Yellow Jackets and Seminoles tip off at 7 p.m. EST Wednesday in Tallahassee
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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 CenterTelevision: 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
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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.
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