Georgia Tech has the opportunity to notch a regular-season sweep of Clemson for just the second time in 19 seasons when the Atlantic Coast Conference teams meet Wednesday night in Atlanta.
Since sweeping Clemson in the 2004-05 season, the Yellow Jackets have done so just one other time, that occurring in the 2019-20 campaign.
Georgia Tech (11-15, 4-11 ACC) recorded a dramatic, double-overtime road win over Clemson on Jan. 16 in the season’s first meeting. The Yellow Jackets were down five points late in regulation before forcing the first OT and eventually prevailing 93-90.
Georgia Tech dropped seven of its next eight games before scoring a 65-60 home win over Syracuse on Saturday. Kyle Sturdivant scored a team-best 17 points off the bench.
“It’s a marathon. It’s not just one game,” Sturdivant said of the Yellow Jackets’ slide. “You feel like you’re at the top of the world one game. (Then) one game you feel like, ‘Man, what’s going on?’ But you just gotta stay even-keel and stay committed to your work.”
Miles Kelly had 16 points and 10 rebounds against the Orange and stands just eight points away from becoming the 48th player in Georgia Tech history to reach 1,000 career points.
“Even just from coming up playing basketball I’ve always been the underdog, so being able to be in college as a junior to hit your 1,000 points, that’s just a testament to how hard I work and the countless hours in the gym spending time on my game,” said Kelly, a junior who leads the squad with a 14.7 scoring average.
Clemson (17-8, 7-7) is looking to bounce back from a 78-77 home loss to North Carolina State on Saturday. The Wolfpack scored the final five points of the game to stun the Tigers.
“Obviously, a loss is not a step in the direction you want to go,” Clemson star PJ Hall said. “But it’s how we respond to it. … It’s time to get back out there and win the next one. It’s a tough pill to swallow but you’ve got to.”
Joe Girard III led Clemson with 23 points while Hall added 18. Hall leads the Tigers with a 19.5 scoring average.
Clemson led by 12 points midway through the second half before wilting.
Tigers coach Brad Brownell downplayed the revenge factor in playing Georgia Tech again.
“We want to win for us,” said Brownell, who is 20-9 against the Yellow Jackets during his 14-year coaching tenure.
–Field Level Media
