Georgia Tech Basketball: Jackets Use Big Second Half to Take Down Tar Heels

The Georgia Tech men’s basketball team picked up their first ACC win of the 2020-21 season on Wednesday night with a 72-67 win over the North Carolina Tar Heels.

The Georgia Tech men’s basketball team continued their hot play of recent winning their third straight game and fifth of their last six on Wednesday night against the North Carolina Tar Heels. The victory marks the second straight season that the Jackets have defeated the Tar Heels, as they beat them 96-83 last January.

The Jackets backcourt was the strength of the team in the victory with Michael Devoe and Jose Alvarado leading the way with big contributions from Jordan Usher as well. Devoe and Alvarado posted 20 points each with Devoe contributing three rebounds and four assists along the way. Alvarado, on the other hand, almost recorded a triple-double bringing down seven rebounds along the way and dishing out seven assists in the winning effort. Jordan Usher, as we mentioned made contributions in the winning effort as well, recording 14 points in the win.

That being said it was a full team effort as the Jackets as a team shot extremely well throughout the game, shooting 52.9% from the floor including 10-of-22 from beyond the arch, a 45.5% shooting percentage, nearly 20 points higher than their season average entering the game.

The Jackets also got nine points out of Bubba Parham, all coming in the second half and eight points after Moses Wright, a rather quiet night for the senior forward who has scored 20 or more points in four of seven games now this season. The Jackets picked up the victory despite getting nearly no help off the bench, The Jackets had just one point off the bench on Wednesday with Rodney Howard, Khalid Moore, and Kyle Sturdivant combining for just three shot attempts in 30 minutes of action. Moore got a majority of that time with 21 minutes, he was 0-for-1 from the field but 1-for-2 from the free-throw line. He also had three rebounds, an assist, a steal, and one block in the game.

While North Carolina had their fair share of success in the game, shooting 44.6% from the field and 40% from three-point range, the Jackets didn’t allow just one player to dominate the game. The Tar Heels leading scorer was sophomore guard Armando Bacot who had 14 points in 23 minutes. The only other North Carolina player to record double-digit points was junior guard Leaky Black with 10 points off the bench in 29 minutes.

Also notable from the victory was the Jackets had to claw their way back into the game after trailing at halftime by six and had an eight-point lead with seven minutes remaining in the game. The Jackets, however, would dominate the rest of the game, 19 of the game’s last 25 points. The Jackets were able to battle through adversity and found a way to win the game.

The Yellow Jackets will look to continue their winning ways on Sunday evening for their first contest of the new calendar year against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at 6 p.m. Wake Forest has played in just two games this season and are 2-0 on the season. The Demon Deacons are scheduled to take on the Division II Catawba Indians on Thursday.