Georgia Tech basketball coach MaChelle Joseph knows her team’s matchup with No. 2 Notre Dame on Sunday is a towering challenge. But she does think the Yellow Jackets at least have more of a shot than in previous meetings with the Fighting Irish.
“I’ve always felt like going into these games, I had one bullet in my gun,” Joseph told the AJC. “If we didn’t hit the target, we were in trouble. At least now I feel like we have some options.”
The ACC is again loaded, but the Jackets face what will likely be their toughest test of the season Sunday at McCamish Pavilion against the defending national champions. Joseph is eager to see how the Jackets, who beat Boston College on the road in their ACC opener to improve to 11-3 (1-0 in the ACC), will fare, particularly with ballyhooed freshmen Elizabeth Balogun and Elizabeth Dixon in the lineup. The two McDonald’s All-Americans both tallied double-doubles against Boston College Thursday and are averaging a combined 25 points and 12 rebounds.
“It seems like every game, it’s like (the freshmen) are learning something new, and for their first-ever ACC game on the road, I thought they really stepped up and were obviously impact players in that game,” Joseph said.
Of Tech’s 10 players averaging eight minutes or more, six are freshmen and two are sophomores. Junior guards Francesca Pan and Chanin Scott are the only two exceptions. It’s a lineup that Joseph has deemed capable of getting into the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2014.
“One time at Boston College, I look out on the floor, four freshmen are out there,” Joseph said. “It’s one of those things where I’m sure there’s going to be highs and lows, but at the end of the day, I think this team will be playing its best basketball in February.”
Balogun, a guard, leads the team in scoring at 14.8 points per game. Dixon is the leading rebounder at 6.8 rebounds per game. Pan hasn’t had to bear the scoring burden as much.
“It’s fun to coach them, not because they’re talented, but because they’re so coachable,” Joseph said. “Liz Dixon, she’s a sponge. Anything you ask her to do, she immediately does it.”
Since joining the ACC prior to the 2013-14 academic year, Notre Dame (13-1, 1-0) has won all nine games against the Jackets, doing so by an average of 15 points and never by less than nine. It’s not a great surprise given that, in those five seasons, Notre Dame has been to three Final Fours and five consecutive Sweet 16’s (part of an overall nine-year run) and Tech has made the NCAA tournament once.
Further, Joseph said, the Irish are deeper and better than they were last season, which they finished at 35-3. All five of their starters, notably 2018 NCAA tournament most outstanding player and ACC athlete of the year (and Dancing with the Stars participant) Arike Ogunbowale, will be WNBA first-round picks, in her estimation.
“There’s no doubt about it,” Joseph said.
But, with a bit more scoring power on its side, Tech won’t back down.
“Anybody can beat anybody on any given night,” Joseph said. “That’s why we play the game. But I’m excited to see how our young players respond to this challenge.”
Tech is hoping for a sizable crowd for Sunday’s game, which will tip at 3 p.m. The first 500 fans will receive an Adidas t-shirt and the first 500 students will receive a box of Girl Scout cookies and can enter a raffle for a flat-screen TV.
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