from alexander memorial coliseum in atlanta, it's acc college hoops. wake forest against the georgia tech yellow jackets. as we reach the end of january, it becomes clear that the acc race is wide open, and tonight we have two teams that plan to be atop the conference standings when the season ends. wake forest is led by their fiery head coach, dino gaudio. al-farouq aminu and ishmael smith. the demon deacons are 4-2 in acc play and looking to pick up an important road win versus a ranked opponent. the yellow jackets come in ranked 22nd in the nation and are almost unbeatable at home as they are 9-1. can they fight off the big men of wake forest and carry the

yellow jackets to another acc home win? it all begins right now as gary tech faces off against wake forest. we welcome you to the flats. alexander memorial coliseum, the thriller dome, the georgia tech yellow jackets hit the hardwood. tonight a big acc matchup as they entertain the wake forest demon deacons in a 2010 acc race that is up for grabs. maryland begins the new week with a half a game lead over virginia. duke is in third and you can uejdtq) rs(ortance of this gam, the first of two in the regular season between these two clubs. a very pleasant good evening, everybody. bob rathbun and larry conley with you. to say it's anybody's race,

lawrence, is an understatement. >> the conversation around the atlantic coast conference, we're almost to the mid-point of the conference season. i don't think anybody would have picked maryland and virginia to be on the top right now. >> how about our battle inside tonight. high school teammates just

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>> bob: welcome back to georgia tech, everybody. inside that jacket huddle, the food lion starters for the home team, georgia tech 9-1 in this building, they only lost to florida state. wake forest can match that size with aminu and chas mcfarland. williams an outstanding defender, c.j. harris and the point guard is smith. this should be an outstanding matchup between the deacs and the jackets. it's great to have you with us for what should be a heck of a game. opening tip to the jackets. >> let's see what wake forest is

going to do and they open up with a man-to-man. that's a good matchup, bob. >> bob: a lob to lawal. he bumps into aminu and gets trapped underneath. and bell nails a corner jump shot. first two tonight for d'andre bell and we're under way. here's smith coming off a terrific game against virginia in winston-salem saturday. and a hand check right out front on derrick favors. 33 seconds into the game favors picks up the foul as we check our ford keys to the game. >> larry: let's tell you exactly what the keys to this basketball game will be. handle the pressure and covet the ball for wake forest. don't turn it over. for georgia tech, they have got to compete with wake forest on the board. wake forest the best rebounding team in the atlantic coast conference. >> bob: al-farouq aminu steps to the corner and nails a three. boy, has he got a complete game

or whacht. inside, outside and can run the floor. jumper up and in. iman shumpert a big addition. he missed three weeks with a knee injury. >> larry: these two teams are not living up to the script that we wrote for them. they're two of the better defensive teams in the league and everybody is making baskets. >> bob: 4-3 georgia tech. wake comes in 14 wins and four defeats, one of two on the way to conference way. good isolation. and another reach-in. this one is on shumpert and we're getting a quick whistle at the start of this game. >> larry: yeah, we are. i t what, they're trying to clean things up a little to start this. aminu sets the screen and then posts up. a good pass inside.

and aminu tries to go across the lane and gets fouled. a nice screen and a nice set -- >> bob: aminu leaping to the hole. he's got five and the deacs lead it by one. d'andre bell and another whistle. this foul goes against chas mcfarland. every indication in this game so far is the referees will get this under control and not let it get too physical. we've got two clubs that love to bang underneath. they have both got bigs and they love to challenge. lawal gets it back and fouled as he tries to put up that shot. l.d. williams had him wrapped up. that point, no area for the timid. >> larry: nice defensive work by wake forest. mcfarland couldn't come up with

the basketball and lawal got it back. >> bob: he got pulled down on the arm that time on the foul by williams. gani lawal to the free-throw line. and the first one is good. that has to be a confidence boost. gani has struggled at the line recently. he's made just five of his last 14, and 14 of his last 28. that's a good sign for him. making back-to-back free throws. >> larry: tough matchup for bell out there. >> bob: high post to mcfarland. back to smith. the pull-up is short, mcfarland the offensive stick-back.

the seven-footer from illinois makes it 7-6 wake forest. >> larry: five of his last seven games he has double figure rebounds. >> bob: aminu the rebound here. 7-6 wake forest. the driving harris scoops it out to williams. daylight, he takes it to the hole and scores. >> larry: l.d. williams has been a guy who slashes to the basket. aminu with a nice pick-off. >> bob: and he goes in and gets it knocked out of his hands out of bounds. >> larry: you know, i visited with the wake forest staff about their players and they said l.d. williams really worked on his outside game during the summer. but coming out of high school and into college he was really a guy that was a slasher to the basket and put it on exhibition right there. >> bob: l.d. banks one in and wake forest shooting lights out to start this game. the deacons are up 11-6.

