Georgia Tech vs. Illinois: Yellow Jackets come up short late

In what's becoming a pattern for the Georgia Tech basketball team, the Yellow Jackets came out strong against Illinois on Wednesday night and were behind the No. 22 team in the country by only one point at half-time.

However, in the second half, the Illini's talent advantage took over, as they outscored Tech 39-27 to win comfortably.

After the game, Yellow Jacket head coach Brian Gregory talked about his team's late-game troubles (courtesy of ESPN.com):

"Unfortunately for 33 minutes, that was a heck of a game," Gregory said. "We didn't play very well at the end. Very similar to our other loss against Cal. We're just not quite tough enough at the end."

It's no real surprise that Gregory chose to emphasize toughness in his post-game comments. Toughness can be worked on in practice and be instilled in a team.

Talent, on the other hand?

Georgia Tech just isn't as talented as Illinois, and if they aren't as talented as the Illini, they almost certainly aren't as talented as Duke, UNC, NC State and the rest of the schools atop the ACC.