Georgia Tech Basketball: Yellow Jackets Have Plenty of Motivation to Defeat Wake Forest

Brian Gregory and his Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (10-12, 1-9 ACC) should have plenty of motivation to defeat the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (11-12, 3-7 ACC) as they get ready for their Noon EST tussle Saturday at McCamish Pavilion.

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets /

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

The Jackets go into this game tired of being bridesmaids. They play hard enough to get wins, but something always seems to happen that results in the Yellow Jackets taking a loss in close games.

Getting over the hump is a reason for motivation to get this win over the Demon Deacons.

Another reason is the fact that Yellow Jackets have already suffered a loss to the Demon Deacons 76-69 on January 10th in Winston-Salem.

There is a little bit of a revenge factor going into the game for the Yellow Jackets.

Last time these two teams met, Wake’s Devon Thomas was too much for the Jackets to handle.

The Demon Deacons’ big man was a force finishing with 17 points and 14 rebounds to help lead the way for Wake Forest as they helped head coach Danny Manning earn his first ACC win.

The Yellow Jackets were outrebounded 38-25 in the last matchup, which is something that does not happen to often.

Jan 10, 2015; Winston-Salem, NC, USA; Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets forward Charles Mitchell (0) knocks the ball away from Wake Forest Demon Deacons center Andre Washington (31) during the first half at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports

Charles Mitchell an Demarco Cox had solid games in January.

Cox finished with 14 points and seven rebounds, while Mitchell had 12 points and four rebounds.

Basically, the Tech big men were able to get their points, but had a hard time defending the paint and rebounding.

For Tech to win this game, Cox, Mitchell, and Robert Sampson are going to have to own the paint while holding Devon Thomas in check.

That is what cost the Yellow Jackets the game in January. Defensively the Jackets could not hold the Deacons in check.

The end result was the Jackets allowing Wake Forest to shoot 49% from the field including 7 of 19 from three-point range.

Brian Gregory touched on some of the issues that the Jackets had in the first Wake Forest matchup, and elaborated on what he felt needed to happen in Saturday’s game in this interview video from the Georgia Tech Athletics You Tube Channel.

It is going to be key for the Jackets to not let the supporting cast of Wake Forest get off to a hot start.

Guard Mitchell Wilbekin and forward Darius Leonard were able to do damage against the Jackets in Winston-Salem. That can’t happen at McCamish.

The Yellow Jackets biggest motivation to get this home win over Wake Forest is so they can rinse the taste out of their mouth from the last game that was played in McCamish.