Spread: ga tech by 9.5 (yikes!)

Tech did not get their ‘easy part of the ACC schedule’ off to a good start, losing at home to the team picked to finish last.  Saturday will mark the 2nd of 5 straight games against the other 5 teams picked to finish in the bottom half of the ACC.  And in case you didn’t know it, WE OWE THE OTHER tech.  Check this out…

• VT is 13-4 all time against georgia tech
• The Hokies are 9-3 in ACC games vs the jackets
• VT is 3-2 at gt in ACC play, though those games were at the old Thrillerdome (or dump is more like it), not the brand newly renovated Hank Mccamish Pavilion (same site but complete face lift)
• Oh, and in case you forgot, the Hokies are 7-2 in ACC play in football against the lesser tech (at least now we won’t have to hear that stupid ‘the winner of this game wins the Coastal’ stat anymore which was so dumb because we have so many more Coastal titles than them)

But I digress.

Now, I would normally say the Hokies have a favorable match-up because gt is the worst shooting team in the ACC – dead last in FG% and 3-Point%.  But we all know that hasn’t mattered for squat, especially behind the arc.  So I’m just going to keep my mouth shut (the jackets are 2nd to last in FT%, too — VT is now 1st).

The key stat to watch is turnover margin — VT was -12 against bc and that led to a 29-0 advantage in points off turnovers for bc (they had 9 steals to 0 for VT — live ball turnovers are much easier to turn into points).  gt is 3rd in the ACC with an almost +2 turnover margin, while VT is -1.4.  The Hokies must clean that up, and hope the jackets are their typical ice cold from the field.

Another interesting discrepancy between the teams is offensive vs defensive efficiency.  The jackets are 2nd in the ACC in PPG allowed and 20th in the nation in defensive efficiency (87.5 points per 100 possessions, compared to 103.9 for VT (253rd nationally)).  But gt scores just 96.8 points per 100 possessions, 215th in the land, as you’d expect from a poor shooting team that is just so-so on the offensive glass.  Can the Hokies find some ways to get easy buckets?  That will be key… but hasn’t happened much lately.  And Paul “Let’em by on defense” Hewitt isn’t there anymore.

Scoring nuggets:

• gt has no one in the top 25 in the ACC in scoring – 6’5″ freshman Marcus Georges-Hunt is their only scorer averaging double digits (10.9)
• Erick Green is still #1 in the nation at 24.6 ppg
• Momo Jones in now #3 in the land in PPG at 22.7