Georgia Tech Baskeball: Jackets Look to Finish Season Strong

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, under new head coach Brian Gregory, have had a tough season so far.  

In what can be considered a rebuilding year, the Jackets are 9-14 overall and 2-7 in ACC play with seven games left on the regular season slate.

Gregory's old team, the Dayton Flyers, are sitting at 14-9 in the tough Atlantic-10 Conference.  The A-10 is not the ACC, but a new coach always wants to outperform his old program to help legitimize his hire.  

Additionally, the coach that Gregory replaced, new George Mason head man Paul Hewitt, has his team at 15-5 and 7-1 in the competitive CAA.  

The Jackets under Brian Gregory have not been totally without bright moments.  Georgia Tech beat UGA in Athens for the first time since 1976, and a rivalry win can go a long way for a new head coach at any level.  Gregory's Yellow Jackets also played well against Duke earlier this season at Philips Arena, coming up just short.

They play N.C. State at Philips on Thursday night (Feb. 9), and a win would be a sweep of the Wolfpack for the season.  Tech hasn't won back-to-back games since mid-December when they won three in a row.

With only two conference wins for the season, coming weeks apart, consecutive conference victories would a first as well.  

Notes:

Coach Brian Gregory was hired by Georgia Tech from Dayton to replace Paul Hewitt after the 2010-11 season.  Hewitt was hired soon after by George Mason.