Two struggling ACC teams will battle to get back into the win column when Stanford hosts Georgia Tech on Saturday.
Atlantic Coast Conference play hasn’t been kind to the Cardinal (14-9, 3-7 ACC), who find themselves marred in a five-game skid. After being dominated 80-50 by then-No. 6 Duke on Jan. 17, Stanford has come up short against Cal, Miami, Florida State and No. 20 Clemson.
In its recent loss to the Tigers, Stanford took a narrow 32-30 lead into halftime, but late-game hiccups and a handful of Clemson free throws led to a 66-64 defeat.
“Tough one for our team because of the result, but our effort was good,” Stanford head coach Kyle Smith said after the loss to Clemson. “It would’ve been nice if we had a whistle go our way, but that didn’t happen. But this was definitely a better effort than we had in our last game. We’ve just got to get out of (this losing streak) somehow.”
Back on Jan. 24, that same Clemson team kicked off a still-active four-game losing streak for the Yellow Jackets (11-12, 2-8), who end a two-game road trip through Northern California on Saturday.
Georgia Tech was outscored 43-29 in the first half against Cal its last time out. The Yellow Jackets rallied for 56 second-half points but were held off by the Golden Bears, 90-85. Georgia Tech shot 47.9% from the field but only 34.5% from 3-point range, compared to Cal hitting 12 of its 23 shots from beyond the arc (52.2%).
“We played well enough to stay in a game. We didn’t win the margins to win the game,” Georgia Tech head coach Damon Stoudamire said. “Give (Cal) credit, they shot well from three. We didn’t do a great job in the first half.”
Leading scorer Kowacie Reeves Jr. (15.1 points per game) was scoreless in just six minutes against the Golden Bears, playing through an unspecified injury. Akai Fleming scored 19 points off the bench for the Yellow Jackets in the loss, his first time leading the team in scoring since Nov. 29.
Ebuka Okorie continues to lead Stanford with 21.6 points and 3.2 assists per game.
Saturday’s game marks the second meeting between Georgia Tech and Stanford since the Cardinal joined the ACC. The Yellow Jackets won the first meeting last February in Atlanta, 60-52.
