Georgia Tech men’s basketball gets No. 9 NCAA seed, opening with Loyola-Chicago

Georgia Tech is back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010 and for the 17th time in program history.

The Yellow Jackets (16-8 overall, 11-6 ACC) captured the automatic bid from the Atlantic Coast Conference after defeating Florida State, 80-75, Saturday night in the ACC Tournament championship game at the Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum.

The Jackets, who received a No. 9 seed, first face No. 8-seed Loyola of Chicago (24-4), which won the Missouri Valley Conference title Sunday afternoon with a 75-65 victory over Drake, on Friday, March 19, at 4 p.m. at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The winner of the Tech-Loyola game will meet the winner of No. 1 seed Illinois (23-6), the Big Ten champion, and No. 16 Drexel (12-7) the champion of the Colonial Athletic Association, in Sunday’s second round.

Game times, television networks and sites for the first and second round games will be announced later.

The Yellow Jackets (17-8 overall, 11-6 ACC) captured the fourth ACC title in program history and the first since 1993 after finishing fourth in the regular season. Tech enters the 2021 NCAA Tournament on an eight-game winning streak, not having lost since Feb. 12 at Clemson. Tech won its last six regular-season ACC games, then defeated Miami (70-66) and Florida State in the ACC Tournament, giving the Jackets their longest winning streak since the 1995-96 season.

Tech’s 11 ACC regular-season wins this season matched its 2019-20 total, and its 11-6 mark by percentage (61.1 pct.) is the fourth-best in team history. The 22 conference wins over the last two seasons are the most for the program over a two-year span. Five of the Jackets’ ACC wins came away from home, including road wins at Miami, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest during the current winning streak.

Tech is led by the ACC’s Player of the Year in Moses Wright, a senior from Raleigh, N.C., and a first-team all-conference choice who lead the Jackets in scoring (17.4 ppg) and rebounding (8.0 rpg). Jose Alvarado, a senior guard from Brooklyn, N.C., made the All-ACC second team and was named the conference Defensive Player of the Year after leading the league in steals for the second straight year and helping Tech lead the conference in turnovers forced. He also averaged 15.3 points and 4.2 steals per game.

Michael Devoe, a junior guard from Orlando, Fla., was the ACC Tournament MVP after scoring 33 points in Tech’s two wins. He has averaged 15.1 points per game and connected on 40.1 percent of his three-point tries.

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