Georgia Tech center Daniel Miller has only the fondest of memories of last year’s win over Miami, and not only from the game, a 71-69 upset of the then-No. 6 Hurricanes.
In a creative effort to taunt, Miami students had gone to Tech players’ Facebook pages and blew up prints of pictures with family and loved ones with some photo editing.
“So they took a picture of (former Yellow Jacket) Julian (Royal) with his girlfriend and they cut Julian’s face out and then put one of the pictures of the Miami players (in its place),” Miller said. “It was pretty funny.”
At the end of a frustrating season, the Jackets hope that they can somehow create more memories Tuesday. Nearly a year to the day after the high point of coach Brian Gregory’s three-year tenure at Tech, the Jackets face similarly long odds in their first-ever meeting at No. 7 Syracuse as ACC brethren.
“I think you draw similarities (to the Miami game),” Gregory said Monday. “We did a good job of sticking with the game plan for 40 minutes and really doing a good job of executing offensively and defensively. So you draw more comparisons in terms of that as opposed to teams or anything like that.”
Tech has demonstrated its ability to compete with the best in the ACC for stretches this season. The Jackets trailed Duke by one point at halftime in their first meeting. With 9:52 remaining, Tech led Virginia 44-42, but then let the Cavaliers score 22 of the game’s final 23 points. The Jackets were down seven to North Carolina with 5:10 to play before losing by 13.
But, besides a string of injuries — and perhaps partly because of it — the Jackets’ undoing this season has been a pattern of self-destructing with rushed possessions and lax defense. Games like last year’s Miami upset, where the team kept its focus and multiple players performed well, have been rare. Furthermore, Tuesday night’s set-up — Tech lost at Florida State Sunday night, stayed over in Tallahassee, Fla., had a game-plan meeting before flying to Syracuse, N.Y., in the afternoon — doesn’t sound like the ideal preparation to take on a giant in its 35,000-seat lair.
Gregory, as his team bused to the airport in Florida, said he planned to bring up the Miami game.
“Guys have been in a similar situation as before,” he said, “so you talk about it a little bit, for sure.”
Tech will have to achieve at least one thing that has been a considerable challenge: score consistently against a zone defense. Zones have routinely troubled the Jackets and Syracuse’s trademark 2-3 zone is likely the best they will face all season.
On the other hand, the Orange have lost three out of the past four (the Hurricanes had lost two of the previous three before last year’s Tech game) and have pulled out several close wins. Tech swept Boston College, the first team to beat Syracuse.
“I don’t see why we can’t beat them,” Miller said. “We’ve competed with every other team. It seems like every time they play, it’s a close game. I think we can be strong enough to at least hang with them. I plan on winning.”
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