jumper, no look inside, lawal a traveling violation.ing to be >> larry: gani lawal was trying to move quickly. he got his feet kind of tangled up in there. it's hard to get over mcfarland. when you're trying to go against a seven-footer and the way mcfarland has been playing the last couple of weeks, he has really improved on both ends of the court and made it very difficult on big people that they're facing to go in and shoot over him. >> bob: zach peacock into the game for the yellow jackets. here's smith, no problems at all negotiating the atlanta traffic. >> larry: oh, my! he went through spaghetti junction there without any problem. >> bob: 13-6 wake forest. glen rice jr., number 41, in for the jackets. puts it on the deck. back up top with the shot clock

at 12 and shumpert. the pull-up over smith and out of bounds. here's that last drive by smith. >> larry: you want to go left, go right, go left, watch this, and then right back again. and it's a thing of beauty. like i said, when plays don't work, players have to make plays. he can make plays. >> bob: ish back out to mcfarland missing the three and a foul coming on the deacs and this goes against aminu. >> larry: bob, what a

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>> bob: thanks for joining us tonight for acc college hoops wherever you may be. let's get you up to date with what's happening with these teams. first the wake forest demon deacons won two straight of and 10 of their last 12, an overall 14-4 record. larry, tremendous bank of experience coming on the road this year. >> larry: yeah, that's amazing to me. league that is known for how difficult it is to win in the atlantic coast conference. it says a lot for them. of course paul hewitt, you see their record of 14-6, 3-3 in the acc. what's interesting to me is they have won against ranked teams but are 0-3 against unranked

teams within the conference. >> bob: ari stewart in for the deacs and smith back in as well after the time-out. touching that paint, losing the handle but recovered by aminu. shot clock at four. l.d. williams off the dribble. mcfarland -- smith with a foul. a foul on glen rice jr., it's his first. and that will be the third team good patience by wake forest. shoots over a wall this time. kept alive by stewart and l.d. williams follows it in. >> larry: williams with three

baskets already and each one of them a little bit different. >> bob: no good by udofia. aminu can't handle it and it's out of bounds. 55, tony woods, coming in. georgia tech will change up as well. brian oliver coming in, number 11. he is coming off a career night in tallahassee last weekend as he went for six three-pointers against the seminoles. >> larry: six out of 13, 20 points. he has played well off of the bench. >> bob: and the jackets trailing by seven put oliver in the game. we'll see ifhey call his number right away. >> larry: you know,w,w, of the things, bob, you and i have noticed about paul hewitt while he's been the coach at georgia tech, he has substituted a lot, rotating people in and out. he seems to have settled on an eight-man rotation. >> bob: inside favors, outside oliver. he'll drive it and score it.

so the deacons covered him up on the three-point line so he puts it on the deck. >> larry: you get that scouting report and the guy guarding oliver says all right, i've got to go out and guard him and he blows by you and lays one in. they didn't tell me about that. >> bob: stewart, and a foul inside. this whistle is going to go against wake forest. there's oliver. >> larry: that's a nice maneuver right there. he really read it between two defenders that time of georgia tech to get to that basket. this is the guy that was recruited to be a long-range shooter and developed more than just a long perimeter game. >> bob: that last foul was charged to peacock. perhaps you heard the boos in the background. wake forest will hold on to the basketball and aminu lays it out to ish smith. the turn-around by tony woods.

he's another georgian making a homecoming tonight. those guys set inside there and those guards find them. you mentioned the fact that ish smith is a senior. here's oliver outside, strips the cords from three. just having a senior point guard, a guy that has so much experience, because learning to feed the post at the college level is a required attribute. smith -- udofia on the01zç run peacock. he lays it home. >> larry: i've got to tell you, udofia made a really good pass to peacock that time. got it in the right position so he could get control and get the shot. the crowd getting into it now. >> bob: as georgia tech cuts it to two.

clark holds the basketball, he puts it on the deck and got away with it. then the shot rejected by favors. clark for three, in and out. udofia has seen his minutes fall, larry, from 41 in the conference opener against florida state to just 13 in the last game. >> larry: they have, but he's been a big contributor throughout the season. all four of those freshmen that georgia tech has getting a lot of playing time. >> bob: here's peacock on the block. stewart at 6'7", handles it. udofia face guarding smith to deny the basketball. woods a drop step and favors all >> larry: tony woods, one of those guys that just wants to bully it up to the glass. favors would have none of that.

>> bob: boy, that's a terrific play right there. >> larry: i'm surprised they didn't call that a jump ball as long as he held that ball. >> bob: derrick favors leads all acc freshmen in blocks and overall he is third best in the conference. tech going to a zone. here's smith on the draw and kick, clark for three. favors gets it out now to bell. good job inside by oliver to alive. smith puts it up and in. ish smith got a chance to turn on the jets and the deacons look great as they ran the floor. a blocking foul on brian oliver and a time-out at the thriller dome.