Georgia Tech finds itself in a precarious situation as it heads into the first round of the Acc Tournament on Tuesday night. Similar to Clemson and Wake Forest that play ahead of them, the Yellow Jackets are in a must-win situation. While they have a good resume due to how deep the conference is, a number of losses would be unprecedented should they get an at-large bid. Losing to Pittsburgh would all but end any hope as they have ruined any chance themselves by losing five of their last six games. Tipoff is set for 7:00 PM Eastern time and the game can be seen on ESPNU and online with WatchESPN and the ESPN mobile app.
No. 14 Pittsburgh (15-16, 4-14 ACC)
Believe it or not, ESPN projections still had the Panthers as a potential at-large bid after upsetting Florida State a few weeks ago, but those minute dreams were shattered with four consecutive losses to end their regular season campaign. The offense has completely dissipated as they've scored an average of 60 points in the last five games, nearly 14 fewer points than their already mediocre average (175th nationally).
Michael Young is the team's leading scorer with nearly 20 ppg. His best performance in the losing skid came against Wake Forest with 24 points. Jamel Artis (18.4 ppg, 4.8 rpg) is decent from downtown but has struggled recently by making just 4-of-17 3-pointers in the last four games.
No. 11 Georgia Tech (17-14, 8-10 ACC)
Here's the story with the Yellow Jackets. While they have a number of solid wins, that's an argument that can be made with any ACC bubble team. The problem is the number of losses the team has. Should Tech lose in the ACC tournament, they'll have 15 total defeats, and no at-large bid has had more than 14 losses.
Only one team with 14 losses has made the cut since 1992, and that was Arizona in 2008 with a stacked Pac-10 Conference.
Perhaps one of the worst losses Georgia Tech took was at the end of the regular season. Syracuse, a bubble team themselves, smacked them 90-61 and ESPN currently has them as the fifth team out. Josh Okogie (15.5 ppg, 5.1 rpg) looks to continue rolling on offense for the Yellow Jackets with 12 or more points in the last ten games.
The ACC tournament is taking place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Pittsburgh is actually favored by 2 points but is just 3-10 against the spread as a favorite. The O/U is set at 133 points.
