Georgia Tech v Boston College: Someone is Getting Their First ACC Conference Win

It has been a rough season to this point for the winless Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (9-9, 0-6 ACC) as well as for the winless Boston College Eagles (8-9, 0-5 ACC ).

Both teams will enter McCamish Pavilion without a conference win at 1PM EST Sunday, but one will leave with something in the win column and feel a little better about themselves.

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets /

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

The struggles of Brian Gregory’s Yellow Jackets are well documented.

The Yellow Jackets defensively can stop people– they can outrebound just about any team they face.

Scoring, on the other hand, has been the Achilles’ Heel of the squad. It is not that the Jackets can’t score, it is that the ways for the Jackets to score are limited and defenses simply shut the Jackets down when Tech needs points the most.

Boston College, on the other hand, does not have that one thing that the team can hang their hat on at all.

They do have that one player they can count on and his name is Olivier Hanlan.

Hanlan is in his junior year at B.C. and is easily the Eagles leader.

He is the leading scorer at 16.3ppg, assists at 4.6, minutes played at 36.8, and he is second in rebounds at 4.0 per contest.

He is a prototypical two-guard at 6-foot-4, 190 pounds, who can get to the rim off the dribble and create for himself in the mid-range.

Hanlan’s partner in crime is 6-foot-5 senior guard Aaron Brown who averages 14.2 points on 42.1% shooting.

Outside of Hanlan and the help that Aaron Brown provides, Boston College as a team does not really have much else to rely on.

The Eagles average 64.6 points per contest which is only a point better than Georgia Tech and third worst in the ACC.

They have the fourth worst field goal percentage in the ACC at 43.3% and are fifth worst in three-point percentage at 30%.

B.C. does not rebound well at all, grabbing 36.6 boards per contest, which is second to last in the conference.

All this is to say that Georgia Tech has a winnable game on Sunday, and you better believe if the Jackets have a chance to beat the Eagles in blowout fashion, they will take the opportunity.

Brian Gregory’s team needs a win badly. If there is any game that the Jackets could take to finally get into “The Winner’s Circle” it is this one.

Boston College does not have the interior presence to stop Charles Mitchell, Demarco Cox, and Robert Sampson.

They do have 7-foot-1 junior center Dennis Clifford. However, he does not plays big as his size would indicate with averages of 7.8 points and 5.6 rebounds while shooting 49.4% from the field.

Same thing with 6-foot-11 sophomore forward Will Margarity. He provides length but not much production at 3.3 points and 2.6 rebounds.

The main thing for the Yellow Jackets is to take care of the basketball and make sure they punish Boston College with their defense and rebounding ability.

If Georgia Tech holds Olivier Hanlan in check, a victory should be all but certain.