GREENSBORO, N.C. — On a day when Georgia Tech was not showing its best form, the Yellow Jackets found an unusual path to victory.
The No. 4-seed Jackets overcame foul trouble for ACC player of the year Moses Wright, a scary knee-to-knee collision involving ACC Defensive Player of the Year Jose Alvarado and a generally disconnected first half to beat No. 13-seed Miami 70-66 in a quarterfinal at the Greensboro Coliseum on Thursday afternoon.
Down seven points early in the second half, Tech benefited from getting production from forward Jordan Usher and backup center Rodney Howard and perhaps the fatigued legs of the Hurricanes to earn the first ACC tournament win of coach Josh Pastner’s tenure.
Howard, whose playing time has grown over the course of the season, played a season-high 18 minutes with two points, three rebounds and one steal, as Wright was limited to 25 minutes because of foul trouble and perhaps not playing at his usual standards. Wright fouled out with 2:30 remaining.
Tech hung on at the end, as a 66-58 lead with 3:21 to go shrank to 68-66 with 31.9 seconds left as the Jackets turned the ball over five times in the final 2:28 to give the Hurricanes life.
It was a near turnover that saved the Jackets, as Alvarado tracked down an inbounds pass from Michael Devoe that was on the verge of going out of bounds and passed to Bubba Parham, leading to a dunk by Jordan Usher for a 70-66 lead with 16.5 seconds left.
The Jackets got a huge scare when Alvarado appeared to bump knees while defending Miami guard Isaiah Wong in the first half. Alvarado crumpled to the floor, clutching his knee, and was carried off the court. He did not return for the remainder of the half, but was among the last players out of the locker room to start the second half. After testing his lateral movement, he took his place with the team taking shots ahead of the start of the second half. He played all 20 minutes of the second half.
Tech (16-8) won its seventh consecutive game. The last time the Jackets won this many consecutive games against ACC competition was 1996, when that team won nine in a row.
Since the ACC expanded to 15 teams before the 2013-14 season, only two teams had managed to reach the quarterfinals by winning in the first and second rounds. The first No. 13 seed to reach an ACC quarterfinal, Miami (10-17) fell short in its bid to become the first team in the league’s 15-team era to reach the semifinals by winning three games in a row.
On Friday night, the Jackets can settle a score with No. 1-seed Virginia and give their NCAA Tournament seeding a boost Saturday. The Cavaliers swept Tech this season, both in games the Jackets led in the second half, and have won eight in a row in the series. With Tech’s win over Duke in the regular season, Virginia is the lone ACC team that Tech hasn’t beaten in Pastner’s tenure.
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