Tech Takes On Notre Dame In Round One
Notre Dame , led by guard Markus Burton and forward Tae Davis will be the first round opponent for Georgia Tech in the opening day of the 2024 ACC Conference tournament.
Each team has played its best basketball over the past month though each lost its final regular season game.
In head to head matchups this season , the Irish won at home and again in Atlanta. That Valentine's Day road win over Tech was particularly frustrating for the Jackets. They fell by a 58-55 count in a game that saw Tech outscored by 11 points from the free throw line on 6 of 11 made ( Notre Dame hit 17 of 22). Tech was also outrebounded in that game, and committed 14 turnovers to boot. Any one of those factors can turn a three- point loss into a win, of course. And notably, since then, both the rebounding and free throw shooting have improved for Stoudamire's crew. The Jackets won the boards against each of their final five opponents, and made 54 of 67 free throws in aggregate (81%) over that same span.
The turnover bug is still biting Stoudamire s team as evidenced by totals of nine or more in those same six games, and several tptals at 15 or higher.
Stoudamire made note of the 16 miscues his team registered in a win over FSU. " We had 16 turnovers, but 10 of them were just us", he remarked when asked about the Seminoles defense. Point being, many of the turnovers were unforced.
Notre Dame has also played better of late and goes to the post as a 1.5 point favorite on Tuesday. Whether Tech can beat the Irish on their third try may well come down to rebounding, free- throw shooting and taking proper care of the ball– all pretty basic aspects of playing winning basketball.
Patrick Conarro
RamblinSports.com