ATLANTA – Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team will open its Atlantic Coast Conference schedule against defending ACC champion Duke on Saturday, Dec. 2, at McCamish Pavilion, and the Yellow Jackets will open their first conference slate under new head coach Damon Stoudamire with five of their first eight ACC games at home.
The entire ACC schedule for all 15 teams was announced Tuesday evening live on the ACC Network.
Looking to return the Yellow Jackets to national prominence, first-year head coach Stoudamire brings the experience of 13 years as a successful NBA player, 10 years of coaching experience on the collegiate level and four years on the NBA level. He was named the West Coast Conference Coach of the Year in 2020, his final season as the head coach at Pacific University, and went from there to be an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics, who posted the best record in the NBA’s Eastern Conference the last two years.
The Jackets return four starters from a team that went 15-18, 6-12 in the ACC in 2022-23, while adding a five-player transfer class that has been ranked No. 17 in the nation by 247Sports and four talented freshmen.
Tech will open its ACC slate against the Blue Devils for the first time since the 2011-12 season, when the teams met at State Farm Arena. The Blue Devils are coming off a 27-9 campaign after advancing to the second round of the NCAA Championship. It is the only conference game the Jackets will play in the month of December, and it will air live on The CW Network at 2:15 p.m.
After the calendar turns to 2024, Tech opens the New Year with a trip to Florida State (Jan. 3, 7 p.m.) before coming back to McCamish Pavilion to face Boston College (Jan. 6, 2 or 4 p.m.) and Notre Dame (Jan. 9, 9 p.m.). Following a return engagement at Duke (Jan. 13, 5 p.m.) and a trip to Clemson (Jan. 16, 9 p.m.), the Yellow Jackets complete the early segment with home contests against ACC Tournament runner-up Virginia (Jan. 20, 6 p.m.) and NCAA Tournament participant Pittsburgh (Jan. 23, 7 p.m.).
Tech then finishes off the month of January by visiting Virginia Tech (Jan. 27, 5 p.m.) and hosting North Carolina (Jan. 30, 7 p.m.).
February begins with three of four games away from home, with trips to NC State (Feb. 3, 5:30 p.m.), Louisville (Feb. 10, 6:30 p.m.) and Notre Dame (Feb. 14, 7 p.m.) surrounding a Feb. 6 game against Wake Forest (Feb. 6, 7 p.m.) at McCamish Pavilion.
Back-to-back home games follow against Syracuse (Feb. 17, 5:30 p.m.), and Clemson (Feb. 21, 7 p.m.) before a Feb. 24 trip to Miami (4 p.m.). Florida State (March 2, noon) comes to McCamish Pavilion to open March before the Yellow Jackets finish the season at Wake Forest (March 5, 9 p.m.) and Virginia (March 9, 8 p.m.).
The 71st annual ACC Tournament will be played March 12-16 at Capitol One Arena in Washington, D.C.
Including non-conference games, Tech will appear nine times on ESPN networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU), 13 times on the ACC Network, and three times on The CW Network.
NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE NEARLY COMPLETE
Tech will open the 2023-24 season on Nov. 6 against Georgia Southern at McCamish Pavilion, tipping off a challenging 2023-24 non-conference schedule.
Tech’s game against the Eagles will be the seventh all-time against its in-state neighbor, with the Yellow Jackets winning four of the previous six meetings, and the first since the 2021-22 season. The Jackets also will host Howard (Nov. 9), UMass Lowell (Nov. 14) and Alabama A&M (Dec. 9).
Those games are part of a strong non-conference lineup for Georgia Tech, which also includes a road trip to Big 12 Conference member Cincinnati (Nov. 22), the ACC/SEC Challenge against Mississippi State at home (Nov. 28), the annual Tech-Georgia game in Athens (Dec. 5) and the Diamond Head Classic (Dec. 21-24) in which the Jackets will face Massachusetts in the opening round.
The non-conference slate includes four guaranteed games against teams that won 20 or more games in the 2022-23 season, including three that played in the post-season. Mississippi State (21-13) and Howard (22-13) all played in the NCAA Tournament last season, while Cincinnati (23-13), a new member of the Big 12, reached the quarterfinals of the NIT. UMass Lowell (26-8) finished second in the America East Conference.
The Yellow Jackets potentially could play two more 20-win teams in the Diamond Head Classic, with a possible game against Hawai’i (21-11) in the second round and TCU (22-13) in the final round.
Tech will prepare for the 2023-24 campaign with a home exhibition game against Clark Atlanta on Nov. 1, and is still working to add one non-conference game.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2023/9/1206238/georgia-techs-will-open-acc-at-home-vs-duke