Georgia Tech faces another critical test at Pittsburgh on Tuesday

“It is big,” Stoudamire said Monday about what’s at stake Tuesday and beyond. “When I look and I try to break it down, and nobody can predict what’s gonna happen, obviously, right? But we probably have a schedule where if you look at our schedule, percentage-wise, record-wise, we have some opportunities now. We have some great opportunities.

“I’m looking forward to the next couple weeks. In my short time at Georgia Tech, I think these are probably the biggest two weeks that we’ve had so far. I’m excited about it, and the guys are excited about it. We start (Tuesday). We have a great opportunity ahead of us, and hopefully we can seize that moment.”

Stoudamire’s side remained in the north Saturday after a disappointing loss at Boston College, a loss in which Tech shot a tick over 32% and got hardly any scoring production out of Nait George and Duncan Powell (4-for-23 for 12 points). Tech also gave up nine 3-pointers to one of the conference’s poorest 3-point shooting teams.

The Jackets had to sit on that loss Saturday night and Sunday at their team hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts, before departing for Pittsburgh on Monday.

“Probably the biggest thing for me is you can’t allow yourself to get complacent. I thought we were complacent,” Stoudamire said. “We didn’t do nothing that got us to where we were over the last month. We reverted back to the team I thought we were in November and December. We weren’t sharing the ball. There was no ball movement. I thought defensively we weren’t as tough as we’ve been.

“We need to get back to being who we were, and that’s gonna be the biggest thing for the next four games because we’re capable. But it’s like I told them, nobody’s gonna roll over for us. We haven’t done enough to have anyone be intimidated by us. People have been on their heels against us lately because they’ve seen that we’re coming. Now you have to learn how to play with expectations.”

Tech will face a Pitt team that was 12-2 and 3-0 in the ACC on Jan. 4 after a win over Stanford. Since then, the Panthers have lost nine of 13 games and have suffered through two separate four-game losing streaks. The struggles have dropped coach Jeff Capel’s team into that four-way tie (along with Tech) for eighth place in the ACC standings.

Defending the backcourt duo of senior Ishmael Leggett and Jaland Lowe will be of utmost importance for the Jackets. Both players average 16.4 points per game and have combined to make 72 3-pointers.

Tech has won three times in seven previous trips to Pitt while the Panthers have won four consecutive in the overall series. Pitt coach Jeff Capel, whose team lost to Notre Dame on Saturday, was highly complimentary Monday of the play of George and Tech center Baye Ndongo.

“I’ve been impressed with how they can attack,” Capel added. “George is the guy that kind of stirs everything for them. He does a great job of getting guys involved. Their guards are very aggressive. They’re all physical, strong, can get downhill, they shoot the basketball well. I think they’ve played really well here recently.”

The Jackets will return to McCamish Pavilion at 4 p.m. Saturday to face N.C. State.