Yellow Jackets Impressive in 79-58 Win Over Wake Forest

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets played probably their best game of the season in tonight's win over Wake Forest. Wake Forest started strong, making 6 out of their first 7 shots, but it was all Georgia Tech after that. After taking a 6 point lead into the half, the Jackets dominated the first 10 minutes of the second half. Their built up a 19 lead, Wake came back a little and then Tech coasted to a 79-58 victory. Five Yellow Jackets were in double figures and Derrick Favors dominated under the basket with 5 blocks and 9 rebounds.

Wake Forest got into foul trouble and were just overmatched at the post positions by Favors, Lawal, and Peacock. L.D. Williams picked up his fourth foul with 17 minutes to play and the Deacs star Al-Farouq Aminu was called for his fourth just a few minutes later. Wake Forest really struggled shooting, hitting on only 33.3% of their shots. Tech, meanwhile, shot 52.7% including 6 out of 10 from 3 point range. D'Andre Bell led Tech with 16 points, but Lawal, Favors, Iman Shumpert, and Brian Oliver each reached 11 or more points. For Wake, Aminu led with 15 and Ishmael Smith with 12.

After the game was all but decided, Georgia Tech got a little sloppy with the basketball but Wake Forest was unable to convert the turnovers into points. Georgia Tech actually turned the ball over 16 times to only 11 for Wake. This is still the weak spot of this Yellow Jacket team. Tech outrebounded Wake 37-29 and really was dominant all-around. After the Deacon's little run to start the game, Favors really set the tone with several nice blocked shots in the first half. He looked more comfortable than I've seen him in ACC play this season.

Both teams sort of have the weekend off. Georgia Tech (15-5, 4-3 in ACC) hosts Kentucky State Saturday afternoon and then travels to Duke next Thursday. Wake Forest (14-5, 4-3) doesn't play again until a home game against Miami on Tuesday. These two teams meet again in just over 3 weeks at Wake Forest.