Men’s Basketball: Georgia Tech Travels to Face NC State
Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports
Coach Brian Gregory’s Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are coming off of a 68-60 win over Boston College, and will strive to go 2-0 on their short road trip as they travel to Raleigh, N.C. to face the North Carolina State Wolfpack.
Date: 1/26/14
Game Time: 1:00 pm
Venue: PNC Arena, Raleigh, North Carolina
Series Record: NC State leads, 54-37
Last Meeting: 3/3/13 – NC State won, 70-57, in Atlanta
Records: Georgia Tech (11-8 , 2-4 ACC), NC State (12-7, 2-4 ACC)
Current Odds: N/A
Injuries: GT – Travis Jorgensen – Out For Season (knee), Robert Carter Jr. – out indefinitely (knee), Solomon Poole – Questionable (Migraine); NC State – T.J. Warren – Probable (ankle), Lennard Freeman – Questionable (ankle)
TV: ESPN3/ACC Network
Radio: 106.7 FM
The Yellow Jackets are coming off of a 68-60 win over the Boston College Eagles that was a tale of two halves. They looked like world beaters in the first half and then fell back into a rut in the second half. They are going to have to put forth a more consistent effort when they head down to Tobacco Road to play against the NC State Wolfpack in Raleigh.
Wolfpack head coach Mark Gottfried is in rebuilding mode with his team. The main gun for NC State is 6-foot-8 Sophomore forward, T.J. Warren, who is having an All-ACC season, dropping a conference leading 22.2 ppg on 50% shooting to go along with 7.3 rebounds per game this season.
Freshman point guard, Anthony Barber, sets the table for the young Wolfpack, putting up 11.4 points and dishing out 4.2 assists per game. NC State is the worst 3-point shooting team in the ACC behind Georgia Tech, shooting the ball from downtown at a 28.8% clip.
This is a pretty even matchup on paper for Georgia Tech. Brian Gregory’s team does have experience on their side, and that should serve them well going into this game. The Jackets could come back home on a high if they were to finish this road trip 2-0, and beating a decent NC State team would be a nice capper.
What Tech needs to do is find what is going to give them success and stick to it. There have been too many instances during this season that the Jackets have gotten control of a ball game–as they did in Chestnut Hill against BC–only to relinquish it by going away from what was working.
It is going to be very important for Kammeon Holsey and Daniel Miller to keep themselves out of foul trouble. T.J. Warren is going to be a handful (if healthy) and they need to keep themselves on the floor to challenge him. Trae Golden also has an opportunity for a big game in his point guard matchup against frosh, Anthony Barber. It would be nice to see Golden string together back-to-back solid outings for Tech after his 24 point outburst in Chestnut Hill.
Finally, Chris Bolden, Corey Heyward and Quinton Stephens need to have strong showings off the bench when they are called on. Bolden has been inconsistent even though he found his stroke in the Boston College game going 3 for 3 from deep and scoring 11 points off the bench. Stephens is starting to play like he is hitting a wall and his youthful mistakes are becoming more frequent.
Coach Gregory knows that a 2-0 road trip would give his depleted Yellow Jackets squad a jolt of confidence. The opportunity is out there for an undefeated trip to happen and all Tech needs to do is seize the moment.
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