Georgia Tech Stumbles Against Pitt

Heading into today's game against Pitt, Georgia Tech appeared to have all the momentum in their favor. The Yellow Jackets had won 3 of their last 4, while the Panthers had done the exact opposite. The Ramblin' Wreck had also won 4 of their last 5 outings against Pitt.

All signs pointed to Tech possibly getting on track and trending ever so closer to "turning a corner", as head coach Josh Pastner has stated as of late. Instead, old habits came back in a nasty way.

Georgia Tech struggled to take care of the basketball all afternoon, and could not get over the hump down the stretch, resulting in a 73-64 loss. It hands Pitt head coach Jeff Capel his first win over the Yellow Jackets, with Pastner dropping to 2-2 against the Panthers.

Between offensive fouls, traveling, ill-advised passes and good Pitt defense, Georgia Tech turned the ball over 22 times. It was their 5th instance this season that Tech coughed it up 20 times or more. While the Yellow Jackets never let the Pitt advantage get to double digits until the closing minutes, they could not take the lead themselves down the stretch.

The scoring efforts boiled down to mainly a one-on-one shootout. Sophomore shooting guard Michael Devoe put up 22 points on 7-10 shooting, including going 3-5 from deep. However on the other side, Pitt's Justin Champagnie had an even more spectacular effort. The freshman swingman had a game high 30 points on 12-17 shooting, 3-4 on three point attempts, and 3-3 from the charity stripe.

Tech started the game on a quick 10-2 run, but early on it was apparent that ball handling could be an issue. They turned it over 4 times before the media timeout, and Pitt quickly seized momentum once Georgia Tech's offensive rhythm went by the wayside. The Panthers went on 29-11 run for the rest of the first half, with the Ramblin' Wreck at one point experiencing a five and a half minute scoring drought during that run.

While the Jackets shot and rebounded better in the latter half of play, Pitt's offense made some much needed adjustments. Both Trey McGowens and Justin Champagnie put up double digit scoring efforts in the second half, and turnovers continued to be an issue for the visiting team

Next up, Georgia Tech comes back home for a rematch against the Louisville Cardinals. Tip is set for Wednesday, February 12th at 8:00pm EST on the ACC Network.

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