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FOOTBALL Great old article on Tech's 7-6 win over Alabama and Joe Namath

https://vault.si.com/vault/1962/11/...v3PwVVrw0Mh2ziruWNLCckLtltdrPX4ngD1mnF2KJqzrQ

Every now and then, the Tech Football Facebook group actually comes up with something good. This is an excellent article on the 1962 Tech/Bama game, and it also discusses the previous year's infamous Holt-Graning incident. This whole situation had about as much to do with us leaving the SEC as the scholarship issues.

It cites a fact that in 1959, a whopping EIGHTEEN players died playing football! It's unbelievable the level of brutality that was accepted back then. Today, by the time the third kid died the whole sport would be suspended; and rightly so.

HOOPS Tech Finishes Homestand vs. Pittsburgh

GT Release

Yellow Jackets and Panthers tip off at 7 p.m. EST Tuesday at McCamish Pavilion




Complete 2023-24 schedule | Purchase Single-Game Tickets | Media Notes (PDF)


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GEORGIA TECH (9-9, 2-5 ACC) vs. PITTSBURGH (11-7, 2-5 ACC)​

Tuesday, January 23, 2024 | 7 p.m. EST | Atlanta, Ga. | McCamish Pavilion

Television:
ESPNU (Announcers: Anish Shroff, David Padgett)

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 – Looking for a bounce-back win after dropping a close game Saturday to Virginia, Georgia Tech finishes a two-game homestand at 7 p.m. Tuesday night against Pittsburgh at McCamish Pavilion.

The Yellow Jackets (9-9, 2-5 ACC) has lost three straight ACC games at home to Boston College (95-87), Notre Dame (75-68 in overtime) and Virginia (75-66) since beating Duke (72-68) on Dec. 2. The Yellow Jackets’ other conference win came at Clemson last Tuesday (93-90 in overtime).

Pittsburgh (11-7, 2-5 ACC) had lost four of its last five games before capturing an 80-76 win at Duke Saturday, avenging a 23-point home loss to the Blue Devils in early January. The Panthers also have an 83-70 road win at Louisville to its credit.

Tuesday’s game will be televised live on ESPNU 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

• Tech’s five ACC losses have been decided by an average of eight points, only one by double digits. In the last four, the Jackets had leads of 16 points against Boston College, seven vs. Notre Dame, 10 at Duke and 11 vs. Virginia.

• Tech has averaged 76.6 points per game and has connected on 47.4 percent of its field goal tries in ACC play, which ranks No. 4 and No. 2, respectively, in those categories.

• Tech has the ACC’s fourth-most efficient offense in conference games (109.5 points per 100 possessions according to KenPom.com) and ranks No. 2 in effective field goal percentage in conference games.

• Seven Tech players have scored at least 20 points in a game this season - Naithan George, Kyle Sturdivant, Deebo Coleman, Tafara Gapare, Kowacie Reeves, Jr., Baye Ndongo and Miles Kelly. It is only the second time that as many as seven different Yellow Jackets have scored 20-plus in a game during a season (2007-08).

• Four Tech players are averaging double figures in ACC play - Miles Kelly (15.9), Baye Ndongo (15.2) and Kowacie Reeves, Jr. (12.6) and Naithan George (10.6). Those three players have combined to hit 49.1 percent of their shots from the floor (144-293) and 39.5 percent from three-point range (58-of-129).

• Tech has started two freshmen - Baye Ndongo and point guard Naithan George - in its last 14 games, winning seven 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 15.1 points per game. The junior guard leads three Jackets averaging in double figures with freshman forward Baye Ndongo (12.9 ppg) and junior guard Kowacie Reeves, Jr. (11.9 ppg). Five other Jackets average between 4.5 and 9.3 points per game.

• Kelly sits 17 points away from 900 for his career, while Tyzhaun Claude needs 15 to reach the same plateau.

