The benefit of playing Notre Dame for a second time in a 12-day span also is the disadvantage. In preparing for the Fighting Irish, the Yellow Jackets didn’t need much to familiarize themselves with strengths and weaknesses, but it likely didn’t take Notre Dame long, either.
“They know our moves. They watch film,” forward Marcus Georges-Hunt said. “I think it’s going to be a low-scoring game because they know everything we want to do and accomplish, and we know everything they like to do, so it’s going to be pretty tough.”
Meeting Wednesday night at McCamish Pavilion, Tech and No. 12 Notre Dame will complete their season series before the Jackets have played 11 of the other ACC teams even once. It’s the shortest turnaround for a second regular-season game against an ACC opponent in Tech’s history in the league.
The scheduling quirk arrives at a precarious moment for the Jackets. At 0-3 in the ACC, taking a fourth consecutive league loss might not be a calamity, but it would put Tech in a hole not easily escaped. In the past three seasons, 10 teams’ longest ACC losing streak was three games. Of those, six managed to recover to earn either an NCAA or NIT berth.
Over the same span, 14 teams’ longest losing streak in conference play reached four or more games. Of those, only one made it into a postseason tournament. (N.C. State, which lost four consecutive in the 2011-12 season, sneaked into the NCAA tournament.)
“I think the first win is going to be big,” Georges-Hunt said. “When we get the first one, it’ll take a lot of pressure off certain people.”
Asked if the start has been discouraging, Georges-Hunt replied, “I guess you could say that.”
Tech took Notre Dame to double overtime in South Bend, Ind., before faltering. With the ball in their hands for the final possession, the Jackets lost 46-45 to Syracuse on Wednesday. On Saturday, defensive and rebounding breakdowns led to Tech’s defeat against Wake Forest, a game the Jackets also could well have won.
“You can’t dwell on it,” Georges-Hunt said. “That’s one thing you really can’t do because there’s so many games out there left and there’s so many things you can still accomplish in this 18-game ACC season.”
Notre Dame shot 53.3 percent from the field against the Jackets in the first game, the highest percentage Tech has allowed this season. The Irish’s offense ranks as the most efficient in the country by kenpom.com. They ransacked Tech’s defense despite making only four of 19 3-pointers, instead converting 28 of 41 two-point shots.
Tech has been superior in defending 3-point shots this season — opponents have made 28.9 percent of 3-point tries, which ranked 34th in the country going into Tuesday’s games, according to teamrankings.com. However, Tech’s two-point field-goal defense ranked 273rd, at 50.7 percent.
In the first game, Notre Dame guard Jerian Grant scored 24 points, three off his career high, on 10-for-18 shooting. All of his points were scored either on two-point shots or free throws. The Irish undoubtedly will look for solutions to their 3-point slump against Tech, and the Jackets will need to figure out a way to stop Notre Dame closer to the basket.
“In this league, I think that’s a tendency,” coach Brian Gregory said, “because teams are so good that you say, ‘OK, we need to plug this hole.’ Well, teams are good enough to cause a hole somewhere else. Sometimes, it’s not just you. It’s what the other guys are doing as well.”
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