WASHINGTON — Again?
Notre Dame and Georgia Tech men's basketball have been regular opponents since the Irish joined the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2013-14, playing at least twice a year. It turns out.
Future prospects:Who has been selected for Notre Dame men's basketball's 2024-25 schedule?
Teams spent most of their league matches competing against each other for league standings, rarely trailing by more than one team, and only had a few league wins. Both teams each finished tied for 12th place, but Ireland won the season series and won the tiebreaker. Now they will meet in the first game of the first day of the ACC Tournament in Washington.
No formal introduction required. Both coaches not only know their team, but they also know the other team. March is here.
Road to DC:Notre Dame Men's Basketball Schedule for the 2023-24 Season
When does the Notre Dame vs. Georgia Tech game start? Is it on TV? What happens if Ireland wins?
☘ Who: No. 12 seed Notre Dame (12-19 overall, 7-13 ACC) vs. No. 13 Georgia Tech (14-17, 7-13)
☘ where: Capital One Arena (20,356), Washington
☘ when: Tuesday 2pm
☘ tv set: ACC network
☘ wireless: WSBT (960am).
☘ online: Follow all Notre Dame games with live updates from Tribune beat writer Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter) at twitter.com/tnoieNDI
Georgia Tech basketball scout
Freshman forward Bai Udongo had 21 points, nine rebounds and two blocks, one shy of his career high, in Saturday's 72-57 loss to Virginia. In a game where the score was tied three times and the lead changed hands eight times, the Yellow Jackets led by as many as two points and trailed by as many as 23 points. His field goal percentage was .404%, his three-shot percentage was .190%, and his foul percentage was .846%. line. With this loss, Georgia Tech's winning streak ended at three. … Only four players (all starters) returned from last year's team, which finished 15-18 overall, 6-14 and 13th in the ACC. Georgia Tech had the No. 13 pick this preseason. … Six of Georgia Tech's ACC wins this season have come against teams in the top half of the league. 14 of the 20 league games were decided by single digits. … The Yellow Jackets have outscored their opponents by an average of 11.8 rebounds per game over their past six games. …Georgia Tech fell to 2-1 in neutral games this season, with wins over Penn State in New York and Massachusetts in Honolulu, and a loss to Nevada, also in Hawaii.
In terms of numbers
3: Baye Ndongo has won the league's Rookie of the Week award three times. Only Marcus Burton and Carlton “Bub” Carrington have won more, each winning four times. He is the first Yellow Jacket to win the league's Rookie of the Week award at least three times since former guard Josh Okogie in 2016-17.
3: Georgia Tech's wins over ranked teams this season. Notre Dame has nothing.
15/20: Total number of ties and lead changes in Georgia Tech vs. Notre Dame's two games this season.
18.0: Yellow Jackets guard Myles Kelly's points average in two games against Notre Dame. He scored 25 points in January and 11 points in February.
45/4: Georgia Tech has been a member of the ACC for 45 seasons and has won four league championships in 1985, 1990, 1993 and 2021.
who is hot
Rookie guard Nathan George made a late push toward league All-Rookie Team honors, ranking second in the ACC in assists (4.57) and fifth in assist/turnover ratio (2.25) in his first season. finished. George, who was out of the rotation this season, averaged 9.3 points and 2.4 rebounds in 29.4 minutes per game. He started 27 of 28 games.
Who is not?
Guard Myles Kelly, who has been dealing with some back issues lately, missed all four of his shots against Virginia and went scoreless for 22 minutes. He finished with the team's worst plus/minus rating (-20). It was the third time this season that Kelly, the team's leading scorer (14.1 points), was held scoreless in a game.
Quotes from Yellow Jacket
“At this time of year, it's not about standing on the floor and practicing for two or three hours. What's really important is the nuances of the game and the attention to detail.”
Georgia Tech head coach Damon Stoudemire
Series history
Notre Dame leads 17-13 overall and 14-7 among its conference peers. Ireland have won five of their last six games, including both meetings this season. Two of the last four games and three of the last six games went into overtime. The two teams have only met once in the ACC Tournament. On March 12, 2019, the Irish won 78-71 in Charlotte.
Notre Dame basketball scout
In Saturday's 82-76 loss to Virginia Tech, freshman guard Marcus Burton scored in double figures with 24 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists in 31 minutes, and sophomore swingman Tay Davis added 13 points and six rebounds. The Irish shot .519% from the field, .412% from three and .684% from the foul line. They led by as many as three points (for 62 seconds) and were trailing by as many as 10 points. The Irish finished with 42 points in the paint and 17 bench points. … With a loss, Notre Dame would become the first in program history dating back to 1897-1898 to lose at least 20 games in consecutive seasons. … Defensively, the Irish allowed 66.5 points, which ranked second in the ACC and 29th nationally. … Notre Dame is 1-1 in neutral games this season, both at Barclays Center in November, losing to Auburn before beating Oklahoma State. … The Irish lost their second straight game and lost three of their five games, all on the road, to end the season.
In terms of numbers
3-3: Notre Dame played six games Tuesday, with wins over Western Michigan University, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest, and losses to The Citadel, South Carolina and North Carolina.
Five: Sophomore swingman Tae Davis has scored in double figures in a season-best five straight games and is averaging 13.0 points.
19: In games where Irish junior guard Julian Roper scored in double figures, Roper scored 13 points in a game against Georgetown on Dec. 16 and 11 points in a loss to Virginia Tech.
84.6: The average points Notre Dame has allowed in its last three regular-season league losses have all come on the road. Prior to that, the Irish had allowed at least 80 points just once on the season, giving up 83 points against Auburn on Nov. 16.
535: Marcus Burton's points this season set a program record, surpassing former Irish All-American Troy Murphy's 519 points in 1998-99.
who is hot
Probably the last one this season is Marcus Burton, who has done it all in almost every game this season. Barton finished sixth in the ACC in points (17.26) and assists (4.26), 13th in free throw percentage (.802), fourth in steals (1.97) and seventh in minutes played (33.5).
Who is not?
Everyone not named Burton. At the end of the regular season, only one Irish player (Burton) averaged double-digit points. The last time that happened was in 1994-95, when Pat Garrity was the only Irishman to score at least 10.0 points per game.
Quote from an Irishman
“We're talking about it. We're working on it. Rebounding is like something you want to do. Do you want to get it or don't you want to get it? The shot goes up, it hits. Or not. That's your choice. We chose to be beaten.”
Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsberry after his team's 39-28 loss to Virginia Tech on Saturday.
Looking to the future
It's simple – survive and move forward. If Notre Dame survives, it will advance to a second-round game against No. 5 seed Wake Forest on Wednesday (2:30 p.m., ESPN) (19-12, 11-9). If Notre Dame loses to Georgia Tech, the 2023-24 season will be over.
Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact: (574) 235-6153.
