Georgia Tech will look to continue building momentum for next month’s Atlantic Coast Conference tournament when it hosts Florida Tech in non-conference action Saturday in Atlanta.
The Yellow Jackets (10-16) have won two of their past three games, including Wednesday’s 77-70 defeat of Virginia Tech. That marked a season high in scoring in an ACC contest for Georgia Tech, which has scored at least 70 points in three straight games and is 8-2 when reaching that threshold.
Dallan Coleman led five Georgia Tech starters in double figures with a career-high 21 points against the Hokies. He was joined by Miles Kelly with 15, Lance Terry with 14 and Kyle Sturdivant and Ja’von Franklin with 10 points each. Franklin added 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double and blocked five shots.
The Yellow Jackets shot 50 percent (11 of 22) from behind the arc, compared to 26.1 percent (6 of 23) for Virginia Tech.
“We have really gotten better and we’re improving. We’re just a month behind where we usually are,” Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner said. “That was a high-level character win. It was a great win for the Jackets.”
Kelly leads the team in scoring (12.8 points) but has reached double figures in only four of his past 10 games.
Georgia Tech was without Deivon Smith, who sprained an ankle in practice on Tuesday.
Florida Tech (16-10) is coming off an 81-78 loss to Embry-Riddle on Wednesday. The Eagles, who compete in the Sunshine State Conference in NCAA Division II, have dropped three straight.
Florida Tech is led by Sean Houpt, who averages 20.5 points and leads the team with 75 3-pointers, and Sesan Russell, who averages 19.2 points and 5.5 rebounds. Russell and Houpt each scored 21 points against Embry-Riddle.
Russell ranks second in Division II with 6.9 assists per game and is a finalist for the Bevo Francis Award that’s given to the nation’s best small-college player.
“What people don’t realize is the incredible character that our team is showing,” Florida Tech coach Billy Mims said.
This will be the first meeting between the two programs.
–Field Level Media
