Georgia Tech Basketball: Three Keys To ACC Conference Play Success

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets own a 9-3 record and have now arrived at the fun par of their schedule.

It is time for Brian Gregory to figure out how to navigate his Yellow Jackets club through arguably the toughest basketball conference in America, the ACC.

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets /

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

There are going to be three keys that Georgia Tech will need going forward into conference play, in order to make this year’s journey successful and keep a possible postseason tournament bid in their sights.

If these things happen, Georgia Tech is not only going to be a tough out in each and every game.

Find consistent bench scoring

The most consistent scorers to this point for the Jackets have been Marcus Georges-Hunt (12.9 ppg, 42.1 fg%) , Charles Mitchell, (10.3 ppg, 52.6 fg%) , and Demarco Cox (9.1 ppg, 56.1 fg%).

Though Mitchell and Cox do get shots off of set plays in the block and high/low action, most of their buckets come off of offensive boards that they put back.

During league play, there are going to be times where they may not be able to get their points consistently in the paint, especially against the Louisville’s, Duke’s and North Carolina’s of the world.

Those are the games where Tech is going to have to compensate for that point production. The best place to find those points are from the bench.

Whether they get those points from Robert Sampson, or out on the perimeter from Tadric Jackson, being able to get solid, consistent points from the pine will be huge for this team.

Finding a consistent sixth-man will keep the Yellow Jackets in a lot of ball games this year.

Get Quinton Stephens Going Again

Quinton Stephens came out with all guns blazing to start off the season against the Georgia Bulldogs racking up 22 points. Then he played IPFW and dropped a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds on them.

USA TODAY Sports

Other than that he has not hit double-digit scoring at all, in fact his nine point output against Charlotte is the most points he has had since that November 21st game against IPFW.

Stephens is a capable scorer, and if he can provide some points from the perimeter to go along with what Marcus Georges-Hunt provides, he will make the offensive attack that much potent.

Getting Quinton Stephens going makes the whole team better. His length allows him to get shots off from wherever he wants, he just needs to knock them down.

Avoid Prolonged Losing Droughts

Really this goes without saying, but it is going to be said anyway. The one thing that we don’t want to see is a prolonged losing streak with this team.

The reason is that with the margin of error being so small with this club, if they do get into some kind of rut, finding a way out could be difficult.