Preview: Georgia Tech WBB Basketball vs NC State
Georgia Tech is heading into a massive matchup against #15 NC State with momentum from a big win over Clemson last week. NC State is 16-5 overall and 6-4 in ACC play.
NC State has historically been one of the top women’s basketball programs in the country, earning 6 ACC regular season titles and 7 ACC Tournament titles. This season, they have not had any crazy upsets besides to Boston College, but they have lost to #5 UConn, Duke, FSU, and #22 UNC. The Wolfpack is coming off of a win against #7 Notre Dame, though, who sit at the top of the ACC. This is a very talented team that seems to have gone through possibly some low-energy points of the season. Georgia Tech has a chance if NC State comes through expecting an easy win and is more focused on their #13 matchup against Virginia Tech on Monday. Distraction and overconfidence is a huge factor that has proven to burn many favored teams in the past, and we can hope that this is the case to bolster the Yellow Jacket's chances.
Diamond Johnson is NC State's top scorer
NC State has had eight different top scorers this season, but #3 Diamond Johnson is their most consistent scorer, averaging 13.2 PPG and 3.8 APG. Born in Philly (Go Birds), she transferred to NC State in 2021 after a very successful season at Rutgers. The two big defensive players to watch (and sometimes the top scorers as well) are #5 Jada Boyd and #22 Saniya Rivers. Boyd is averaging 4.9 RPG, 9.6 PPG, and a shooting stat line of 48.7 FG% and 46.2 3PT%, and despite missing a few games due to injury, she has been the top scorer in 5 contests. Saniya Rivers is averaging 8.7 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 2.1 steals per game, and 1.0 blocks per game, the latter two being the highest on the team. Overall the team is averaging 74.2 PPG compared to Tech’s 61.5, so we will need to see the Yellow Jackets with significantly better shooting than their averages. If they can build upon the Clemson victory and the stellar performance there, this team has a chance to pull off a huge upset.
Tech is fresh off a huge victory after beating Clemson 85-74 in their second ACC win of the season and 4th time over 70 points this season. Their low scoring has been a huge detriment to their potential success this season as they stumbled through the first half of ACC play. They seem to be regaining their stride as their big scorer Cameron Swartz scored 24 points last week and freshman Tonie Morgan has been one of the main contributors all around in the last few weeks. Coming off of an ACC Rookie of the Week performance, she scored a double-double against Clemson with 13 points and 12 assists.
If the players can continue this momentum into their game against NC State, they have a real chance at recovering their 11-10 season and making a late-season push for the tournament. This would require them to be nearly perfect in the rest of their eight games, half of which are against currently ranked opponents. Thursday’s game is a huge test for the ladies, and while they were not able to use the momentum from the Syracuse win to beat #17 UNC, after their even greater performance against Clemson, they have a much better chance than anyone could have predicted just a couple weeks ago.
Cameron Swartz dropped 24 points against Clemson
In order to see a Georgia Tech win, we will need to see improved shooting percentages. The three-point shooting will need to be over 30%, a mark missed in most games and over our team average of 28.1%. Reaching 70 points will be crucial in this game unless our defense is on fire. The defense itself has to be aggressive. We saw how we could shut down Clemson and limit their scoring opportunities, turning them over into more shooting volume for ourselves. This brings up the third key to victory- winning the turnover and rebound games. These will come with the aggressive play, but having a clean game and not giving NC State any more possession time will make a huge difference especially if we continue to struggle with scoring.
This won’t be an easy game, but I do believe there is a high potential for a big upset. I saw the hunger in the players last week to get the win, and if they bring that same energy to this matchup, there is no stopping them
Score Prediction: GT 73 NC State 72
How To Watch Georgia Tech vs #15 NC State:
Who: Georgia Tech vs #15 NC State
When: 8:00 p.m., Thursday
Where: McCamish Pavilion
TV: ACC Network
Play-by-Play: Beth Mowins | Analyst: Christy Thomaskutty
RADIO: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets App
Play-by-Play: Richard Musterer
PROMOTIONS: National Girls and Women In Sports Day pregame fan day; rally towel giveaway
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