Tech continues to struggle in 71-60 loss to Northwestern in Milwaukee

MILWAUKEE, WI—Georgia Tech fell for the third straight time with a 71-60 loss to Northwestern in the MKE Tip-off in the Milwaukee Bucks arena on Sunday afternoon. The Jackets fell to 4-6, and the loss marked the worst start to the season since 1981-82 when Bobby Cremins’ first Tech team started 4-7.

The Jackets fell behind from the jump and could not claw back into the game despite pulling within three in the first half. Tech opened both halves of the game with huge scoreless stretches combined to allow Northwestern to go on 18-0 runs total. Tech coach Damon Stoudamire said those bad starts to the halves which have been a problem this year really impacted the Jackets on Sunday.

“The game starts and ends with the first four minutes of each half, we were outscored 18-0. Just that in general, you put yourself in a hole, and in the first half we fought out of the hole, and in the second half we put ourselves right back in the hole. Right now we can’t seem to sustain,” Stoudamire said.

Star big man Baye Ndongo pulled a disappearance act again scoring just four points with five rebounds in 19 minutes with a negative 20 score on the +/- meter.

“Right now you are just trying to figure it out,” Stoudamire said of Ndongo’s poor performance. “He was at negative 20 and it is all the little things, fumbling the ball and things of that nature. In order to get better you have to own what you do as a coach or as a player and I talk to him just like the rest of the guys. You have to own what you do to get better and you can’t run from it. That is the biggest thing and it has to be back to the basics. When I talk about Baye it is attention to detail and that is a lack of focus on a consistent basis and he has to become more laser-focused on understanding the assignment each game.”

Guard Javian McCollum made a go of it despite spending two-plus weeks in concussion protocol after the Cincinnati game. He also struggled with just three points in 23 minutes and a -22 +/—mark.

“He didn’t make shots and do some things. He has been out for a minute,” Stoudamire said of McCollum. “To get him back on the floor we can get some continuity and some flow on the floor hopefully. We have to get more production on a consistent basis from him and Nait scoring the ball if they are going to have the ball in the hands the way they do.”

Point guard Naithan Geoge was 1-6 shooting with three points, seven rebounds and seven assists, but also had three turnovers to Stoudamire’s point.

The Jackets shot 39.3 percent from the field and only 29.2 from three.

Turnovers were the biggest difference in the game though, Tech had 16 turnovers including 10 in the first half. While those only turned into 11 points for Northwestern, the Jackets had just six points off turnovers off of six Wildcat turnovers.

“We had ten turnovers (in the first half) and a lot of them were unforced and then you look at the stat sheet it is a little jaded, it tells you that (Northwestern) had 19 fastbreak points to our zero, most people would tell you that if you didn’t watch the game, Northwestern really ran it down our throats, but in reality that was really live ball turnovers and our bad shots,” Stoudamire said. “That just bled. We are our own worst enemy at times and tonight that is what we did and the game got away from us for those two reasons, (going down) 18-0 in each half and that is pretty much the game.”

Senior guard Lance Terry had an inefficient night again with 17 points on 16 shot attempts including 2-7 from three with three first-half turnovers all unforced from him stepping out three times in that half on moves around the sideline with the ball.

The lone bright spot for the Jackets was transfer center Ryan Mutombo who played in his first game of the season logging 22 minutes with 10 points on 5-8 shooting and seven rebounds. He also blocked two shots.

“Ryan wasn’t going to sit over there all season and he has had a whole lot of things going on and he has been in and out,” Stoudamire said. “The one thing I will say about Ryan is he was ready to play. I’m proud of him for that and it wasn’t easy. He hadn’t played all year and he came in he just wasn’t in the game, but he played well. That is something he can build on and I look forward to him being out there more.”

Mutombo who has been away from the team at times this year following the passing of his dad and Basketball Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo before the season and he said the process to return to the court has been a tough one.

“It has been a long start to the season obviously with my father passing sort of right before the season started, that sort of shook me up a little bit. All things considered, it took me a while to get back into the swing of things, but I definitely went out there tonight and it was good to find my stride and I was proud of what I was able to do tonight, but as a team, there is a lot of work to be done,” Mutombo said.

Northwestern had four players in double digits led by Brooks Barnhizer’s 20 points but he was also inefficient early using 18 shots after missing his first eight shots and adding six free throws to get to 20. He logged a double-double with 10 rebounds and added three blocks and three steals.

“I stayed aggressive, if shots miss, I know I can come down on the other end and defend,” Barnhizer said.

Guards Jalen Leach and Nic Martinelli added 16 points each and Ty Berry had 11 for the Wildcats.

“Really good win for us today, I talk about all the time coming off final week, there were exams, papers and projects and they were mixing that with the basketball. I’m really proud of the way we prepared for this game. It was one of our best defensive games. They scored 10 points late in the game,” Northwestern coach Chris Collins said.

Northwestern shot 40 percent even for the game and was 9-22 from three (40.9 percent).

Despite a horrendous opening six minutes of the game with seven turnovers, the Jackets managed to pull within five at the half 31-26 behind eight points from Terry. Mutombo seeing his first action of the season played 10 minutes and was 1-2 shooting with five rebounds for the Jackets. Northwestern was 5-19 inside the arc shooting in the first half and both teams shot around 32 percent overall.

“This looks like three or four games ago and for me, that is a disappointing thing,” Stoudamire said. “You can’t have live ball turnovers and sometimes when you take bad shots that is like a live ball turnover.”

Tech did not score to open the game and the Jackets were 0-5 with three turnovers at the first media timeout as Northwestern opened up a 7-0 lead. Tech’s first bucket came with 13:42 left in the half on a Javian McCollum three to cut the Wildcats lead to 11-3. The Jackets trailed 16-5 at the second media timeout with 11:39 left after Ryan Mutombo scored his first basket of the season. Tech was more competitive in the next frame pushing it to 21-13 Northwestern at the third media timeout. Tech trailed 26-17 at the third media timeout after a Brooks Barnhizer three ended a four-minute scoreless stretch for the Wildcats. The Jackets pulled within three with two minutes to play but the Wildcats managed to hold the lead at 31-26 at the break.

The Jackets started the second half with an equally bad start missing two layups and a dunk allowing the Wildcats to go up 12, 38-26 before Stoudamire used his first timeout. Northwestern extended the lead to 47-30 at the second media timeout with 11:54 left. Tech used a 7-0 run capped by a Mustaf three to pull within 10, 47-37 with 10:45 left. The Wildcats responded with a 10-0 run to push their lead to 20, 57-37 with 7:38 left to play. Tech pulled within 11 late, but the Wildcats controlled the action after that 10-0 run.

Georgia Tech returns home for a game against UMBC at 7:30 pm in McCamish Pavilion. Northwestern faces DePaul in six days at home.