It certainly wasn’t easy but the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets held on for the victory on Saturday night against the Miami Hurricanes for 63-57 victory.
At one point in Saturday night’s game against the Miami Hurricanes, the Georgia Tech men’s basketball team had a 20+ point lead over the Miami Hurricanes. That lead, however, would completely evaporate and Miami would find themselves in the lead, late in the second half.
However, after watching Miami go on a 24-2 run and take a 53-51 lead with 7:04 remaining in the game, the Yellow Jackets refound their composure. Following the 24-2 run for the Hurricanes, the Yellow Jackets would outscore the Hurricanes 12-4 in the final minutes.
The Yellow Jackets needed quality performances from Jose Alvarado and Michael Devoe which we discussed in our keys to the game today and got those quality performances. Devoe led all scorers in the game with 16-points and was efficient from close range, hitting 6-of-9 attempts from inside the arch but struggled from deep, hitting just 1-of-6 three-point attempts. Alvarado, had a great night himself, totaling 14-points, he also had six rebounds in the game.
Alvarado and Devoe weren’t the only strong performers for the Yellow Jackets as James Banks III contributed 13-points and 14-rebounds of his own in the game. The double-double is his sixth of the season with his last coming against Notre Dame on February 1st.
Defensively, the Yellow Jackets had an up-and-down night. After keeping the Hurricanes to just 24-points in the first half, the Hurricanes offense exploded in the second half. Only one Hurricanes starter was able to get to the 10-point mark, that being junior guard Chris Lykes. Lykes finished with 14-points. The only other Hurricane to get to double-digits was Kameron McGusty who finished with 11-points and five-rebounds.
The win moves the Yellow Jackets record to above .500 for the season at 15-14 and now 9-9 in conference play. The Yellow Jackets will have to win one of their remaining two games to win 10 or more conference games for the first time since 1995. The win also moves the Yellow Jackets into a 5th place tie in the ACC.
The Yellow Jackets will head back to the court on Wednesday night in their final home game of the 2019-20 season as they take on the Pittsburgh Panthers who sit at 15-15 on the season and 6-13 in conference play.