Georgia Tech will begin its pursuit of its fourth ACC Tournament championship at 2 p.m. Thursday against Miami at the Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum. The 13th-seeded Hurricanes are in the quarterfinals by virtue of their upset of No. 5 seed Clemson on Wednesday, which followed their win over No. 12 seed Pittsburgh on Tuesday. More about Tech’s opponent:
1. Who they are: The Hurricanes were picked to finish seventh in the ACC in the preseason (two spots ahead of Georgia Tech) but the roster was obliterated by injuries. Most notably, preseason All-ACC guard Chris Lykes played only two games this season and has missed the rest with an ankle injury.
Miami finished the regular season with six available scholarship players and not surprisingly took 13th in the ACC at 4-15. However, the Hurricanes won their final regular-season game, ending a six-game losing streak, before winning their first two in Greensboro, first over No. 12 seed Pittsburgh on Tuesday and then over No. 5 Clemson on Wednesday. Miami pulled the upset of the Tigers by shooting 53.7% from the field and holding on at the end. Ahead by six at the one-minute mark with possession of the ball, the Hurricanes turned the ball over twice in the final 40 seconds and gave Clemson a shot at the lead with under 10 seconds to play.
2. Who to watch out for: Guard Isaiah Wong finished the regular season fourth in the ACC in scoring (17.2 points per game), 12th in field-goal percentage (42.9%) and sixth in minutes (35.2 minutes per game). He was named third-team All-ACC and received the second most votes for most improved player in the ACC.
He has scored 40 points in Miami’s two tournament wins while turning the ball over three times in 76 minutes.
“Our game plan to stop him was just guard him well and make him take some tough shots,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said. “He made a lot of tough shots.”
3. Against Tech this season: The teams met Feb. 20 in Coral Gables, Fla., on a disastrous afternoon for Miami. It was the Hurricanes’ first game without point guard Harlond Beverly (back), leaving them without a point guard to navigate Tech’s 1-3-1 zone. Miami turned the ball over eight times in its first 15 possessions, Jackets guard Michael Devoe was scorching hot and the Jackets rolled. They led 12-0, 26-7 and 48-18 at the half on their way to an 87-60 win, which set a Tech record for largest margin of victory in an ACC road game.
“We played terrible, they played really well,” Larranaga said Wednesday. “We’re going to have to do a much better job (Thursday) than we did at our place a month ago.”
Devoe finished with 29 points on 7-for-11 shooting from 3-point range.
“I was getting great looks, great opportunities to shoot it,” Devoe said after the game. “Once I saw that first one go in, it just kept going from there.”
4. Tired legs: Fatigue is obviously a critical factor. Miami uses seven players, and leans heavily on its starting five, which played 181 of the 200 minutes Tuesday and 170 on Wednesday. Tech, meanwhile, last played last Friday and has been gearing up mentally and physically to make a run at the ACC championship.
Miami has already made history by getting to Thursday as the first No. 13 seed to reach a quarterfinal at the ACC Tournament. Overall, since the league expanded to 15 teams prior to the 2013-14 academic year, teams that won in the first round were 2-16 in the second round prior to this tournament. Both of the teams to win in the first two rounds ultimately lost in the quarters.
“I’m not going to worry about fatigue,” Larranaga said. “They’ve been out there every game giving it their all. Whatever happens, happens. We’re just excited about playing (Thursday).”
Said Wong, “I feel like coming into the game, we’re going to have more energy coming into Georgia Tech because we already knew what they did to us at home. So we have more energy, more things we need to prove to Georgia Tech that we have improved since the last game we played them.”
5. Potential trouble spots: A critical Miami weakness is its inability to take care of the ball, as Tech forces turnovers as well as any team in the conference. Besides Wong, Anthony Walker is an active forward who can do a little bit of everything and has scored in double digits in seven of his past eight games.
Wong on the Jackets: “They play hard on defense. They play that little 1-3-1 zone, so they’re probably going to play that. That really helped them from the last time they played us. And we’ve just got to figure out what to do and just try to make the best decision for their zone.”
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