Up against a mercilessly accurate 3-point barrage, Georgia Tech stood no chance.
Syracuse hammered the Yellow Jackets with 15 3-pointers, providing the juice for a 90-61 win over Tech Sunday at the Carrier Dome.
In the regular-season finale, Tech (17-14 overall, 8-10 ACC) may have seen its NCAA tournament hopes expire on Jim Boeheim Court, barring a run to the ACC championship and an automatic berth. According to CBS Sports bracketologist Jerry Palm, no team has earned an at-large bid with 15 losses in the 23 years that he has charted the selection process. Tech would lose its 15th game of the season if it were to be eliminated from the ACC tournament, beginning Tuesday in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Tech will be the No. 11 seed and play No. 14 seed Pittsburgh on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in an opening-round game at the Barclays Center.
Syracuse (18-13, 10-8) ran out to a 10-2 lead with baskets on its first four possessions and led the rest of the way. Down 38-26 at the half, the Jackets opened with a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 38-33 and continued to pursue the Orange.
Tech was still in the game at 49-44 at the 12:12 mark after a Josh Heath 3-pointer. However, boosted by its best 3-point shooting of the season, Syracuse rocketed away with a 21-2 lead to finish off the Jackets.
Syracuse finished the game shooting 15-for-23 from 3-point range (65.2 percent), a season-high rate well above the Orange’s season average of 37.7 and also above Techs’ defensive rate of 32.8 percent. It was reminiscent of Duke’s torching of the Jackets Jan. 4 in Durham, N.C., when the Blue Devils tore the doors off Tech with 16-for-31 shooting from 3-point range in their 110-57 rout.
The least accurate 3-point shooting team in the ACC, the Jackets could not match fire. They finished 5-for-20 from 3-point range (25 percent).
Syracuse gained payback for the Jackets’ 71-65 win Feb. 19 at McCamish Pavilion. All four teams that Tech played twice this season – Clemson, Notre Dame, N.C. State and Syracuse – beat the Jackets in the rematch after losing the first game.
Tech was led by Josh Okogie’s 16 points.
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