Georgia Tech (8-8, 1-2) will look to go on a conference winning streak when they host the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (7-11, 0-3) tonight.
The Jackets are coming off of their best performance of the year this past Sunday, beating North Carolina 78-58. Iman Shumpert and Glen Rice, Jr. both tied career highs with 30 and 24 points respectively. The Tech defense excelled as well, holding the Tar Heels to 27.6% shooting, its worst percentage since 1955.
There is no understating how big of a breakout win this was for the Jackets. North Carolina isn't its usual self this year, but still should be a tournament team. Tech controlled the tempo, did what it wanted to, and most importantly, looked like they were having fun for the first time in a long while.
Wake has lost 7 of its last 8 games, with the only win coming against the High Point Panthers. They are coming off of a 94-65 loss at Virginia Tech. Their season losses include Stetson, Winthrop, Xavier, Presbeterian, and all three conference games so far. The only common opponent between Tech and Wake is Richmond. Tech beat the Spiders on a neutral floor 67-54, while Wake lost 90-74 on the road.
The Deacons are led in scoring by two true freshmen, J.T. Terrell and Travis McKie, who are both averaging 13.3 points per game.
Head coach Jeff Bzdelik is in his first year at Wake Forest. He previously coached at Colorado for three years and was head coach for the Denver Nuggets from 2002-04.
Wake Forest leads the all-time series 36-33, with Tech holding home court advantage by a 23-9 margin. The team teams have split the season series in six of the past seven years. They split the two decisions last year, with Tech winning 79-58 at home and Wake winning 75-64 in North Carolina.
From Odds Shark, Tech is a 13½ to 14 point favorite to win tonight.
Tip-off is at 7 p.m. tonight. The game can be seen on ESPNU and heard on 790 the Zone or 106.7 FM.