HARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – The Atlantic Coast Conference and its television partners announced the following football game times and networks for Week 9, Oct. 26-28.



Five ACC Football games slated for Saturday, Oct. 28, will be flexed as a six-day selection.



Thursday, Oct. 26

• Syracuse at Virginia Tech, 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN – previously announced

Saturday, Oct. 28

• UConn at Boston College, Noon ET on ACC Network
• Pitt at Notre Dame, 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC/Peacock – previously announced
• North Carolina at Georgia Tech – TBD
• Duke at Louisville – TBD
• Virginia at Miami – TBD
• Clemson at NC State – TBD
• Florida State at Wake Forest – TBD

ACC Notes

Through the first seven weeks of the season:

• The ACC has four teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll this week - Florida State (No. 4), North Carolina (No. 10), Duke (No. 16), and Louisville (No. 21). Clemson and Miami are also receiving votes.
• The ACC has two undefeated teams in Florida State (6-0) and North Carolina (6-0) – the second-most among any FBS conference. Two of the 11 undefeated teams in the FBS are in the ACC.
• The ACC had six teams start the season at 4-0, which tied the SEC in 2012 for the most teams in a Power 5 conference to start 4-0 in a single season in the AP Poll Era (since 1936).
• With another game announced for ABC for Week 8 (Oct. 21), the ACC will have six games on ABC’s “Saturday Night Football" – the most of any FBS conference – as well as 25 appearances on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2 over the first eight weeks of the season.
• To date, 18 ACC contests are scheduled for national ABC broadcasts, while the ACC Network will also feature 27 games.
• Of the 18 full national ABC telecasts, 12 different league programs will be featured.
• Tickets are on sale now for the 2023 ACC Football Championship Game at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 2, at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. The 2023 ACC Football Championship Game will feature the top two teams based on the highest winning percentage in regular-season conference play. If necessary, the league’s tiebreaker policy will be used to determine the participants.

Haynes is on his way to a historic season for us in the air, but also on the ground as a QB.

Here are his numbers through 8 games:

156/253 (61.7%) 2122 yards (8.39 y/a), 21 TDs/10 INTs, 69 rushes for 462 yards (6.7 Y/A) and 3 TDs.

The only QBs with seasons anywhere near this one are really Joe Hamilton and George Godsey.

Let me break down where each QB was at this point (8 games) in their best seasons:

Joe Hamilton
(1999) 136/203 (67%) 2116 yards (10.4 y/a) 19 TDs/6 INTs, 110 rush 516 yards (4.7 Y/A) and 6 TDs

George Godsey
(2000) 154/251 (61.3%) 2007 yards (7.99 y/a) 18TD/4 INTs, 44 rushes for -14 yards (goose was not yet loose)

(2001) 146/229 (63.7%) 1878 yards (8,2 y/a) 13 TD/7 INTs, 43 rushes for -4 yards (goose was no longer loose)


He is really on pace to have the second best season behind Joe, but it's important to note that in all three of these seasons, these guys finished strong. All of them would go on to finish right under or over 3000 yards passing with just 3 games to go. I hope we can go on a run and he finishes like they did.

However, in true JOL spirit and IN CONCLUSION:

BENCH HAYNES KING.

Ethan Mackenny - 8
Eric Singleton - 7
Evan Dickens - 7
Jacob Cruz - 7
Taye Seymore - 6

Bailey Stockton - 2
Nacari Ashley - 2
Ashton Heflin - 1
Zion Taylor- 1


Patrick Screws - 0
Gabe Fortson - 0
Benjamin Galloway - 0
Elias Cloy - 0
Shymeik Jones - 0
Ezra Odinjor - 0
Nico Dowdell - 0
Steven Jones - 0
Bryston Dixon - 0
Malcolm Pugh - 0

THE FLATS – Behind four Yellow Jackets in double-figure scoring totals, Georgia Tech women’s basketball rolled to a 93-56 victory over Georgia College in exhibition play on Thursday night in McCamish Pavilion. In the final preseason tune-up, Tonie Morganled all scorers with 20 points.

