Three ACC teams have faced Georgia Tech. A fourth is preparing for the Yellow Jackets. And, while most coaches would criticize a colleague’s team only at bayonet point, they were in agreement Monday on the ACC teleconference that the Jackets are a better team than the 2014-15 version.
“I thought they were really good and not surprised they were able to beat Virginia because of how they played against us,” Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon said.
North Carolina coach Roy Williams, Virginia coach Tony Bennett and Notre Dame coach Mike Brey spoke similar praise for Tech, which is 11-5 overall and 1-2 in the ACC after upsetting then-No. 4 Virginia at McCamish Pavilion Saturday. The win ended Tech’s 15-game losing streak in games against ACC opponents decided by seven points or fewer and perhaps signified an improvement in quality.
Tech plays Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., Wednesday night, continuing an opening gauntlet that began with road games against the No. 5 Tar Heels and No. 20 Pittsburgh (losses by a combined 13 points) and continued with the Cavaliers. The Irish were last year’s ACC champion.
“I’m really impressed with Georgia Tech,” Brey said. “(Coach Brian Gregory) has done a great job kind of reinventing his group down there. They’re really gifted offensively. They’ve kind of changed their M.O. and they really can come at you and attack you.”
The change in offensive capacity is indeed considerable. Tech has made 45.8 percent of its field-goal attempts, 90th in the country through Sunday’s games. A year ago, they made 40.8 percent, 288th. More notably, Tech ranked No. 37 in 3-point shooting percentage at 38.5 percent as of Monday, lifted by the addition of graduate transfer Adam Smith. Last year, the Jackets were third from last, 26.7 percent.
Before Monday’s games, Tech was 15th in turnover percentage, at 14.6 percent. Tech ranked 197th in that category a year ago (19 percent). Bennett said the strong perimeter play that Tech has received from Smith, guard Marcus Georges-Hunt and, particularly against Virginia, forward Quinton Stephens, has evened out the offense.
“They have balance offensively,” Bennett said. “I think this is a noticeably different offensive team.”
A year ago, Tech lost 58-27 to Virginia in a game in which the Jackets were 0-for-12 from 3-point range. Saturday, the Jackets were 8-for-15. Tech has had eight games in which it has made eight or more 3-pointers this season. The Jackets had three all of last season.
Against Pitt, Tech was 10-for-20 from 3-point range, led by Smith’s 8-for-13 3-point night for a career-high 30 points.
“I thought we defended them well and they made some tough shots, Smith being the obvious one,” Dixon said.
North Carolina defeated Tech 86-78 on January 2 in the Jackets’ season opener, but it was a game in which the Jackets led by as many as nine and as late as the six-minute mark on the road against the team picked to win the ACC. It was a considerable change from last season, when the Jackets were swept by an average of 30.5 points.
Williams said that Tech is better “in every area,” which may be excessively gracious. Even Gregory has conceded that the Jackets’ defense won’t not measure up his typical standards because Tech doesn’t have the size it has had previously, and it would be difficult to be a better rebounding team than the Jackets were last season. Regardless, Williams did like Tech’s move to an up-tempo game.
“They’re playing at a faster pace, which I think really fits their personnel very well,” he said. “They’ve got some changes from who they had last year, but they’re opening up the floor and I think the faster pace and opening up the floor’s been good for them.”
It is all praise merited. But what is it worth?
Against Notre Dame on Wednesday, about zero points.
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