Georgia Tech will try to pause its road slump when it visits Pitt for an Atlantic Coast Conference game on Tuesday night.
Both teams are in a four-way tie with Florida State and Virginia Tech for eighth place in the conference. The top nine teams will get a first-round bye in the ACC Tournament in Charlotte next month.
The Yellow Jackets (13-14, 7-9 ACC) are 1-8 away from home this season and are coming off a 69-54 road loss to Boston College in a game in which they were held to a season low in points and shot 32.1 percent from the field.
“We just didn’t play that well,” Georgia Tech coach Damon Stoudamire said. “We weren’t passing the ball. We weren’t sharing the ball; the ball wasn’t going side to side, and everyone was over-dribbling. Disappointing, but we have to get ready for Tuesday.”
Pitt (16-11, 7-9) had won two in a row before faltering on the road Saturday against Notre Dame, 76-72. The Fighting Irish led by 11 with 2:43 left and withstood a late charge by the Panthers.
“We couldn’t get stops,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel said, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “For them to score 46 points in the second half — we did not do a good job of valuing the basketball. Their pressure forced us into bad decisions.”
Cameron Corhen had a season-high 20 points in the loss to Notre Dame, but the Panthers have stumbled after a 12-2 start and currently are unlikely to reach the NCAA Tournament.
Pitt is 12-3 at home this season.
“We have to be more consistent in everything we do,” Capel said. “I thought we had a couple of really good days of practice and preparation. But we didn’t do the things we worked on in real time, and that’s where it counts.”
Pitt guards Jaland Lowe and Ishmael Leggett are tied for the team lead in scoring at 16.4 points a game.
Georgia Tech has been carried lately by Baye Ndongo, who has five double-doubles in his last six games and posted 17 points and 15 rebounds in the loss to Notre Dame.
The Yellow Jackets’ Lance Terry is averaging a team-high 14.6 points a game this season.
–Field Level Media