A dominate second quarter allowed the Jackets to pull away from GCSU, as Tech shot 64.7 percent in the second frame (11-17). Morgan posted 11 points in the stanza to help the Jackets to a 47-28 halftime lead. The Jackets carried momentum into the second half, outscoring the Bobcats, 46-28, in the final two periods. Tech shot 52.9 percent (18-34) from the field in the second half, while holding GCSU to 24.2 percent. For the game, the Jackets finished at a 54.4 percent shooting clip, while the Bobcats were stymied to a 28.8 percent shooting efficiency.

Morgan was 8-for-12 from the field with a trio of three-pointers to finish with a game-high 20 points. She was followed by Kara Dunn (19), Kayla Blackshear (18) and freshman Rusne Augustinaite (12). Tech dominated on the rebounding game, 49-33, led by Blackshear’s eight. Tech saw action from 11 Yellow Jackets, finishing with 27 points scored off the bench and a controlling 52 points in the paint.

For Georgia College, Hannah Cail led with 17 points, followed by Jaleah Storr with 12 points. The Bobcats saw 27 points come from long distance, connecting on nine three-pointers.

The Yellow Jackets officially tip-off the season on Monday, Nov. 6 at against Coastal Carolina. Tip is slated for 11 a.m. for its “Education Day” on the ACC Network Extra.

《Man Candy》
•BarNone •3 Musketeers
•Alenka(wafer with almonds version)
•Reeses
•Snickers
•M&M's
•Kit Kat
•Twix
•Hershey
********************
☆Fairy Dust☆
•Smarties •Mary Janes
•Nerds •Suckers of any kind
•Laffy Taffy
•Candy Corn(If you do ingest one of
these estrogen clumps, you need to fast for 24 hours while watching Chuck Norris movies)

Brent Key is definitely is ready to play some football and exercise some demons at UVA.

Excited to go play on Saturday against Virginia who is playing their best football the last three games. They have four losses by a total of 10 points and they had double-digit leads in four of those games. There is a lot of similarities outside the win/loss record between us. For three weeks we’ve seen the confidence grow in that team and how they play complimentary football in all three phases. Offensively they are getting into the rhythm and tempo plays. They are top 20 in TOP and they are playing with tempo and controlling the clock. Offensively #4 the WR, he is tops in the ACC and country in catches. Good player and they do different things, screens, RPOs and quick game and he can catch short and run long. The guy that is the Bellcow #2 the RB (Perris Jones) and so much respect for (Mike Hollins) and that football team. What he has been able to accomplish after what this team has gone through, he is a true inspiration for all of college football and the whole U.S. Mike Hollins has put the team on his back and in the red area. (Brent confused Mike Hollins and Perris Jones just as a heads up if you listen to the audio or watch the video).

Defensively you’ve seen the growth the last two years and what they are doing on all three levels. They are big, stout and strong. They will mix in some two gaps and play 4-5 different fronts and then get in exotics on third down. They play some zone and they will mix it up with some man and cover 2. It will be a big challenge for us. #20 on defense their safety is what you look for 6’1” 220 and he leads the conference in solo tackles, on the WR or the RB, he is all over the field and it is hard to get a hat on him with the way they use. He is a good football player. They flat wall the LOS, they won’t get a ton of negative plays, but keep it in front of them.

On the busts on D alignment, we got aligned quicker on Saturday relative to the opponent with a lot of tempo and we will face a lot of that. Some of the tempo plays and we ended up changing the mechanics and we have three different ways to signal things in and we changed that at halftime to adjust to the game.

On TOP, they are unique in how they do it, they don’t bleed the clock with the huddle. They will hit you with three plays in a row and then snap with 32 seconds. They mix and match their tempo and that is how they get the TOP. That doesn’t factor into the subbing. The subbing is personnel based and they do not have as many personnel groupings as some. We will sub our DL based on needs, but we will matchup on the backend with personnel. We are trying to get the right matchups with personnel. UVA do not have as many typically, but they could have 10 different ones. Last week we had all sorts of substitutions based on UNC’s personnel.

On how film study each week, he watches, a lot, I don’t know the time. I know when I finish watching tape, I watch every game start to finish from the season and all the special teams and all their defense and then on Tuesday I watch their offense and then film of the previous week's situations and 3-4 hours of that on Wednesday. 30 hours maybe

On DJ Moore moving to defensive back, we are looking for some position flexibility and he got hurt and missed time with his wrist and other guys established themselves and 2-3 weeks ago I floated it to him and on Thursday during developmental he tried it and liked it. A couple of weeks ago when he moved he would intercept the ball and try to run the wrong way from muscle memory.

