Louisville-Georgia Tech preview: Battle for the bottom in the ACC

Feb 1, 2023 - 7:26 PM

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Louisville Cardinals (2-19, 0-10) vs. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (8-13, 1-10)

Game Time: 7 p.m.

Location: KFC Yum Center: Louisville, Ky.

Television: Regional Sports Networks (Bally Sports South in Louisville)

Announcers: Tom Werme (play-by-play) and Mike Gminski (analyst)

Favorite: Georgia Tech by 2

Series: Louisville leads, 25-14

Last Meeting: Louisville won 84-74 on March 8, 2022 in the first round of the ACC tournament in Brooklyn

Series History:

Probable Starting Lineups:

Louisville

• G El Ellis (6-3, 180, Sr.)
• G/F Mike James (6-5, 215, R-Fr.)
• F Kamari Lands (6-8, 220, Fr.)
• F Jae’Lyn Withers (6-9, 220, R-Jr.)
• F Sydney Curry (6-8, 270, Sr.)

Georgia Tech

• G Deivon Smith (6-1, 176, Jr.)
• G Miles Kelly (6-6, 175, So.)
• G Dallan ‘Deebo’ Coleman (6-6, 218, So.)
• F Jalon Moore (6-7, 209, So.)
• C Rodney Howard (6-11, 256, Sr.)

Statistics:

Relevant Videos:

About Georgia Tech:

Losers of 10 straight, Louisville will host Georgia Tech, losers of seven straight, in a Wednesday night clash between the two teams who clearly appear to be the worst the ACC has to offer.

Unlike U of L, GT has a conference win — a stunning 76-70 triumph over Miami back on Jan. 4. The Yellow Jackets have not won since, and have been especially woeful in recent weeks, losing each of their last five games by double figures, and their last three by a combined 81 points (43 to Duke, 21 to Clemson, 17 to Syracuse).

Georgia Tech’s profile is similar to Boston College in that they want to slow things down and win with their defense, but they don’t do anything especially well. They are a bad shooting team across the board (313th in 3-point%, 299th in 2-point%, 252nd in free-throw%), they don’t rebound particularly well, but they don’t turn it over a whole lot, which has been their lone saving grace on offense.

Last year, Georgia Tech was a team defensively that took a ton of chances, forced a decent amount of turnovers, and did not have a solid rim protector. This year, it’s sort of the opposite. The Yellow Jackets aren’t forcing many turnovers and are instead sitting back and hoping to make opponents beat them from the outside (56th in 3-point% defense) or at the rim (84th in block%).

Sophomore guard Miles Kelly, who played sparingly last season as a freshman, is the team’s lone double figure scorer at 13.3 ppg. He was an electric outside shooter over the season’s first two months but has regressed in recent weeks. Kelly has scored in double figures just once over Tech’s last five games, and is just 7-for-32 from three over that span.

Put simply, Tech is the type of team that in any other season Louisville fans would be embarrassed to see anything other than a double figure victory over. In this season, they might represent the team’s only hope for a conference victory. They don’t do anything particularly well and they come into Wednesday night’s game playing their worst basketball of the season.

Notable:

—Louisville is in the midst of a 10-game losing streak, which is tied for the fifth-longest in school history. The Cards lost nine straight games to begin this season, the worst start for any team in the history of the ACC.

—Louisville has won 12 of its last 13 meetings with Georgia Tech, losing just once to the Yellow Jackets since 1997.

—Georgia Tech Tech is No. 2 in the ACC in three-point defense and is 44th nationally, allowing 30.5 percent from distance.

—Louisville and Georgia Tech were founding members of the Metro Conference in 1975, but the Yellow Jackets left for the ACC in 1978.

—Louisville has already lost eight games by 20 points or more this season, the 20-point losses in one season in the history of Cardinal basketball.

—Georgia Tech leads the ACC in bench scoring, its reserves contributing 21.7 points per game this season. The bench has provided 30 or more points six times this season, and has outscored its opponents’ reserves in 12 of 20 games.

—The Cards are 10-1 against the Yellow Jackets since joining the ACC in 2014-15. Of those 10 ACC wins over Georgia Tech, five have been decided by four points or fewer.

—Louisville is 0-10 in conference play for the first time since going 0-11 in the KIAC during the 1939-40 season.

—Georgia Tech has used nine different starting lineups this season, and no Yellow Jacket has started every game. Nine Jackets have started at least two games, and eight of them have started a minimum of seven times.

—Louisville is 9-3 all-time in games against Georgia Tech head coach Josh Paster. Pastner went 2-2 against the Cardinals when he was at Memphis State, but is just 1-7 against them with the Yellow Jackets.

—Louisville and Georgia Tech played the first college basketball ever inside the Georgia Dome. The game was played in front of the largest crowd ever to witness a college game in the state of Georgia at the time (28,885). The Jackets won the game on a halfcourt buzzer-beater by James Forrest.

—Louisville is 5-34 over its last 39 games dating back to last season.

—Louisville is 218-13 over the last 20 seasons and 15-1 over the last three when scoring 80 points or more. The Cards have eclipsed the 80-point mark just once this season.

—Louisville is 14-0 over the past 10 seasons when limiting opponents to no more than one three-point field goal.

—Since 2004, Louisville is 128-0 when leading by more than 10 points at halftime.

—Louisville has won 162 consecutive games when holding an opponent under 50 points.

—Louisville has won 157 consecutive games when scoring at least 85 points in regulation.

Ken Pomeroy Prediction: Georgia Tech 69, Louisville 67