Georgia Tech vs. Wake Forest Preview

Wednesday February 15

7:30 P.M.

Television: RSN, ESPN3

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets will travel to Winston-Salem on Wednesday night to take on our Wake Forest Demon Deacons, in what will be a battle between the two bottom-dwellers in the ACC. I think all of the Wake fans will be curious to see how the Deacs respond to that shocker against Clemson. Most everyone I know expected the game to be close, and things just completely fell apart in the second half. Now, Vegas has the Deacs as two point favorites, so we will see which team shows up to The Joel on Wednesday night. I'll provide some analysis after the jump. As always, please feel free to comment!

Georgia Tech's Strengths

As has been the staple of previous Georgia Tech teams, this Yellow Jackets squad has strong interior play, particularly on the defensive end. They have a block percentage of 14.2%, which is five points above the national average and ranks them 22nd nationally. Because Georgia Tech is able to block and alter a large amount of shots, their opponents have only been able to convert 43.2% of their 2 point field goal attempts. Georgia Tech has an effective FG% of 46.4%, which 2.6% below the national average of 49%. When you add all of this up, it equates to the Yellow Jackets allowing 96 points per 100 possessions, which is good for 88th nationally.

Georgia Tech's Weaknesses

If basketball were all about defense, then Georgia Tech would be a respectable program. As it is, you still need to score more points than your opponent to win games. Simply put, Georgia Tech has had significant struggles on offense. This team lacks fundamentals, discipline, and ball security. They turn it over on 23% of their possessions, which is 3 points above the national average. Georgia Tech shoots an embarrassing 30.4% from beyond the arc.

Despite having a lot of height throughout their roster, and a large percentage of their field goals being from inside the 3-point line, Georgia Tech is not good at getting to the foul line. For every 100 field goal attempts, they only get to the line 30.8 times, which puts them at 301st nationally. Furthermore, they are unable to capitalize on the few trips they make to the line, as they are only able to hit 66% of their free throws.

How Wake Matches Up

I know I was wrong about the Clemson game, but I truly believe this is a very good matchup for the Deacs. By far our biggest weakness is defense. Thankfully, Georgia Tech is a very poor perimeter shooting team that turns the ball over often. Although they have strong interior defense, Georgia Tech is below average in terms of forcing turnovers. This should allow our offense to get clean perimeter looks at the basket and avoid giving up easy baskets the other way.

If Wake struggles to score for a while, we should still be okay, because Tech's lack of offense will prevent them from pulling away. Georgia Tech's interior will certainly give Wake problems when we're on offense, particularly Travis McKie. He has struggled when going against a lot of length on the interior, and at 6' 11", Daniel Miller certainly provides that length and shot blocking threat.

I still think Wake will find a way to overcome this, and can hopefully use Georgia Tech's aggressiveness against them and draw some early fouls. Wake is a very good free throw shooting, and if it becomes a battle of free throws, Wake definitely has the advantage.

Projected Starters

Wake Forest

Tony Chennault

C.J. Harris

Travis McKie

Nikita Mescheriakov

Ty Walker

Georgia Tech

Mfon Udofia

Glen Rice Jr.

Jason Morris

Kammeon Holsey

Daniel Miller

Final Thoughts/Prediction

I'm going 65-62 Wake Forest.

Riley and I will be watching this game from the Wake bench, and we'll write an article on Thursday describing our experience. Marty should be getting a gamethread going. As always, Go Deacs!