On the run defense stopping UNC, moving forward to UVA we have to play complementary football. We ran the ball well and in the fourth quarter possessions time out and that forced changes.

On the history at UVA being weird, it has zero impact on this week, it is about how we prepare and play the game for 60 minutes on Saturday.

On who will handle kickoffs, we will see on Saturday.

Now that the game has been throughly discussed, it is time to move on to a more serious issue. I for one am very pleased with what Adidas has done for our uniforms. The gold jerseys last night are a big improvement over the Russell mustard colors. And I am not normally a fan of all white which are so bland, but I have to say what Adidas has done with our whites is quite good with the trim of blue and gold. I think our whites are the better looking than any I have ever seen.

Here are a few gifs i decided to breakdown to give an idea of what happened on field vs. UNC. These are used to give others a different perspective on how to watch football. I don’t do this to disparage players or coaches, but to give insight to GT enthusiast on what I’ve learned as a player and avid football fan.

The resiliency. Whatever challenge was set out for the team was met with anger and determination, particularly on the offensive side. I haven’t witnessed OL domination like this since 2014 vs UGA. Let’s get into it:


Our defense beat themselves so much on alignment and assignment. CPL, You are the middle safety VS a 3x1 set. We are doing a double bracket defense where #1 Brooks will help bracket the first underneath inside threat & #5 CPL will take the first deep inside threat. There is no need to move to his left bc all the action is coming from his right. If He stays in the middle reading the QB eyes this would be an INT



CBF knew coming in that UNC has played some man/Quarters based defense. We utilized motion to determine the coverage and create mismatches. When King said this GT type win I guess math our way to some TDs. Anytime we saw 3v3 on the outside it was automatic throw. You only have to make one guy miss for a TD like we did here. Great RAC by Rutherford



False steps here by #44 Efford to the left when the play is going right takes him out the play and a terrible angle by Brooks. 2 unblocked guys should stop this play



Excellent play call and execution vs man coverage. Seither showed some speed after the hesitation to let the rub routes clear. Excellent protection all game by the OL. Kaimon Rucker came in the game as the nation leader in pressure. 0 sacks and 0 TFL.



Just wanted to show the OL love. Look at the pocket and protection. Flawless! The ACC media needs to correct the 100M time for Singleton. He’s a 10.2 guy not 10.6

GT doesn’t just mean Georgia Tech. It mean Guard & Tackle series. This had to be our special of the week. We ran the GT RPO, read option, counter, and play action off of it to perfection





We’ve run this series 3yrs iar and have had success vs. UNC with it. Easy read here. 3v3 with the 3rd guy being a deep qtr safety. Just have to make 1 guy and Malik does just that for the TD



At some point, our unblocked defenders have to make a play. Rule 1- you can’t tackle what you can’t see. #14 King head is down attempting to make a tackle. This play has to be made



Good stop here. We run a cover 0 (no safeties deep) blitz here. Good job by Kennard not rushing too far upfield creating a lane. Good job falling back inside for the sack



CGC level punt pro by UNC. Great job by Jannah being an athlete and swimming by the up man for the block.




One area Haynes has to clean up is predetermining throws. No disrespect but there is no way I’m ever forcing the ball to Benson. This play has a post by Boyd, a crosser by Benson, and a flat by Lane. Boyd is open for a TD if thrown deep down the hash, Lane is open in the flat for a nice gain, but we throw to the guy that is triple teamed lol


I highlight this bc of the players frustration Brooks is signaling they need to hurry and get the play in



Very next play, we are still misaligned. There appear to be miscommunication on who is the middle LB bc they both align as if the have number 3 in coverage leaving a light box and backside b gap wide open

4th QUARTER GT OL DOMINATION!!!!



#65 Corey Robinson entered the game in the beginning of 4th at LT and he starts the drive by paying homage to CPJ by attempting to cut block. This is by far the worst cut block I’ve ever seen lol. Again if we get 3v3 we are throwing the screen.





Running inside zone. Great kick out block by Robinson and Leonard. If you wondered why Weston Franklin won ACC OL of the week just look at that pancake in the middle of the field.



