Yellow Jackets Travel To South Bend To Face Fighting Irish
Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports
Georgia Tech is tired, and it’s showing after their second half collapse against the Clemson Tigers. Now they will go on the road with hopes of getting back on track against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Date: 2/26/14
Game Time: 7 pm EST
Venue: Purcell Pavilion – South Bend, Indiana
Series Record: Georgia Tech leads series 7-2
Last Meeting: January 11, 2014 – Georgia Tech defeated Notre Dame 74-69 at McCamish Pavilion
Records: Georgia Tech (13-14 , 4-10 ACC) Notre Dame ( 14-14, 5-10 ACC )
Current Odds: Notre Dame, -6.5
Injuries: GT: Travis Jorgensen – Out For Season (knee), Jason Morris – Out indefinitely (foot), Trae Golden, questionable (groin); Notre Dame: Jerian Grant- Out For Season (academics)
TV: ESPN2/WatchESPN
Radio: 106.7 FM
Brian Gregory‘s Yellow Jackets have been worn down as the rigors of an injury-plagued season has taken its toll on his team. Energy and health are officially the main reasons for the Yellow Jackets’ demise this season. But what can’t be said is that the reason for this season’s woes is due to lack of effort.
Georgia Tech brought maximum effort every game this year, and now, they are going to have to dig deep to bring that effort again on the road with them when they go to face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in South Bend Wednesday.
Georgia Tech was able to defeat the Irish in January, 74-69, so Notre Dame will be looking to get the season series split. The Irish are led by 6-foot-11 center, Garrick Sherman, who is dropping 13.6 points and 7.5 boards on opponents this season. Sherman had 13 points and 12 boards against the Jackets in the January matchup and the showdown between himself and Tech center Daniel Miller should be fun to watch.
Notre Dame Senior point guard, Eric Atkins, has been pretty steady this season bringing 13.4 points and 4.6 assists per game into this contest. Atkins and Golden went at each other pretty hard in the previous meeting between with both Atkins and Golden scoring 20 points. Atkins might have an edge this time around depending on how the nagging groin issue of Trae Golden’s is, but this is going to be another key matchup to keep an eye on in this game.
Tech simply needs to muster up some energy, focus for this game, and leave the turnovers in their gym bag. The 15 turnovers that they committed against the Clemson Tigers Saturday is never going to be a good look. Turnovers can be attributed to fatigue and lack of concentration, but Brian Gregory is not going to let that be an excuse for his team.
Daniel Miller responded very well in the Clemson game with his 14 point and eight rebound output after being held to just a bucket against the Duke Blue Devils. Miller is going to have to continue grinding and being the steady force in the middle that he has been all year. Trae Golden had a strong game scoring 17 points against the Tigers Saturday; Tech will need a duplicate of that effort.
At this point in the season, it is really not about bench points from Chris Bolden, Quinton Stephens, and Stacey Poole, Jr. It is not about consistency from Marques Georges-Hunt or Kammeon Holsey. It is purely about will and focus. Georgia Tech needs to focus for forty minutes and give that maximum effort once again so they can get back to the .500 mark for the season. It is time for Tech to dig in and simply find ways to get victories.
On the plus side, Yellow Jackets faithful will probably get to see some good minutes from fan-favorite Brooks Doyle in these final few games.
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