Georgia Tech picking up steam ahead of trip to slumping Syracuse

Georgia Tech and Syracuse are trending in opposite directions heading into Tuesday's matchup on the Orange's home court.

The Yellow Jackets (8-7, 2-2 ACC) have won three games in a row, including double-digit victories over Notre Dame (86-75) and Boston College (85-64). Lance Terry and Javian McCollum each scored 20 points in the win over the Eagles, as Georgia Tech shot 58.5 percent from the field and 8 of 17 from 3-point range.

Naithan George chipped in 10 points and 10 assists, raising his season average to 6.3 assists per game, which ranks in the top 15 nationally.

"It feels good," George said. "The spacing has been really good and I say that's making it easy to get as many assists as I have been getting."

While the Yellow Jackets' offense has been in a groove, the Orange (6-8, 0-3) have dealt with some inconsistencies on that end as the team has dropped four of its last five games.

Defense has been an issue as well -- in fact, that was the bigger problem in Syracuse's 90-74 defeat at Florida State on Saturday.

"I think we just have a lot of mental mistakes down the stretch that really kills us, and it just keeps compounding, and then teams are just capitalizing off that," said Orange guard J.J. Starling, who returned after missing the previous seven games with a broken hand.

Chris Bell led Syracuse with 18 points, while Donnie Freeman pitched in with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Starling, the team's leading scorer at 18.7 points per game, shot 5 of 16 for 12 points in his return to action.

"Having J.J. back, that was probably the best news we had," Syracuse coach Adrian Autry said. "And, again, not playing for a couple of weeks, I thought he gave us an injection, energy, getting to the basket, creating for others. And so, we just got to keep building on that."

Georgia Tech has defeated Syracuse in each of the last two seasons, including a 65-60 victory last year.

--Field Level Media