Pretty much stealing here. Again 3v3 equal screen . Also good job getting that pass behind the LOS (barely) so the WRs can block without getting OPI



Here is the GT read option. Great blocks by Franklin & Scags turning the DL like a secret bookshelf door in a haunted mansion. What made the series so successful is that it caused the LBs to overpursue leave holes in the A-gap


It’s rarely pretty with our defense but this was a huge stop. We decided to go man vs their empty set which put Tatum on the edge guarding the RB. Good job by Tatum avoiding the poor attempt at a block by the RB and getting UNC off the field




GT read Option. Good job by Robinson and Fusile on sealing the DTs. The Pulling action caused the LB for UNC to over pursue leaving a huge void in the middle. Good decision to pull by Haynes for a big gain. He’s off to the races



Look at this surge by the OL washing the DL down and great by Scaglione climbing up to the LB for the key block. It is 8yds later until Donte is touched



The Exclamation point- we have split inside zone here. This is how you end a game. The entire left side: Dylan, Corey, Joe absolutely mauls the defenders into the dirt. They probably could’ve had another TD if Smith wasn’t smart

I know, I know. One week at a time. One week season....whatever. I assume there is still a path the the ACCCG and we have not been mathematically eliminated. Obviously, 3 straight wins for us are a requirement. Anyone bored on a Sunday and want to figure it out?

I'm working remotely as my chest cold savages my respiratory system, hopefully I'm on the backend and can work tomorrow at GT.

Here is what Brent Key had to say today

It was such an electric atmosphere from the music to the lights, everything about it was electric. The support from the stands and the student section. My wife showed me a video from behind the student section and it was electric and brought back some good memories and it was great getting to spend time with them.

63 times I’ve run through that tunnel before a game and that was hands down the most electric atmosphere. Danielle said I was running fast out of the tunnel and I was juiced up too. It had a major impact on the game positive for us and negative for the other team and that is what you want for a home-field advantage.

POW offense Dontae Smith, defense Ahmari Harvey and special teams Abdul Janneh blocked punt and Aidan Birr who has done a nice job kicking for us.

There are four one-game seasons ahead of us and that is all we are concerned about.

Externally everyone is going to ask the question and I bought it up Sunday night, we choose the event and the outcome is up to us. The event everyone wants to make is not winning back-to-back games and being a favorite in games and not winning. The kids are going to hear and be asked all week. We are not going to respond to events in the past, you can’t do anything about it now. We can sit here and have hypothetical conversations about it and never have truth. All we can have response to is how we prepare, study, nutrition, sleep patterns and we respond to those things correctly we will have the outcome we want. I had Henry Freer come up in front of our team and he tutors lots of guys on the team and we put up an equation and he showed how to solve it and it hit our GT players right where we needed it to.

We had a good practice today and I’m looking forward to Saturday.

On having Dontae Smith back, his impact was pretty evident on the game on Saturday. Player availability is the biggest thing for any team in the country right now. To have depth at certain positions, to get guys who have been out back and to manage guys who are banged up. That was a physical game on Saturday and in my time with these guys I have not seen them lay it on the line like they did Saturday night. You could feel it on the sideline, the contact and the hits. I was sent a video today if there is something they want to see and it was Dan Campbell of the Lions talking about laying it on the line and how much they want to play for each other and it reminded me of our guys. The managing of our guys through the week now so we can play the same way at 2 o’clock in Charlottesville becomes the expectation.

On the two-point conversion, it is simple math, debatable in a one or two-score game, are you playing two scores ahead or one score ahead. The touchdown before that if you go truly by the book it would’ve said you go for two, I chose not to and kick the extra point. I’m not a big believer in doing in the first half at all but there are times that call for it. When you get to the third quarter or the fourth quarter, you are looking at how many possessions you have left. You are looking if we score on this one let’s kick the extra point and then go for two on the next one. The possessions dwindle down and you have two left then you go for it. As the drive is going on, I’m not just watching football like I’m at a local establishment. It is constant thinking about this drive, the next drive and how many drives are left. Pat Boyle who stands with me on the sideline and is one of the smartest football people I’ve been associated with, we sit there and play the game and the scenarios in our head so when that comes it is an easy go for it or not. You can also have surprise moments and you have to go with your gut reaction. Are you playing for it as much as you can. I’ll sit down today for three hours and watch situational football from college football last weekend and that is how I can practice and that is part of my routine this week.

