Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner called the Yellow Jackets’ 96-76 win at Syracuse on Tuesday the best offensive game that his team has played in his seven seasons. The numbers strongly back up his assertion.
By the measure of KenPom’s efficiency rating, it was the Jackets’ most efficient offensive game against an ACC opponent since the site has been measuring games, which dates to the 2001-02 season. For all ACC teams, it was the seventh most efficient game in league play this season, particularly remarkable that the Jackets rank 13th in the league in offensive efficiency. Tech also owns the least efficient game in ACC play this season, its 86-43 home loss to Duke on Jan. 28. (Interestingly, the Syracuse efficiency score was almost twice the Duke score – 135.9 and 67.7.)
The Jackets have achieved a 100.0 efficiency rating (100 points per 100 possessions) in each of their past six ACC games, with the lowest a 105.9 in the loss at Wake Forest. The longest streak with Pastner in ACC play is seven games, set by the 2020-21 team of Jose Alvarado and Moses Wright. (The streak extended in the ACC Tournament to eight games.)
The 27 assists on the 35 field goals were the most in a Pastner-coached game against an ACC opponent and two shy of the high mark for all games.
The 18 3-pointers set a school record, as did the 40 3-point attempts. Only one team has ever made more 3-pointers in an ACC game (Boston College, in a loss to Syracuse in March 2020).
Forward Ja’von Franklin joined rare company in becoming the fifth player in Tech history – and second since 1989 – to record a triple-double. The other four need little introduction: Bruce Dalrymple (1986), Dennis Scott (1987), Kenny Anderson (1989) and Iman Shumpert (2011). Franklin is the lone post player in the group and also the only one to achieve it in a road game.
With a 14-point, 15-rebound, 10-assist triple-double, Franklin had an unusual collection. Rebounds are often the most difficult leg of the triple-double to attain, probably because the accomplishment normally is the domain of smaller players (Of the 26 Division I players to record a triple-double this season through Wednesday’s games, the 6-foot-7 Franklin was tied for sixth tallest.).
As pointed out in a tweet by Tech broadcast voice Andy Demetra, the last time a player from a power-conference school accomplished a triple-double with at least 15 rebounds was in the 2011-12 season.
Guard Miles Kelly attained a career high with 30 points, the second time in three games that he had set a career scoring high.
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