Yale @ Georgia Tech preview

It has been a difficult season for Georgia Tech, marred by several upset losses during non-conference play, but the Yellow Jackets enter Saturday’s home contest against Yale off their biggest victory of 2017-18. Josh Okogie scored a season-high 30 points in Wednesday’s 64-54 home upset of No. 17 Miami, the fourth time in the past two seasons the Yellow Jackets have knocked off a ranked opponent at home in ACC play.

One of the biggest challenges for Georgia Tech through 14 games has been continuity, as the combination of suspensions and injuries left the Yellow Jackets with holes in their lineup and bench. “Our team should be judged post-Christmas because we’ve been injured. We’ve had guys out, we haven’t been able to practice with our full complement of players,” Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner told reporters after Wednesday’s victory. Okogie, who missed the first eight games with an NCAA suspension and an injured finger, hit 10-of-23 shots and added nine rebounds. Yale snapped a three-game losing streak on Dec. 30 with an 89-74 victory at Kennesaw State.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, ACC Network Extra

ABOUT YALE (7-8): Miye Oni leads three double-digit scorers with 17.2 points per game after finishing with 22 points, eight rebounds and seven assists against Kennesaw State. Paul Atkinson added a career-best 20 points in the victory. Yale, which lost earlier this season to Wisconsin (89-61) and TCU (92-66), is ranked in the top 15 nationally in assists per game (18.5).

ABOUT GEORGIA TECH (7-7): Okogie’s big night raised his scoring average to an even 20 points per outing. Center Ben Lammers finished with just eight points on 3-of-11 shooting against Miami and is 8-for-29 from the field in his past two games. The Yellow Jackets held Miami 20 points below its season average in scoring and is limiting opponents to 40.6 percent shooting from the field.

TIP-INS

1. Georgia Tech freshman G Jose Alvarado hit 5-of-9 shots against Miami to finish with 12 points, and is third on the team in scoring at 12.9 points.

2. Three of Georgia Tech’s next six games after Saturday are against ranked teams (Virginia, North Carolina, Clemson).

3. The Yellow Jackets finished with a season-high 13 steals Wednesday and scored 21 points off 18 forced turnovers.

PREDICTION: Georgia Tech 71, Yale 58