Those situational calls are done on Thursday afternoon. I sit down with the coordinators and we go through short-yardage, situational, two-point plays, overtime, you name it as many things as we can get through in a game. It is 4th and 12 on the 12 to win the game. You are down by one last play, do you kick the PAT or go for two? There will be eight things in the game where you have to go on the fly.

On the formula on beating UVA, they are playing with a lot of confidence and having played UNC last week we had crossover film and it was two straight weeks of seeing the film and the improvement they’ve made. They’ve lost three games or four games by a total of 10 points. Three out of four they’ve been up double digits on teams and not won the game, who does that sound like? This is a carbon copy two plays, three plays there the records can be totally different. Records don’t mean anything in November. That is the challenge to the team, the coaching staff, the support staff and anyone in the building, unless you are watching film and seeing the team you should have no judgment on who should win and who shouldn’t win.

On Haynes King’s growth, he is a coach on the field and his daddy is a coach and he has grown up around it. I think the sky is the limit for him and you look at the improvement in 10 months here from where he was at a position where a lot of people don’t think you can improve the technical aspects, the fundamentals of it. That is how he does this and that is how he is always going to do it. He has completely changed and his growth comes with continued confidence but it also comes from mistakes. He is one of the rare kind that can have success or failure and learn from both of them. It has been great to be around him this year and I’m looking forward to many more to come with him.

On saving redshirts playing the four or burning them, it is hard to take a guy off the bench and put them in the game with that many left. There are some guys who have played in a couple of games that might have a couple of more left. Really it comes back to player availability. If we get into a situation where a couple of guys go down, that is a conversation we would have. We do every Monday morning and we talk through the roster and where they are at. Right now I do not foresee anyone new popping into the mix.

"Tafara was precautionary, he will be back and will be back. Ty(zhuan) Claude we will find out more tomorrow on what is going on with him. We will know more on Baye on Friday. Then Lance (Terry), he is going to need a little bit more time, looking at the second or third game. It is a good problem, when those guys come back our depth will be right and I can play more guys. I don’t look at it as an issue, if you look at teams that have success they can keep fresh guys in the game,” Stoudamire.

Heading down running a bit behind schedule. Not sure if Baye or Lance will go. Lance is more likely. Stay tuned for more closer to tip.

Looking like the best APB in the League tonight

We talked to Kyle Kennard, Haynes King and Malik Rutherford today ahead of the UVA game

Both Kyle and Malik talked about there being a chip on their shoulder with this game because the loss to UVA was probably the game that cost them bowl berth last year and it was a funky one with the injury to Jeff Sims and the offense being so bad with Zach Gibson trying to come in for him. They lost 16-9 and that was the Cavs lone conference win last year.

"I'd be lying if I said some game you don't have an extra chip with you and this is one of those games. We are looking to come out and dominate," Kennard said.

"I'd be lying is I said no," Rutherford said when asked if they owed UVA one from last year. "We go into every game with the mindset to just win and we want to go up there and win."


Coach Key went into the dining hall on Tuesday and had them turn off the TVs in there that were playing the UNC game on replay. He was making a very loud point about not living in the past and focusing on the goal this week.

Kennard said the scene on the field after the game was surreal and he had his baby son with him and he had never been apart of something like that.

Kennard said that Coach Key has done a great job with load management this week for their bodies and getting the right mix of rest and prep for UVA.

Kennard said that UVA is a great team with a very perimeter-oriented offense and they want to get the ball out and let their guys make plays and runs after the catch and contact.

Kennard said they've really been preaching consistency on all sides of the ball this week.

Kennard said they are working a lot of guys at DE now and he feels like they are all good enough to play, they should continue getting better with more playing time.

Rutherford said it was great getting the screen game working and getting to show off his God-given abilities and making plays in space to get the team going.

Rutherford said he can see the confidence growing in Haynes King every week and he has been playing well and getting locked in.

Rutherford said the two-point conversion play is something they put in a few weeks ago and had been working. He actually didn't think it would work as well as it did and he thought he would have to do more to convert it than he did.

Rutherford said that Coach Key in the huddle today had a couple of guys on the team talk about consistency and putting out a consistent product on the field and how that is not easy to do but it is the thing they are working on and they don't want to keep going win/loss, they want to win every game left on the schedule.

