Georgia Tech’s first nine games have put the Yellow Jackets in promising position.
They’re 7-2 with wins over two power-conference teams, Georgia and Northwestern, the latter breaking Tech’s four-game road losing streak in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. As of Friday night, the Jackets were a decent No. 67 in RPI, eighth among ACC teams, according to warrennolan.com.
Moreover, they have the opportunity to close the non-conference portion of the schedule in an attention-getting manner, with games against Vanderbilt, Dayton and Charlotte ahead. The Vanderbilt game is Saturday at McCamish Pavilion, completing a home-and-home with the Commodores.
Dayton, coach Brian Gregory’s former employer, and Charlotte are both ranked higher in RPI than Tech.
“Going into this, I’m trying to tell the guys, these next three games, we need ’em because these are three big games, in my opinion, to end the non-conference,” forward Marcus Georges-Hunt said.
They’re important for a variety of reasons. The Jackets undoubtedly would like to continue to improve and start ACC play playing with confidence. Following Tech’s 70-57 win over Appalachian State on Monday, Gregory mentioned the value of the extended practice time that the team would have from that point, with three games over a 15-day period, concluding with the Dec. 30 game against Charlotte. Tech’s ACC schedule starts Jan. 3 at Notre Dame.
“We have a long way to go,” Gregory said. “We’ve got to get better defensively.”
The games are also a measuring stick. Gregory believes this season’s team is better than last season’s, and Tech lost to Vanderbilt and Dayton last year, while pulling out a last-second win over Charlotte. The Vanderbilt loss was one of four in which the Jackets led by double digits only to ultimately fall.
“We owe them, in my opinion,” Georges-Hunt said. “We had ’em, but as the game went on, we lost control. We made mistakes and they took advantage of it and started making shots. This game is going to be real competitive on Saturday.”
The games could well prove to be critical for Tech’s postseason chances. Should the Jackets manage to win all three, they would reach 10-2, which would tie for the Jackets’ best record after 12 games under Gregory. To merit consideration for the NIT, let alone the NCAA tournament, Tech figures to need to win at least 18 or 19 games. In the past three years, of the 38 teams from power conferences to go to the NIT, only five had 17 wins or fewer.
With no postseason appearances since 2010, an NIT berth would be considered progress, particularly with a roster that has seven players who are either freshmen or playing their first seasons as transfers.
But with a 10-2 non-conference record, Tech could need eight or nine wins in league play, which would be a considerable improvement. The Jackets’ ACC records in Gregory’s first three seasons were 4-12, 6-12 and 6-12. It’s conceivable, but Tech likely will need all of the margin it can acquire over the next three games.
Etc.: Members of the Tech football team will be presented the Governor's Cup, the annual prize of the Tech-Georgia game, at halftime.
