Georgia Tech is one of six ACC teams that have a home-and-home with NC State this season.

NC State topped Georgia Tech 78-66 on Jan. 17, with sophomore shooting guard Terquavion Smith scoring a game-high 25 points. Senior point guard Jarkel Joiner added 19 points and eight rebounds in the win.

Georgia Tech has been in a free-fall with eight-straight losses, including a 68-58 defeat at Louisville on Wednesday.

Georgia Tech (8-14 overall, 1-11 ACC) play at NC State at 1 p.m. Saturday on the ACC Network.

The most consistent aspect of Georgia Tech has been its inconsistency.

Seven different players have started at least 10 games this season. Sophomore wings Miles Kelly and Dallan “Deebo” Coleman have been the constants.

Former Georgia transfer Rodney Howard, a senior center, South Alabama power forward transfer Javon Franklin and USC point guard transfer Kyle Sturdivant was the most recent starting lineup.

Rankings

Georgia Tech is No. 228 in the NET rankings, and NC State is No. 38.

ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index (BPI) has the Yellow Jackets ranked No. 219 overall, and the Wolfpack are No. 41.

KenPom.com has Georgia Tech at No. 213, and NCSU checks in at No. 45.

RealtimeRPI.com has Georgia Tech ranked No. 218 in the country, and NC State is No. 36.

Shooting

Georgia Tech is averaging 67.2 points per game and are shooting 41.0 percent from the field, 30.9 percent on three-pointers and 68.6 percent at the free-throw line.

Kelly leads GT at 35.5 percent from three-point land, and he’s 49-of-138 this season. Coleman is second with 35 three-point field goals made.

Rebounding

GT is averaging 35.5 rebounds per game and have 244 offensive rebounds. The rebounding margin is a minus-2.0.

Backup point guard Deivon Smith leads the team with 5.7 rebounds, and Franklin is second at 5.6. Franklin has a team-high 53 offensive rebounds.

Defense

The Yellow Jackets are allowing 71.1 points per game, with opposing teams shooting 44.2 percent from the field and 30.8 percent on three-pointers.

Franklin leads the squad with 30 blocks and 24 steals. Sophomore power forward Jalon Moore has added 23 blocks.

Depth

Georgia Tech played Louisville without Deivon Smith (ankle) and guard Lance Terry (hamstring).

Moore, a former starter, is averaging 8.8 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 23.4 minutes per game. Junior Tristan Maxwell can get streaky hot and had 10 points against Duke on Jan. 28, and 18 points and five three-pointers in the win over Alabama State on Dec. 17.

Freshman Freds Pauls Bagatskis of Latvia, who is 6-8 and 180 pounds, played seven minutes off the bench against Louisville.

Georgia Tech sophomore guard Miles Kelly leads the Yellow Jackets in scoring, but has struggled in four of the last six games.

Kelly was bottled up against NC State in the first matchup, which was parf of that stretch. He went 4-of-13 from the field and 0-of-6 on three-pointers en route to nine points in the loss.

The 6-foot-6, 175-pounder bounced back from his recent struggles with 16 points against Louisville, but he also needed 16 shots to do it.

Kelly averaged 4.5 points per game year, but has improved to 13.1 points and 3.1 rebounds a contest. He is shooting 38.6 percent from the field and 35.5 percent on three-pointers. Kelly also had a season-high 21 points and four three-pointers in the 81-65 loss at Iowa on Nov. 29.

Rivals.com ranked the late-blooming Kelly at No. 96 overall in the class of 2021. He went to Parkview High in Lilburn, Ga., and finished at Chatham (Va.) Hargrave Military Academy, which is where NC State coach Kevin Keatts had coached at.

Kelly picked Georgia Tech over offers from NC State, Miami (Fla.), Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri, Texas A&M, VCU and Wake Forest, among others.

NC State

PG — 1 Jarkel Joiner (6-1, 180, R-Sr., 16.7 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 3.3 apg, 1.2 spg)

SG — 0 Terquavion Smith (6-4, 165, Soph., 19.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 4.3 apg, 1.7 spg)

G — 14 Casey Morsell (6-3, 200, R-Jr., 12.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 1.0 apg, 1.1 spg)

PF — 23 Greg Gantt (6-8, 215, R-Jr., 1.8 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 0.4 apg)

C — 30 D.J. Burns (6-9, 275, R-Jr., 11.6 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.6 apg)

Georgia Tech

PG — 1 Kyle Sturdivant (6-3, 196, Sr., 6.8 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 2.8 apg)

SG — 13 Miles Kelly (6-6, 175, Soph., 13.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.3 apg)

G — 3 Dallan Coleman (6-6, 218, Soph., 9.4 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.0 apg)

PF — 4 Javon Franklin (6-7, 214, Sr., 7.3 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 1.4 apg, 1.1 spg, 1.4 bpg)

C — 24 Rodney Howard (6-11, 256, Sr., 5.0 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.3 apg)

30.8 Percentage opposing teams have shot on three-pointers against Georgia Tech this season, which is No. 2 in the ACC and No. 50 nationally.

35.7 Georgia Tech’s shooting percentage over the last six games, including going 29.5 percent in the loss against Louisville, a season-low.

70 Georgia Tech is 6-1 this season when scoring at least 70 points.

Senior power forward Javon Franklin has moved into the starting lineup again.

Franklin played in junior college at Goodman (Miss.) Holmes C.C., then two years at Auburn, before blossoming at South Alabama last year. He averaged 12.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game for the Jaguars. He had 28 points and seven rebounds in a 83-79 win over South Carolina-Upstate on March 21, 2022.

The 6-7, 214-pounder from Little Rock, Ark., broken a bone in his leg during his second year at Holmes C.C., and he redshirted.

Franklin started the season strong with 17 points and 14 rebounds in a loss vs. Marquette on Nov. 23. He also had 12 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks in a 73-72 overtime loss at Notre Dame on Jan. 10.

Franklin had eight points, 12 rebounds, three blocks and four steals in the loss at Louisville on Wednesday.

NC State redshirt junior Greg Gantt will split time with sophomore Ernest Ross, though redshirt junior Jack Clark is inching toward his return. Gantt is averaging 1.8 points and 4.9 rebounds a contest.

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