Rutherford said they have to maintain the same mindset every day and just keep working and not take plays off and that has been a point that has been stressed a lot.

I asked Rutherford if he spoke with Nate McCollum and if he took any satisfaction in his performance vs Nate's head-to-head on Saturday and he said they talked before the game and he hopes Nate balls out there, but he got the better end of the stick on Saturday. It wasn't Nate's game.

King said it felt good to get all the national accolades but at the end of the day he has to focus on playing a tough Virginia team this week at Virginia.

King said the screen game against UNC really built the rhythm for the whole offense and it opened up the run lanes and wore out their defense running sideline-to-sideline instead of just north and south and that wore out their pass rushers too and that got the offense going.

King said that Saturday's game showed how good the offense can be when it is clicking and now they have to learn how to be consistently good like that and execute it. That has been the whole focus of practice this week.

King said in the wins they've taken turns making plays on all sides of the ball and in the losses they've taken turns making mistakes and it all comes down to consistency doing your job and that is what football is about at this level, do your job and execute and then make the play.

King said that UVA on tape is a great team and they do not have a lot of busts. They play fast and physical and in the last two weeks they beat UNC and took Miami to overtime by controlling the LOS.

King said that Brett Seither is a great guy and he works hard and he has a great feel for space and how to get open and his knowledge of the game and how to work filling in open areas is why he is so successful in the red zone. He also accelerates well in man coverage.

King said his biggest area of growth has been in leadership and being vocal with it. He said he still needs to be more vocal and he also needs to be more accurate with his throws and that starts with his feet and those are the two main things he is working on.

I asked him about the OL play and he said they just keep getting better every week and they area handling different looks each week and stunts, blitzes and twists and the communication is the biggest part of that. He said that Geep Wade is a heckuva OL coach and they have a good plan each week.

King was asked about getting too up after a big win and he said that in his experience fans will turn on your quick when you lose so you learn to appreciate the pats on the back, but the only thing that really matters is the opinion of the people in this building, the coaches, teammates and staff and you have to ride the wave and when you think it is bad just remember that the sun is gonna rise and the birds are going to chirp and you have to move on from adversity and how you respond to adversity is how good you are going to be as a man and as a player.

King said one thing he learned from his dad being a coach is to never underestimate an opponent and always be prepared and he has that mindset every week because that is how he was raised.

King said that was his third field rushing situation on Saturday and the other two were at TAMU and he said this one was pretty sweet.

Complete 2023-24 schedule | Purchase Single-Game Tickets | Purchase Mini-Packs | Season ticket information

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GEORGIA TECH VS. CLARK ATLANTA​

Wednesday, November 1, 2023 | 7:30 p.m. ET | Atlanta, Ga. | McCamish Pavilion

Television/Radio: none

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THE FLATS – Georgia Tech prepares for its first season of men’s basketball under head coach Damon Stoudamire, hosting Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, for a 7:30 p.m. exhibition game Wednesday night at McCamish Pavilion.

The Yellow Jackets welcome back four starters, representing four of its top five scorers from the 2022-23 squad that went 15-18. The Panthers are coming off an 8-20 campaign. There is no television or radio coverage for Wednesday night’s game.

Looking to return Tech to national prominence, Stoudamire brings the experience of 13 years as a successful NBA player, 10 years of coaching experience on the collegiate level and four years on the NBA level. He has added a five-player transfer class that has been ranked No. 17 in the nation by 247Sports and four talented freshmen to the roster for 2023-24.

Leading the way for the Yellow Jackets is 6-6 junior guard Miles Kelly (Stone Mountain, Ga.), who led Tech in scoring (14.4 ppg) and three-point shooting (.379) and set a team record for free throw percentage (.898). Also back is 6-3 senior guard Lance Terry (College Park, Ga.), who averaged 10.1 points and connected on 38.8 percent of his three-point attempts, 6-6 junior guard Dallan “Deebo” Coleman (Memphis, Tenn.), who averaged 9.5 points and 2.9 rebounds, and 6-3 senior point guard Kyle Sturdivant (Norcross, Ga.), who is back for his fourth season on the Flats after averaging 8.6 points and leading the Jackets in assist average (3.3 per game).

