Georgia Tech will open ACC play at home this season against Wake Forest, a game that could give the Yellow Jackets a better chance than they’ve had in a while to start conference play with a win.
For the past five seasons, Tech’s ACC opener was either on the road or against an opponent that was in the NCAA tournament the previous year or both. Not surprisingly, the Jackets are 1-4 in those games, the lone exception being the stunning winning over North Carolina on New Year’s Eve in 2016 in coach Josh Pastner’s first season.
The ACC released the entire regular-season schedule for conference play Thursday.
Among the details in Tech’s 18-game lineup:
Seven of their first 10 games will be against teams who made the NCAA tournament last season. The pace slows up only moderately in the final eight games – five are against teams who played in the NCAA tournament.
The first stretch includes what looks like the most difficult three-game run in the season – at Duke on Jan. 26, home against North Carolina on Jan. 29 and on the road again at Florida State on Feb. 2. The Blue Devils and Tar Heels were both No. 2 seeds and have brought in loaded recruiting classes, while FSU reached the Elite Eight.
Of Tech’s nine home ACC games, four are on a Saturday or Sunday. Of the five weeknight home games, only one is a 9 p.m. start.
Tech will have two or three days between each game, with its open date on the final weekend of the season.
Its final regular-season game, at N.C. State on March 6, is on a Wednesday. Every other conference team will play that weekend, and the ACC tournament will start the following Tuesday.
As befitting a team not expected to compete for an NCAA Tournament berth, four of the games will be broadcast on one of the ESPN networks with the remainder televised by regional sports networks or Raycom. By comparison, Duke will have either 16 or 17 games on an ESPN channel and another will be broadcast by CBS.
Jan. 5 Sat. Wake Forest FSSO 2 p.m.
Jan. 9 Wed. Virginia Tech FSSO 7 p.m.
Jan. 12 Sat. at Syracuse ESPN or ESPN2 6 p.m.
Jan. 16 Wed. at Clemson FSSO 9 p.m.
Jan. 19 Sat. Louisville Raycom 4 p.m.
Jan. 22 Tue. Notre Dame FSSO 7 p.m.
Jan. 26 Sat. at Duke Raycom 1 p.m.
Jan. 29 Tue. North Carolina FSSO 7 p.m.
Feb. 2 Sat. at Florida State FSSO noon
Feb. 6 Wed. Clemson FSSO 7 p.m.
Feb. 10 Sun. at Notre Dame ESPNU 6 p.m.
Feb. 13 Wed. at Virginia Tech Raycom 8 p.m.
Feb. 16 Sat. Florida State Raycom 2 p.m.
Feb. 20 Wed. Pittsburgh FSSO 9 p.m.
Feb. 23 Sat. at Miami FSSO 2 p.m.
Feb. 27 Wed. at Virginia ESPN2 or ESPNU 7 p.m.
March 3 Sun. Boston College ESPNU 6 p.m.
March 6 Wed. at N.C. State FSSO 9 p.m.
March 12-16 Tue-Sat. ACC Tournament (Charlotte, N.C.) Raycom/ESPN
