By Andy Demetra | Voice of the Yellow Jackets
Kyle Sturdivant saw two defenders collapsing on him in confusion, and immediately the senior point guard knew what to do.
Angling off toward the Georgia Tech bench, Sturdivant flicked a short pass behind him. The ball had barely left his hands before he hollered out the word.
“Knockdown!”
Sturdivant said it so loudly, with such conviction, that it sounded more like a guarantee than a plea. Sure enough, Miles Kelly took his pass and drilled a wing three-pointer to extend Georgia Tech’s lead to 52-34 over Louisville in the opening minutes of the second half.
Sturdivant had reason to feel confident in his declaration. The Norcross, Ga., native finished with 10 assists, becoming the first Tech player with double-digit assists in a game since Josh Heath in 2017. Kelly poured in five threes for a second straight game, the first Yellow Jacket to do so in ACC play since Adam Smith in 2016. And Georgia Tech (12-17, 4-14 ACC) continued its late-season revenge tour, shooting an ACC-high 48 percent in a grudge match win over the Cardinals at McCamish Pavilion.
The Jackets will try to manifest more knockdowns Tuesday – and produce another takedown of a team that beat them earlier in the season. Syracuse (16-13, 9-9 ACC) defeated Tech 80-63 on January 21 at McCamish Pavilion, in the middle of the Yellow Jackets’ nine-game ACC morass. Tech has been a different team since then, though, and on Tuesday they’ll look for a different result against an Orange squad that’s lost three straight by an average of 19 points.
Enjoy the top notes from my chart as the Yellow Jackets kick off the final week of the regular season in the snow globe of Syracuse (7 p.m. ET, Georgia Tech Sports Network from Legends Sports):
Kyle Sturdivant has become indispensable to the Jackets over their last eight games. (photo by Danny Karnik)
Monday’s game marks the sixth home-and-home opponent for Georgia Tech in ACC play.
With the exception of Clemson, the Yellow Jackets have shot noticeably better in the second meeting:
- Opponent – FG% increase
- Notre Dame – +4.1%
- N.C. State – +4.7%
- Pittsburgh – +10.9%
- Louisville – +18.7%
Tech went from its lowest field goal percentage of the season against Louisville on Feb. 1 to its highest field goal percentage in conference play on Saturday.
*****
Georgia Tech shot 43 percent against the Orange last month – not bad, but not great – though Syracuse’s length had bouts of…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Men’s Basketball – Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets…