performances against Kennesaw State and Marquette.
For the week, Jackson averaged 15.0 points and 4.5 rebounds, shot 45 percent from the floor and 66.7 percent from 3-point range. Against Marquette, she scored 21 points and made five 3-pointers.
FIVE FROM THREE
Freshman Brittany Jackson scored a game-high 20 points against Virginia Jan. 10 at McCamish Pavilion. The rookie tossed in five 3-pointers against the `Hoos. It is the second time this season Jackson has made five triples in a game, as she also did so against Marquette Nov. 18.
Jackson leads Georgia Tech with 24 3-pointers made this season. She ranks seventh in the ACC in threes per game with 1.8 and sixth in 3-point field goal percentage, making 40.0 percent of long distance attempts.
FROM LONG RANGE
Sophomore Sydney Wallace is already closing in on the Georgia Tech career top 10 for 3-pointers made. Entering the Miami game on Jan. 17, Wallace has made 58 career threes. Currently 10th on the GT all-time list is Christie Finney with 79, just 21 ahead of Wallace. As a freshman, Wallace made 45.
3-POINT MATCHUP
Thursday night’s game will feature two of the best 3-point defenses in the ACC and two of the better 3-point shooting teams in the ACC.
In all games, Miami leads the conference in 3-point defense, holding opponents to only 24.8 percent shooting from beyond the arc. Tech ranks third with opponents shooting at only 26.8 percent.
However, in ACC games, the Jackets and Canes rank among the conference leaders in long range buckets. Tech is third with 5.2 3-pointers per game and Miami is fourth with 5.0 per outing.