Georgia Tech and North Carolina are in similar spots this season as the two ACC foes get set to open conference play on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. at the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill.

The Jackets are currently 4-4 and coming off a loss on the road to Oklahoma in the SEC/ACC Challenge while the Tar Heels also sit at .500 with a 4-4 mark coming off a home loss Wednesday night to Alabama in the SEC/ACC Challenge.

Both teams are still trying to find their rhythm and the correct recipes on the court for success so Saturday's matchup will be an interesting one in that aspect with the winner getting a leg up early in ACC play by starting 1-0 before the meat of the league schedule gets going in a few weeks.

Georgia Tech second-year head coach Damon Stoudamire met with the media on Friday prior to his team's trip to the Tar Heel state to discuss where the Jackets are in the process of trying to find consistent success in 2024-25, the challenges UNC presents and how specific guys on his team are looking to find ways to impact the game and have a little more success than they have in the first eight games. (Note: Stoudamire also said that Tech would still be without starting guard Javian McCollum due to his concussion issues, and the team will also likely be without Kowacie Reeves Jr. who is still recovering from a lower leg injury.)

Here's a sampling of what Stoudamire had to say:

On UNC's guards and the challenge...

"It will be a good challenge. You know RJ Davis is obviously the reigning ACC Player of the Year. (Elliot) Cadeau has gotten better...improved from his freshman year. The freshman (Ian) Jackson coming off the bench is really good so they do pose challenges. I'm kind of excited about this game to be honest with you. Excited to go to UNC and see what we can do. I'm more concerned about us. When I say concerned, I'm more focusing on us and what we're doing because although against Oklahoma we didn't play the 40 minutes, there were a lot of things to be happy about. I feel like over course of the last couple weeks since that Cincy game, we have improved. We just have to keep improving right now, you know as we get through this month of December."

On if it's still that part of the season where it's more about Georgia Tech than opponents...

"No question. We just didn't get any favors with the league to play two years in a row Duke at home and then UNC at their spot this year. The thing about is, is you know that our trajectory is going in the right direction so that's why I'm excited about it to see if we can build on what we did against Oklahoma. We've got to put a 40-minute game together, and for me it was moreso actually offensively. Defensively, I thought we played really well. I said it on Wednesday, you've got to give Oklahoma's guards credit. They hit some really tough shot, but collectively and overall I thought we played a pretty good defensive game."

On managing Nait George, Lance Terry and Jaedan Mustaf's minutes with the injury issues of the other guards...

"Just managing the game. You know I don't micro-managing the game for 40 minutes. I felt like...it's been kind of in between for me so it's a give or take. But there is about a minute and a half when I probably should've called a timeout (against Oklahoma) to just manage the game a little bit better, just looking back and critiquing myself. But it's just managing the 40 minutes of trying to figure out when to get guys blows, and again...play hard on defense, we can rest on offense if we can do some different things. It gets tough, but to be honest with you there's no excuses over here. And I don't really think about what I don't have at the moment because I can't. So I'm just trying to focus on the practice time, it's not minimum but you can only do so much bumping, staying away from injury because the main thing is getting to the game. We've gotten a lot of film work. We've gotten a lot of individual work. And the attention to detail part has to improve a bit so that's one thing we've been concentrating on."

On Baye Ndongo staying out of foul trouble and taking advantage of UNC's lack of inside presence and experience...

"We need Baye to be more impactful. I would say this, when you look at his numbers, they're right about the same as they were last year. But I would say the impact isn't the same. We need him to be more impactful, and one of the biggest things that sticks out for me is he only has four blocked shots. You know a lot of things are going on and I know he wants to play better, but for me I'm looking at that four blocked shots in eight games. That's not the guy that we became accustomed to seeing, and I think he knows that. I look for him to have a big game on Saturday."

On Stoudamire going into his second go-around in the ACC and if it changes anything...

"It does change some things because I know what to expect. And so that's probably my optimism. The optimism that I have as we turn the page and go into this first ACC game. I know that this, although it's just one game and then we've got a couple more before we come back and play the next ACC game, this is building right now. This is building. Fortunately for us as I watch Carolina, they're trying to find themselves as well, and we're catching them at the same time as we're trying to find ourselves. It makes for an interesting dynamic as we play on Saturday. But I'm excited, and I know they are capable. The biggest thing for me is transition. Period. It starts and ends with transition defense against (UNC). That's going to determine this game."

On Doryan Onwuchekwa's development at this point of the season...

"I think (Doryan's) been good the first eight games. Defensively, I think he's really good. You know the common fan probably doesn't know the impact he had on defense, and I would say that sequence (against Oklahoma) stood out to everybody because he got blocked shots. But he's been in the right place, he's done a lot of good things, he's contested shots, he's been good rebounding the ball for us. And as a freshman, that's been huge for us. So he'll continue to improve, and we'll continue to push him. Then on the offensive end, he'll get there. But the biggest thing has been focusing on making lay-ups. I always tell guys the one thing about it is is the concentration level. I think that going from high school to college and then playing for someone like me, I think that's where he's going to get better, continuously get better because I don't think he's been challenged in that area enough. That's what gets me excited because he allows me to coach him."

On if George playing beside Terry instead of McCollum changes his game any...

"I don't know if it changes how he plays game. I mean it gives our team a different dynamic more than Nait. So I don't think Lance is the ball-handler that Javian is in certain instances, but I think that getting downhill, the aggressiveness, being a two-way player that he is, you can put him on the best perimeter and put Nait on another guy. So that's change from that dynamic, but I don't think Nait's game has changed. We've been working, but (Nait) has to figure some things out on the run as well. It's not easy. I've been saying with him and Baye, that sophomore jump is hard. We've just got to see continued improvement. That's all I'm looking for."

On Luke O'Brien looking for a breakout game or if he's pressing a little bit...

"I would like to see him get lost in the little things. For me, you know I can give you so many words of encouragement and do different things, but last game I think he took three shots. I think he might've been 2-for-3 or 3-for-3, but if you remember, he cut and got a lay-up, then he hit a 3. Like sometimes you've got to do the little things that will help that ball go through the hole. I've always told myself, I remember when I played, I used to tell myself when things weren't going well, there was somewhere along the line I've got to honor the process a little bit better because I've been cheating it because if I wasn't cheating it, then something good would happen for me. And that's how you get out of those so-called slumps. I don't think he's in a slump. I just think you've got to go play hard. You have to pay attention to detail. You've got to do some other little things. You've got to help and contribute to winning, and then the shots start to go in."

On how difficult it is to guard RJ Davis with his ability to shoot and get to the bucket...

"Well, the challenge moreso is how does he get his 20 points. Do we make him take 20-plus shots to get his 20 points or is he efficient? That's the challenge. We want to make him take a lot of shots because we know he's going to shoot it. He took 24 shots last game. So that's how I look at it. Playing against guys like Davis when I played and then myself as a scorer, it's the effectiveness of the points, so just to make him work hard. If he takes 20-plus shots to get his points, we'll be right there to win."