By Derek DeBurger
Once again looking to bounce back and get some momentum going, Louisville will host the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in a matchup of bottom feeders.
Tech and Louisville are 13th and 14th respectively in the conference standings and are two of the three teams in the ACC with losing season records. Both teams have terrible losses, but Tech has two highly impressive wins under then-No. 7 Duke and then-No. 3 North Carolina.
First-year head coach Damon Stoudamire has shown he can get his players up and win big games, but will they look at the Cards as a big game?
Louisville will likely have a clear advantage in Saturday’s matchup for the first time since Dec., coming into the game with better talent and the comfort of home. Louisville has only won one game away from the KFC Yum! Center under head coach Kenny Payne; five of the last eight regular-season games for the Cards are in Louisville.
The Yellow Jackets are one of the tallest teams in the country—the 25th tallest team according to KenPom—which helps them rebound, block shots, and defend three-point attempts well. Guard Nathan George is another bright spot for Tech, facilitating the offense at a level well above his age. George is the first GT freshman to have 100 assists in a season since Iman Shumpert did back in the ’08-’09 season, and there’s still a month to go.
Unfortunately for Georgia Tech, that’s where the compliments run dry. The Yellow Jackets have a mediocre defense and the second-worst defense in the ACC, only ahead of Louisville. This is all but guaranteed to be a high-scoring shootout, and again—unfortunately for Tech— those are the exact types of games that Louisville has thrived in under coach Payne.
While this should be a very winnable game for the Cards, Tech is coming off of a 29-point blowout-loss to Wake Forest and will likely be amped to prove that result a fluke.
That being said, I’m still expecting a win from the Cards for the first time in a long time.
