Georgia Tech Basketball: Jackets Looking to Stop Skid Versus FSU

Coming off the longest road stretch of the 2016-17 season, the Yellow Jackets return home to McCamish Pavilion Wednesday night to host No. 6 Florida State, a team fresh off a pair of big ACC wins.

Georgia Tech (11-8, 3-4) has yet to lose three straight games this season, but have lost their last two at Virginia Tech and Virginia. The Jackets will have their hands full with an FSU squad that just took down No. 14 Notre Dame, and No. 13 Louisville.

Desperate to get back in the win column, Tech hopes its solid 9-3 season home record hold some meaning when the Seminoles come to Atlanta.

With 18 wins, the Noles have only lost two games so far this season. One hopeful fact for Tech, however, is that one of those losses came from a common opponent in North Carolina, a team that the Jackets beat handily.

Last Time Out:

After a strong start to the season for Ben Lammers, the junior center got a taste of his own medicine against Virginia, quieted significantly by Jack Salt in Georgia Tech’s 62-49 loss to the Cavaliers.

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Tech again got very little production from its bench, and only Justin Moore and Josh Okogie got into double digits, offensively.

In a game that wasn’t ever really too far gone to salvage, the Jackets just couldn’t ever gain traction from any single player on the offensive end, or as a team.

“We were right there. They’re a really good team, and we’ve been good all year answering runs,” said Josh Pastner of Virginia’s performance. “We didn’t answer that one. We’ve got to be able to score the ball, and we missed a lot of layups. It’s been a point of contention for us. We’ve got to continue to get better at it, work at it, and hope we put the ball in the basket in those situations.”

Know the Opponent:

Florida State (18-2, 6-1), enters Wednesday night’s game tied with North Carolina for first place in the ACC.

Georgia Tech’s 86-80 win over Florida state snapped a 10-game losing streak in the series. 10 of the 17 of the games since 2004 have been decided by four points of less.

The Yellow Jackets are 16-17 all-time versus the Seminoles in the city of Atlanta.

Players to Watch:

Georgia Tech: F Quinton Stephens

Senior forward Quinton Stephens has show the ability to be a devastating threat beyond the arc for opponents this season. Ben Lammers will need a better game versus FSU than he had at Virginia, but more importantly, Tech will have to score a ton of points to beat the Noles. For that to happen, the Jackets need Stephens to produce.

Florida State: G Terance Mann

In last season’s loss to Georgia Tech, Mann put up a team high 18 points off the bench. Now a starter, the sophomore guard had a big game in his team’s win over Louisville, but didn’t score a single point against Notre Dame. He did, however, have four steals against the Fighting Irish.

Prediction:

Georgia Tech has been good at home so far this season, and has yet to lose three games in a row, but look for Florida State to be a tough team to keep pace with Wednesday night. The Yellow Jackets will put up a fight, but the skid will continue.