Georgia Tech star Georgia Wright, ACC player of the year, will miss the Yellow Jackets’ first round game against Loyola Chicago at the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, sources told ESPN late on Wednesday.
Wright is also likely to be eliminated if Tech defeats Loyola Chicago and moves on to face the Illinois-Drexel winner, the sources said.
A great 1.80 m senior man, Wright was playing as well as anyone in the country in the final weeks of the regular season. He had 26 points and 10 rebounds against Virginia Tech, followed by 31 points and 16 rebounds against Syracuse, so he went for 29 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and three blocks in the victory over Duke.
Wright has an average of 17.4 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.6 blocks per game.
Coach Josh Pastner will likely have to play with a smaller team for longer periods on Friday against Cameron Krutwig and Loyola Chicago, as Georgia Tech rarely took Wright off the ground for more than a few minutes per game. Wait for Rodney Howard, a six-foot-year sophomore, to see an expanded role; he played double-digit minutes just five times this season, but saw 18 minutes in an ACC tournament win over Miami.
The Yellow Jackets, winners of the ACC tournament, have won eight consecutive games by entering the NCAA tournament.
The news about Wright’s availability was first reported by Stadium.