• 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’s point guard tandem of Naithan George and Kyle Sturdivant has averaged 7.1 assists per game combined, 9.9 in ACC games. Their assist/turnover ratio is 2.37-to-1 combined overall, 3.45-to-1 in conference games. Both players rank among the nation’s top 51 players in assist rate (assists divided by the field goals made by the player’s teammates while he is on the court) according to KenPom.com.

• Tech is 4-6 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 five Quad 1 and five Quad 2 opponents remaining on its schedule. Tech was 3-14 last season against Quad 1/2 foes.

SERIES VS. PITTSBURGH

• Pittsburgh swept the regular-season series from Tech in 2022-23, winning 71-60 in Atlanta and 76-68 in Pittsburgh, and added an 89-81 win over the Yellow Jackets in the ACC Tournament.

• Tech had won three straight meetings prior to that and still leads the series 12-8, including a 7-8 mark since Pitt became an ACC member.

• Pitt swept a regular-season series from Tech for the first time in 2022-23. Tech and Pitt split the games the other two times they have played twice, in 2017 and 2020.

• Tech’s 73-57 win in its final home game of the 2019-20 campaign was the widest margin of victory for either team in 15 meetings as ACC foes.

• Tech won the first five games in the series, prior to Pitt’s entry into the ACC, all of which took place between 1966 and 1989. The Panthers won the first three meetings after joining the conference.

• The two most entertaining games between Tech and the former Big East member played in the same month of the 1989-90 season, when the Yellow Jackets were on the way to their second ACC title and first Final Four appearance. Bobby Cremins and Paul Evans were the respective head coaches at the time.

• Tech overcame an early 26-5 deficit to win the ACC/Big East Challenge game in Hartford in early December, getting 42 points from Dennis Scott, including the game-winner with 8 seconds left. Later in the month, the Panthers came to Atlanta for a Kuppenheimer Classic game at the Omni, and Tech won the game without Cremins, who was attending his father’s funeral. Kenny Anderson recorded a triple-double with 32 points, 12 rebounds and 18 assists.

• Tech scored easy wins over Pitt in the first three games of the series, all under head coach Whack Hyder, two of which were played at Alexander Memorial Coliseum on the Tech campus.

• Tech is 5-4 against the Panthers’ current head coach, Jeff Capel, having scored an 86-65 victory over VCU during the 2003-04 season when Capel was the Rams’ head coach.

JOL Mailbag 1/22 Sponsored by Auto-Owners Insurance

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For Russell Johnson - What do you know about Tech's position with OTE's Bryson Tiller (6'10", 240, class of 2025)? Just heard in a hallway conversation that his dad is saying that he's going to GT.

KQ- @Russell Johnson

How many players do you see us getting before the National Signing Day? What position will we hunt for the most?

KQ- Not much, 0-2 at max. The focus is more on the spring portal than HS kids for the remaining spots. They have nine additional freshmen coming in this June plus 23 current Fr or R-Fr for the upcoming year. They are not going to add significantly to that number.

Would you say that Brent Key is more involved and hands on with recruiting than most other head coaches in college football? He recruited very well during his OL coach tenure at Alabama right?

KQ- Not really. Every coach handles it differently. Most are pretty into the weeds on the recruitment of kids and Key is big on the culture piece as well. I've covered like 10-12 different head coaches and he is similar to some and different from others, but everyone has a different way of handling it. There are some that are even more involved than Key is.

How is the strength and condition program now since it been a year since the change(Better, Same or worse) and what needs to be improved on?

KQ- So the players always love the current strength coach unless it is a total bum. AJ has done a good job. My measuring stick for S&C is injuries and frequency of injuries particularly things like soft tissue injuries and not stuff like guys blowing out a knee on a fluke play like Leo Blackburn or Sylvain Yondjouen did. GT missed probably the last games due to injury last year of any season since CPJ retired. So that is a mark in the right direction for AJ.

I don't recall seeing Bobby Cremins at a game this year or interacting with CDS. Has that happened? I believe Bobby has outwardly supported all the Tech coaches since he left.

