What To Watch For Vs. Clemson

Facing a short turnaround, next up for Georgia Tech is the first of two matchups against Clemson in a game that has implications past just the win/loss column. Here's what to watch for against the Tigers.

Despite having won five go their last seven game and carrying a two game winning streak heading into Syracuse, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (13-14, 7-9 ACC) could not capitalize on the momentum against the Orange and failed to avenge one of their worst losses of the season. With only two weeks left in the regular season, there's very little time left to right the ship and the Jackets need to get back in the win column in a bad sort of way. Playing the first of two games this season against their foe from South Carolina, Georgia Tech comes back home from their brief road trip to take on the Clemson Tigers (14-12, 8-8 ACC). Tip is scheduled for Tuesday, February 25th at 9:00pm EST, and can be viewed on the ACC Network.

Here are a couple of the more significant storylines to follow ahead of Tech's 137th all-time matchup with the Tigers:

Trending In The Right Direction

Much like the Jackets, the Clemson Tigers did not have the greatest start to the 2019-20 college basketball season. Brad Brownell's bunch opened up the season on a 5-1 run, but then dropped 6 of their next 7 games to go under .500 while also losing their first 3 ACC games.

However since then, the Tigers have seemingly flipped a switch, especially as of late. They have won 8 of their last 13 games, and are currently on a three game win streak. In those three games, they have won at Pitt & Boston College, taken down the then No. 5 Louisville Cardinals at home, and won by an average margin of 17.7 points. They are averaging 77.0 PPG during that stretch (well above their 66.5 PPG average for the season), and are shooting 50.0% from beyond the arc.

This is a team that can catch fire early if Georgia Tech will let them, and it is imperative that the Jackets keep them honest on the perimeter or this game will snowball out of control in a hurry.

Fighting For Wednesday

When the Tigers and Jackets take to Cremins Court this Tuesday, there will be a lot more on the line than just a win or loss. As it stands right now, Georgia Tech is 9th in the 2020 ACC standings. If the ACC Tournament were to start today, the Jackets would receive their first 1st round bye since 2016 and the first one in Josh Pastner's tenure on The Flats.

Between now and the end of the regular season there will be plenty of jockeying for position in the standings, especially between these two teams. The Tigers are ahead of Georgia Tech by two spots, separated only by Notre Dame who owns the tiebreaker over Tech. The Jackets own tiebreakers over the two teams directly behind them in Boston College & Virginia Tech to give them a bit of a cushion, but considering they play Clemson twice in the next couple weeks, Georgia Tech could easily be sent behind these teams by the Tigers.

In short, there are long term ramifications with Tuesday's game, and Georgia Tech can ill-afford another loss at this point in the season. Especially since only 11 teams since 2011 have received at-large NCAA Tournament bids with 15 losses (GT currently has 14).

Lockdown Front-Court 

While junior forward Moses Wright is coming off a game where he scored a career high 33 points, him and senior center James Banks III will have their hands full come Tuesday. While shorter than their Jackets' counterparts, Clemson forwards Aamir Sims and Tevin Mack have proven themselves to be one of the more efficient front-courts in the ACC, as the duo leads the Tigers in points per game, rebounds, blocks, and are tied for second in steals. Sims is the superior of the Clemson big men, as he also leads the Tigers in three-point field goal percentage (min. 10 games played) at 38.6%, and also leads the team in assists per game at 2.7.

Because of their play on the interior, they have forced teams to bend to their will on the defensive end and stick to play on the outside. Clemson opponents have the second longest average possession length in the ACC behind only Virginia (18.4 seconds), and have the second highest percentage of three-point attempts to field goal attempts behind only Syracuse (44.1%).

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