For the first time in 28 years and the fourth time overall, Georgia Tech men’s basketball is the Atlantic Coast Conference champion! Tournament MVP Michael Devoe paced four Yellow Jackets in double-figures with 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting to lead fourth-seeded Tech to a 80-75 victory over No. 2-seeded and No. 13-ranked Florida State in the 2021 ACC Championship Game on Saturday night at Greensboro Coliseum.
With the win, Georgia Tech (17-8) earns the conference’s automatic bid to the 2021 NCAA Tournament, its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2010. Tech’s 2021 ACC championship is its first since 1993. The Jackets also won ACC titles in 1985 and 1990.
After leading 31-30 at halftime, the Yellow Jackets trailed by nine points at 44-35 with less than 14 minutes to go in the ballgame. However, sparked by a driving layup and a 3-pointer by Jordan Usher and capped by a steal and layup by Jose Alvarado, Georgia Tech went on a 13-2 run to retake a 48-46 lead. While Florida State was able to pull even three times, the Yellow Jackets never trailed again.
Key plays for the Jackets down the stretch included a thunderous dunk by Usher that stretched the Jackets’ lead to 66-60 shortly after FSU had pulled within four with less than three minutes to go, and a steal by Alvarado and pass ahead to Devoe for a layup in the waning seconds that sealed the victory. Tech also made 12-of-13 free throws over the final two minutes of the contest.
Despite four scorers in double-figures – Devoe, Usher (15), Moses Wright (15) and Alvarado (13) – it was Georgia Tech’s defense that was the key to its fifth win of the season over a nationally ranked team (against just three losses). Tech forced Florida State into a season-high 25 turnovers, triggered by an ACC Tournament championship game record 15 steals, and scored a whopping 31 points off the Seminoles’ miscues. Alvarado, the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, led all players with five steals.
Devoe became the fourth Tech player to win the Everett Case Award as tournament MVP, joining Mark Price (1985), Brian Oliver (1990) and James Forrest (1993).
Alvarado joined Devoe as a member of the all-ACC Tournament first team. Usher earned second-team honors. Devoe was named tournament MVP on the strength of scoring 33 points on 13-of-22 shooting (.591) in the Jackets’ two wins in Greensboro.
Georgia Tech rides an eight-game winning streak, its longest since 1996, into next week’s NCAA Tournament. The Yellow Jackets will learn their tournament draw on Sunday evening, when the full 68-team bracket is unveiled at 6 p.m. on CBS.