KQ- I think he has been pretty low profile lately. He has been at like one game all year and that was at College of Charleston back in November. That is unusual for Coach Cremins so I hope he is okay health wise. I don't believe I have seen him at GT this year.

Do you plan on coming out here to Nor Cal when Tech plays Stanford and Cal?

KQ- Of course, I go to every GT football game. I'll be in Ireland so going to California is easy in comparision.

Prime talked in a recent interview about his reasoning for taking less high school kids. I don’t agree with most of his take but one part does make me curious. Why take a high school kid, when you can take a guy with 3-4 years left, who already used his one time transfer? Feels like an easier way to get back to “building a program” when you know guys “can’t” leave.

KQ- Well if the one-time transfer rule is done as well which it is for the moment, you might as well take a mix. I think it may hurt out of state kids the most when it comes to HS kids. I think coaches are going to lean more on local kids out of HS as this progresses without changes coming. I agree if they revert back to the old rules with just one transfer then you are better off taking a younger kid who didn't pan out at Bama or UGA in the portal than 50% of the HS targets.

Assume we add no one else, how do you feel about the defensive front 6/7 right now?

KQ- I would not assume they will add no one else. They are missing like 3-5 defensive roster spots so that is not realistic IMO. What I can say is they are okay at linebacker with Tatum back, that gave them three guys I feel good about today in Efford, Tatum and Lightsey playing in a game and then Jackson Hamilton who is okay and a wild card who I think could play a lot in Tah'j Butler. On the DL, I think the DT rotation looks pretty good to me with Lockett, Biggers, Scott and the FSU transfer Tifase plus Shymeik Jones who they love. The rush end/OLB spot is the big question mark to me outside of Kevin Harris. I think they are fine at the other end spot with Sylvain, Josh and Eddie.

In your opinion, do you think that there is less loyalty in sports for players and coaches?

KQ- I think coach loyalty is the same as it has ever been. That was always up for debate depending on the situation and connections. For players, the owners or even college coaches are always recruiting or signing guys on top of them and there isn't much loyalty so it is hard to be critical of that. I think if GT fielded a team of GT fans growing up they'd be 0-12 every season in football or close to it so it is hard to use that as a barometer. I think things are roughly the same as always with the uncontrollable portal making it more difficult.

What’s the point of starting Ebe? Played 7 min tonight and recorded no stats.

KQ- I really don't get it. I said from the jump I thought he would not be good and I was shouted down on here by some posters. He is an end-of-the-bench big man. I think Damon keeps hoping the lightbulb will come on like you've seen from some other guys, but it isn't. I'd call him five fouls Ebe and treat him that way. Maybe that is what Damon is trying to do, avoid some fouls on Baye early.

As a fan I’m very excited for the new ncaa game to come out and play this team. Do the players talk about it at all? It’s my understanding that this game will have actual representations of the players instead of just the numbers on the jersey so I’d think the players would be more interested in their ratings

KQ- I haven't heard a peep about it, but my oldest child and I split the cost of an X-box to prepare for it. It is a subject that just hasn't come up yet.

What's the technical reason we click on a story in The Buzz only to have to click on a second link to get to the story.

KQ- Because I cannot just post a direct link to the board as a post title and if it did that where would you comment on the story? The idea is for you all to discuss the story mentioned not to necessarily click the link but not everyone visits the front page every day. The majority of the traffic is on the message boards not the front page for the site.

Also what’s going on with Sackos playing time? Seems like he could be helpful on defense at times especially rebounding.

KQ- Damon is trying to matchup and Gapare is playing better offensively so he is taking Sacko's minutes. Sacko is pretty ineffective offensively.

How much better will GT pitching be this season? If it won't be noticeably better, how easy is it to get established pitchers from G5 or lower conferences?

KQ- @Russell Johnson

What is the timeframe for a pinner thread for 2025 FB offers?

KQ- Probably post-NSD 2.0. We usually regroup and start focusing more on 2025 at that point.

What should be realistic expectations for baseball this season? Too ambitious to expect a winning conference record and a regional appearance?

KQ- @Russell Johnson
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