GREENSBORO, N.C. -- No. 13-seed Georgia Tech had to work to earn a 61-60 win over No. 12 Florida State in the first round of the ACC Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum Tuesday.
Yellow Jackets coach Josh Pastner will make sure No. 5 Pitt has to do the same if the Panthers want to win Wednesday.
Georgia Tech was down 55-50 with 2:04 to play after Florida State's Caleb Mills sunk a 3-pointer, and capped an 11-5 run to close the game as Ja'von Franklin was fouled while going up for a second-chance dunk with the game tied at 60 with 0.3 seconds remaining. Franklin sunk the first free throw, missed the second, and Florida State's Cameron Corhen's last-second heave did not leave his hand before time expired but would have missed by a mile anyway.
Georgia Tech fought from a deficit at large as 11 in the second half to earn a third matchup this season with Pitt, at 2:30 Wednesday on the same floor in the second round of the ACC Tournament. The Panthers swept the Yellow Jackets in the two meetings -- a 71-60 win in Atlanta Jan. 14, and a 76-68 win at the Petersen Events Center Feb. 21.
This third go-round, Pastner preached he is going to make ACC Coach of the Year Jeff Capel and Pitt earn that third win in three tries.
"If we're going to want to beat Pittsburgh, we're going to have to be really good again, and we're going to have to try to hopefully make them have to -- if they're going to beat us, they're going to have to earn it like they did last time," Pastner said after Tuesday's game. "They're a good basketball club, and obviously coach Capel has done an incredible job. Congratulations to him for Coach of the Year. He's done a heck of a job, and they've got a really good team."
The Panthers got an uplifting 21-point performance from ACC Sixth Man of the Year Nike Sibande to rally from a slow start in the first half in the first meeting at Georgia Tech. It was that game in which Capel nearly inserted Sibande into the lineup to begin the second half in place of a struggling Greg Elliott, but Sibande lobbied to keep Elliott in with the normal rotation of starters.
"I just want to win at the end of the day," Sibande said after that game. "It's not about starting, not about none of that. It's about winning, so at the end of the day that's what it's all about. I've been in my role, I'm just accepting my role, and I'm trying to do the best I can in my role."
Elliott, who has struggled in his last two games entering Wednesday, had posted just four points on a 1-for-7 effort from the field entering that January game at Georgia Tech. Capel said Monday, however, to not expect a change in Pitt's starting rotation to favor Sibande.
That first matchup also saw a relative shutdown of the Panthers' inside game, as Federiko Federiko did not attempt a field goal until there were less than two minutes remaining in the first half. Pitt held a 38-34 lead at the break.
Pitt won that first matchup without recording an assist and with making just 1 of 8 3-pointers in the second half, but was able to break through for 30 points in the paint despite getting out-rebounded on the offensive end, 14-6.
"I would tell you that I thought we played really well against Pitt the first time," Pastner said. "Sometimes when you play a game and you think, 'man, we blew the game or we should have won the game,' Pittsburgh earned that win when they beat us. They played at a high level. If we didn't -- I thought we played really well, and they just made big shots. They were really good. That's why they're a really good team. They earned that win. They made big plays."
Much like in that first game, Georgia Tech played Pitt to a close deficit in the first half -- a 33-32 Panthers lead -- but Pitt sunk 19 of 20 free throws and found its offensive rhythm in the second half to pull away for an eight-point win in the second meeting. Pitt made 13 of 24 from the field and 5 of 13 3-pointers in that second half.
The second win over Georgia Tech gave Capel his first 20-win season as Pitt's head coach. That came after the Panthers were dismantled at Virginia Tech the Saturday prior.
"It's huge, it's huge," Capel said after the second win over Georgia Tech. "Look, I don't take -- we don't take winning for granted. It's hard. It's hard. It's hard in this league. This league is better than the reputation that it has right now, and it's hard this time of month because February's the grind, and everyone's banged up, everyone's hurt, can't really practice as much right now. The games are coming at a quicker pace. To be able to get off the mat after losing at Virginia Tech, we haven't had that feeling in a while, and then to do it in this manner, I think, is good for us."
Pitt lost its last two games to close the regular season, which cost it the double bye into the quarterfinal round. The Yellow Jackets have now won four in a row dating to Feb. 25, which included a 73-65 win at Boston College to close the regular season.
The Yellow Jackets have won six of their last seven games dating to their 77-70 win over Virginia Tech Feb. 15. Their loss over that stretch was at Pitt.
"I think we've just got to play our game, just play Georgia Tech basketball," Yellow Jackets guard Miles Kelly said, "and as long as we do that, I think we'll come out with the win (Wednesday). We've got to stay focused, keep the same mindset. This was a great game today but we've got a game tomorrow, and we've got to get ready for that so we can get the win."