The transfer class includes 6-4 sophomore guard Amaree Abram (Port Arthur, Texas) from Ole Miss, 6-7 senior forward Tyzhaun Claude (Goldsboro, N.C.) from Western Carolina, 6-11 senior center Ebenezer Dowuona (Accra, Ghana) from NC State, 6-9 sophomore forward Tafara Gapare (Wellington, New Zealand) from Massachusetts and 6-7 junior guard Kowacie Reeves, Jr. (Macon, Ga.) from Florida. All the transfers except Gapare have significant starting experience at the previous schools, and Gapare played in 30 games as a freshman.

The freshman class is led by 6-9 forward Baye Ndongo (Mboro, Senegal) and includes 6-3 point guard Naithan George (Toronto, Ontario), 6-6 forward Ibrahima Sacko (Conakry, Guinea) and 6-9 forward Ibrahim Souare (Conakry, Guinea).

Wednesday’s game marks the second meeting between the two schools in men’s basketball. The Jackets escaped with a 71-68 overtime decision over the Panthers in an exhibition game on Nov. 5, 2010 at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.

PRE-SEASON STORYLINES

· Well-known throughout the basketball world for his success as a player and coach at the collegiate and professional levels, Damon Stoudamire was named the 15th head coach in Georgia Tech men’s basketball history on March 13.

· Stoudamire has assembled a coaching staff that includes three assistant coaches with college backgrounds (Karl Hobbs from Rutgers, Terry Parker, Jr., from UAB, Pershin Williams from Kennesaw State, whose teams all played in the post-season in 2023), one from the G League Grand Rapids team (Nate Babcock) and a former longtime NBA player who was the head coach at Lemoyne-Owen the last two seasons (Bonzi Wells).

· Georgia Tech (15-18, 6-14 ACC) won six of its last eight regular-season conference games and its first-round game against Florida State in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament, a remarkable turnaround after the Yellow Jackets stood 8-15 overall and 1-12 in the ACC on Feb. 4.

· Five of Tech’s newcomers are guards and wings, including 6-4 sophomore Amaree Abram (8.0 ppg at Ole Miss), 6-9 sophomore Tafara Gapare (3.4 ppg at Massachusetts), 6-3 freshman Naithan George (Toronto, Canada), 6-7 junior Kowacie Reeves (8.5 ppg at Florida) and 6-6 freshman Ibrahima Sacko (Conakry, Guinea). The Jackets lost just one guard who played significant minutes (Deivon Smith transferred to Utah).

· Stoudamire totally rebuilt the frontcourt, which lost undersized, but productive 6-7 center Ja’von Franklin, by signing 6-7 graduate senior Tyzhaun Claude (15.4 ppg, 8.6 rpg at Western Carolina) and 6-11 Ebenezer Dowuona (1.7 ppg, 1.9 rpg at NC State) out of the transfer portal and adding a pair of freshmen in 6-9 Baye Ndongo (Mboro, Senegal) and 6-9 Ibrahim Souare (Conakry, Guinea).

· 109th season - Georgia Tech will play its 109th season of basketball in 2023-24, having compiled an all-time on-court record of 1,437-1,305 (22 wins and one loss from the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons were vacated by the NCAA Committee on Infractions).

· Tech in the ACC - Tech will play its 45th season as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, having won the conference championship in 1985, 1990, 1993 and 2021. Prior to that, Tech competed in the Metro Conference for three seasons from 1975-78, was an independent from 1964-75, and was a member of the Southeastern Conference for 32 years from 1932-64, winning one title in 1938.

· Tech has finished higher than its pre-season media projection six times in the last seven years, and have been projected to finish 13th in 2023-24.

· Tech’s four returning scholarship players - Miles Kelly, Lance Terry, Deebo Coleman and Kyle Sturdivant - accounted for 59.4 percent of the Yellow Jackets’ points and 56.5 percent of the minutes during the 2022-23 season. They collectively shot 35.6 percent from three-point range.

· Tech’s five transfers combined to average 37 points and 17.2 rebounds per game last season at their previous schools. They have combined to play in 263 games in their careers, and have made 116 starts.

Damon Stoudamire

Amaree Abram and Kowacie Reeves

2024 Season Ticket Renewals

I guess they're trying to build off the momentum of the Miami upset.