Picked to finish 14th in the conference before the season, the Yellow Jackets have split their first two ACC games, stunning North Carolina 75-63 a week ago, and getting trounced by Duke 110-57 on Wednesday.
Georgia Tech ranks fifth in the nation in blocked shots, averaging 6.6 per game. The Jackets have also limited opponents to 68.1 points per game (eighth in the ACC, 96th in the NCAA) and 39.9 percent shooting from the field (eighth in the ACC, 57th in the NCAA).
Junior center Ben Lammers is averaging nearly a double-double for Georgia Tech (14.2 ppg, 9.9 rpg, .569 FG%), and is fourth in the nation in blocked shots (3.4 blocks per game). Freshman guard Josh Okogie is second on the team in scoring at 14.0 ppg. He scored 26 in the win over North Carolina.
Notable:
--Rick Pitino is 7-1 all-time against Georgia Tech.
--Louisville and Georgia Tech were founding members of the Metro Conference in 1975, but the Yellow Jackets left for the ACC in 1978.
--First year Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner was 2-2 against Louisville during his time at Memphis.
--Donovan Mitchell leads the ACC and is 18th in the nation in steals (2.3 per game).
--Louisville has won at least 12 of its first 15 games for a seventh straight season.
--Louisville has a 33-16 record during the month of January over the last seven years, including a 17-7 record in the last four years.
--Georgia Tech has won every game this season (9-0) in which it shot a better percentage from the floor than their opponent.
--The Yellow Jackets are 8-0 when scoring 70 points and 8-1 when attempting more free-throws than their opponent.
--The winter weather in Atlanta forced UofL to fly out of Louisville early Saturday morning, and not Friday afternoon as originally planned. The game is expected to tip off at 2 p.m. as scheduled.
--Louisville's 158 victories over the last six years are the fifth-most wins in the nation in that stretch. The Cards are one of just three teams to win at least 30 games in three of the last five seasons (30-10 in 2011-12, 35-5 in ‘12-13, 31-6 in ‘13-14).
--In 1992, Louisville and Georgia Tech played the first basketball game ever inside the Georgia Dome. The largest crowd ever to witness a college game in the state of Georgia at the time (28,885) watched James Forrest hit a halfcourt shot at the buzzer to give Tech an 87-85 win.
--Louisville is the only winless team in the ACC.
--The No. 1 defense in the country according to Ken Pomeroy, Louisville ranks 18th in Division-I in scoring defense and seventh in field goal percentage defense.
--Louisville is one of just four schools which have won 20 or more games in each of the last 14 seasons (also Kansas, Duke and Gonzaga).
Ken Pomeroy Prediction: Louisville 70, Georgia Tech 58
