Syracuse (17-13, 9-8 Atlantic Coast) and Georgia Tech (17-13, 8-9) will play for a first round bye in the ACC tournament when the two teams meet for the second time this season. Josh Pastner’s side defeated Syracuse, 71-65, two Sundays ago in Atlanta. The Orange gets another shot at the Yellow Jackets on Senior Day in the Carrier Dome at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Georgia Tech beat writer Ken Sugiura answered five questions for The Daily Orange to preview the matchup.

The Daily Orange: Jim Boeheim won’t acknowledge Syracuse’s standing on the bubble. What does Josh Pastner say when it comes to NCAA Tournament possibilities?

Ken Sugiura: Pastner is fairly open (and optimistic) about the Tournament and where Georgia Tech stands. From a standpoint of deserving to get in, he feels like the Yellow Jackets should be in (surprise) on the basis of winning eight games in the ACC, the point being that, in a conference this tough, any team that wins eight games should get in. I think he recognizes, though, that in reality, the Jackets still have a bit more work to do.

The D.O.: Last time these two teams played it was Ben Lammers and Tadric Jackson who did the most damage, but what should SU fans know about freshman Josh Okogie?

K.S.: Josh Okogie is likely to be on the ACC all-freshman team. Buzz Williams, the Virginia Tech coach, said recently that he thought he was the best freshman in the league outside of the one-and-done players like Dennis Smith and Harry Giles. His game is mostly attacking the basket and scoring in transition, and he’s a better rebounder as a guard than you’d think. He’s also fantastic at winning loose balls, which isn’t exactly something you hear much about but it’s something that Tech coaches value and keep track of. One huge part of Tech’s success this season has been its effort, and that kind of exemplifies it. Also interesting about Okogie – he was a three-star recruit coming out of the Atlanta suburbs and ESPN didn’t even include him among its list of top players in the state (which ran 19 deep, I believe) last year. For a couple of reasons, he was under the radar and the old Tech staff deserves credit for identifying him and jumping on him.

The D.O.: If you were on the selection committee, would you put this Georgia Tech team in the NCAA Tournament? How much does it depend on what happens on Saturday and in Brooklyn?

K.S.: It’s hard for me to say, because I don’t know nearly enough about who else is on the bubble to give an educated opinion. Just from a resume standpoint, they have some really, really good wins – North Carolina, Florida State, Notre Dame and VCU (and Syracuse) – but all but the VCU win have been at home, and I know the selection committee looks hard at road and neutral-court wins, and Tech only has one noteworthy road win (VCU). They hurt themselves by scheduling soft in the non-conference (expecting the team to be weak) and that should hurt them, too. Plus, 13 losses is a lot. For me, I’d want to see them win Saturday and win at least one game in Brooklyn, ideally two.

The D.O.: What was your biggest takeaway from the Yellow Jackets’ win over Pittsburgh on Tuesday night?

K.S.: One big takeaway was that Tech could have easily had Pitt’s season. Many (or at least some) of your readers, I’m going to guess, may not realize that Georgia Tech was picked to finish 14th in the league and some predicted that the Jackets would go 0-18. That might have been far-fetched, but with the roster Pastner inherited, I wouldn’t have been surprised if they had won two or three. Being in position to possibly earn an NCAA Tournament berth is truly astounding.

At any rate, Pitt was up at the half and then collapsed at the end – Georgia Tech made its last seven field-goal attempts. Pittsburgh has had a lot of games like that, losing late, and that’s really what I figured Georgia Tech’s season might be – good effort, but just not enough talent or depth to win many ACC games. Somehow, primarily really good defense, the Jackets have found a way. As far as takeaways pertaining to the Syracuse game, it was noteworthy to see center Ben Lammers play a better offensive game (20 points on 8-for-13 shooting). He’d been struggling a bit – he’s played a ton of minutes. Maybe he’s figuring out how to play fatigued.

The D.O.: Do you have a prediction for Saturday?

K.S.: I think it’s going to really tough for Georgia Tech to win Saturday. So much is in Syracuse’s favor — extra rest, Senior Day, payback for the first game, simply just being at home — on top of the Orange’s roster being better. It’s also worth noting that of the other three teams that the Jackets have played home-and-home — Clemson, N.C. State and Notre Dame — Tech won the first game and lost the second, and I imagine the added familiarity with what the Jackets do — they’re a little unconventional on both ends — probably helped their opponents. Georgia Tech is not a very good offensive team, and will have to be at the top of its game to have a shot, which means taking advantage of transition opportunities, making free throws, not turning the ball over. I think the Jackets have a shot, but I’d expect Syracuse to come away with this one.

Published on March 2, 2017 at 10:34 pm

Contact Matt: mcschnei@syr.edu | @matt_schneidman