Louisville and Georgia Tech preview with Matthew McGavic

Cardinals begin first of two road games with rematch against Georgia Tech

Louisville men's basketball takes its 10-game winning streak on the road, playing Georgia Tech in Atlanta Feb. 12. The Cardinals (21-3 overall, 12-1 in the ACC) defeated Georgia Tech 68-64 Jan. 22 at the KFC Yum! Center earlier this season.

Georgia Tech (11-13 overall, 5-8 in the ACC) have won three of their last five games. SI Jackets Maven Matthew McGavic answered questions about the matchup that tips off at 8:00 p.m.

Is Georgia Tech a different team, for better or worse, since last playing Louisville Jan. 22?

I want to say that they are, but it seems that at times they still suffer from what has plagued them all season. To their credit, after the Louisville game they did win 3 of their next 4 games. This included completing the season sweep of NC State, defeating Landers Nolley and Virginia Tech. However, in their game most recent game against Pitt, they had their fifth game of the season where they turned the ball over more than 20 times. Considering they did not trail Pitt by double digits until the final few minutes, if this number was cut by a fraction, the Jackets could have won. Turnovers have been their Achilles' heel all season long, and it doesn't seem to want to go away.

Michael Devoe played well against Louisville in the first meeting, who else compliments him in scoring this time around?

While Michael Devoe might be the leading scorer, point guard Jose Alvarado has been "the guy" for the Yellow Jackets as of late. It has been well documented how much Tech struggles when Jose is off the court as he is their floor general, but recently he has been on a bigger scoring binge than Devoe. In the five games since Tech played Louisville, Alvarado has three 20-point games. Most notably was his game against the Wolfpack. He was on the cusp of a triple double with steals, as he had 26 points, eight rebounds and nine steals.

Louisville coach Chris Mack said a big emphasis is limiting Georgia Tech's back court, what do the guards do right?

Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner has emphasized many times that it is a "guard's game" in college basketball, and he certainly subscribes to this notion. He likes to play a smaller lineup more often than not, usually consisting of Alvarado, Devoe and backup shooting guard Bubba Parham. While collectively Georgia Tech has not been a great shooting team, recently one of the three guards on the roster has had a good shooting night. That, and they do a really good job at penetrating the lane and getting to the rim. If they just made better decisions with their passes, it would be a top 3-5 backcourt in the ACC.

The teams played a close game the first time around, what does Georgia Tech need to do differently to win the second meeting?

They need to limit Jordan Nwora like they did in the last game and they need to deliver in clutch moments. While guarding Nwora, Jose Alvarado held him to just 3-11 shooting on the night. While Louisville undoubtedly has plenty of depth and talent, limiting Nwora is an important step 1. Also, Georgia Tech needs to deliver in the clutch at some point. Many times this season, the Jackets have come up empty in the last few minutes or possessions, including at Louisville when they were down one point with less than a minute. Georgia Tech has to deliver down the stretch.

Georgia Tech is game and a half out of sixth place, what is the team playing for in the final month of the regular season?

This is a team that believes that if they get a postseason bid, they can do some damage. Moses Wright said just yesterday that the team is still playing for a shot at the postseason, despite the NCAA cloud looming over them. Whether or not that means they will play in the NCAA Tournament or NIT remains to be seen, but the Jackets seem like they have a lot to prove if they are able to claw themselves out of the hole they have dug.