Georgia Tech heads to Greenville, South Carolina, to play Clemson

ATLANTA -- Maybe a change of scenery will help Georgia Tech when it hits the road Saturday.

Instead of playing Clemson at Littlejohn Coliseum on campus, the game will be played at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina. That's where Clemson is playing while Littlejohn undergoes a $65 million renovation.

Littlejohn has been a place where Georgia Tech has been going to lose for years. Even Bobby Cremins' best teams had trouble winning there. Clemson has a 34-8 advantage in the series at the arena and hasn't lost a home game in the series since 2006.

Clemson has been a thorn in general for the Yellow Jackets. The Tigers hold a 66-60 lead in the series and have won 11 of the past 12 games. Georgia Tech snapped a 10-game losing streak to Clemson a year ago when the teams split a pair of games.

Clemson (14-10, 7-5 ACC) is an NCAA bubble team and has had its chances diminished by consecutive losses to Virginia Tech and Notre Dame.

"Clemson is my kind of team," Georgia Tech head coach Brian Gregory said. "They're disciplined, they're physical, and because of their upperclassmen, they play with great poise."

Clemson has senior starters in center Landry Nnoko (8.6 points, 5.7 rebounds) and guard Jordan Roper (9.9 points, 4.0 assists) and juniors in forward Jaron Blossomgame (17.3 points, 7.0 rebounds) and guard Avry Holmes (9.9 points, 2.5 rebounds).

Blossomgame is coming off a career-high 30-point night against Notre Dame and has scored at least 20 points in six of the past seven games. He needs 15 points to reach 1,000 for his career.

The physical nature of Clemson's team will be sure to tax the inside players from Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets use four post players in their rotation, with Nick Jacobs, Charles Mitchell, James White and Ben Lammers each taking different skills to the floor. Jacobs and Mitchell are more offensive-minded players, while White and Lammers are better at rebounding and blocking shots.

"It's a good luxury to have four guys to put in there that we feel confident in," Gregory said. "Keeping them fresh is a big thing because we ask them to do a lot. ... There's a physicality that also goes into the fatigue factor. You have to keep them fresh and keep them out of foul trouble."

Mitchell (10.9 points, 10.3 rebounds) had his 13th double-double in the Yellow Jackets' win over Wake Forest on Wednesday. He had 15 rebounds against the Demon Deacons and says he will continue to pound the boards like he did earlier in the season.

Senior guard Marcus Georges-Hunt, who scored a career-high 30 points Wednesday and is averaging 16.3 points per game, has moved up to 16th on the program's all-time scoring list. He is the 19th Georgia Tech player to have 1,000 points and 500 rebounds.

This story was originally published February 12, 2016 at 6:07 PM with the headline "Georgia Tech heads to Greenville, South Carolina, to play Clemson ."