ATLANTA- Georgia Tech snapped a four-game skid with a 65-60 win over Syracuse at McCamish Pavilion on Saturday night. The Jackets had lost three close games out of the four prior losses and finally caught a break getting the Orange into foul trouble in the first half and hitting some key free throws down the stretch.
Tech improved to 11-15 on the season while Syracuse fell to 16-10.
Tech held the Orange without a field goal for the final 5:50 of the game. The Jackets landed an and-one from Miles Kelly down the stretch and hit three of the final four free throws to put away Syracuse.
Kelly had struggled in the second half missing seven threes and hitting just one other shot prior to his final basket.
“We always talk about letting the game come to you and we let the game reward you when you play hard on defense and it came back to me,” Kelly said.
The win continued a trend for the Jackets of knocking off teams from the upper half of the league.
“I’m just really happy for the guys. At times it wasn’t pretty but we got the job done. Unlike a lot of games, down the stretch, I went into the huddle and said we just need a couple of plays to win this game. Miles getting that and-one and Baye getting the offensive rebound off Kyle’s missed free throw. To get another win, I’m trying to figure the squad out the most. We won four games in the league and every team is at least .500 in the league. I’m not sure that has ever been done.”
Offensive rebounding was big for Tech who had 12 offensive boards and outrebounded the Orange 49-28 finishing plus 21 on the boards.
“We did a really good job of rebounding the ball. We had two guys in double-figure rebounds and one right on it. I was glad we got on it on the rebounds everyone who came in and played did their job of getting on the glass,” Stoudamire said.
Syracuse conceded several free throws as well by having no players on the line for rebounds to stop Tech’s transition offense. The Orange had two players foul out and several in foul trouble in the second half. Syracuse coach Adrian Autry explained his decision.
‘We were in foul trouble and they had their two big guys on the line and I was hoping we would make both, it was about getting back and getting set up. They got a good majority of their points in the first half in transition. When we are shooting free throws we usually play our guys back to set our defense,” Autry said.
The rebounding edge helped Tech overcome a 17-7 turnover disparity, but the Orange only scored 16 points off the 17 Jackets’ turnovers.
Kyle Sturdivant led Tech with 17 points including 4-8 from three and a key free throw down the stretch off the bench in 31 minutes of action.
“Kyle played well and he did a really good job, he made shots to keep us in the game and kept us in the lead too. Having him was really pivotal. Nait (George), I always say this about guys, sometimes it wasn’t his night and your teammate will pick you up and we did that,” Stoudamire said.
Freshman point guard Natihan George was held scoreless in 20 minutes of action with three assists and three turnovers marking the first time in his short career he has not scored in a game he played in.
Baye Ndongo and Kelly each added 16 points, Ndongo had 11 rebounds including four offensive boards and Kelly added 10 rebounds as both had double-doubles.
Tafara Gapare had his first double-digit scoring night since the Penn State game in Madison Square Garden posting 10 points and nine rebounds.
“The difference in the game was their rebounding and we talked about it that they were a really good rebounding team. They got second-chance points and 60 points is not enough and we missed some easy ones in the second half at the end. It came down to us shooting a lot of threes, that is not a good recipe for us and it came down to rebounding 49-28. We have to do a better job of battling as we move forward,” Autry said.
Gapare remains an enigma for the Jackets in his first real season of action as a sophomore transfer from UMass who should be a true freshman this year.
“Sometimes I have to remember (Tafara) has a lot of God-given ability but he is not really seasoned as a basketball player, he went to UMass and didn’t play until December and then he got injured and didn’t have a summer. He is trying to find himself and he is trying to find himself as a gifted 6’10” to 6’11” guy and he can’t be a Jack-of-all-trades, he needs to find his thing. Scoring doesn’t matter, he is long and he should be good on the ball defensively, rebounding, getting layups and dunks and 50/50 balls. I am trying to get him more aggressive. I don’t want him to play timid. If you are going to mess up do it hard. We can all do that. I don’t like the lack of aggressiveness from him at times, but tonight he did a good job of answering the ball and making plays whether it was a layup or making a shot,” Stoudamire said.
Tech shot 39.3 percent from the field but only 7-25 from three. Tech hit 10-12 from the line, however.
“We didn’t do a great job at times, I would say the thing about zones was you have to move them, when we didn’t move them or took quick shots we had problems. You have to know who you are, a long miss is like a turnover. We have to get the ball in the middle. I’m not sure how many more teams we will see run a steady diet of zone, but we need to get better at it,” Stoudamire said.
The Jackets attacked the Syracuse zone using their big men and some high-low plays from their bigger bodies against an undersized Syracuse frontcourt.
“Quick ball movement and attacking it from the middle is the easiest way to attack it. Baye didn’t quite understand in the first half as a freshman, but in the second half both Baye and Ty (Claude) had some good passes,” Sturdivant said.
Defensively the Jackets held Cuse to 4-25 shooting from three and 36.7 from the field. The Orange also missed five of their 17 free throw attempts in the game.
JJ Starling led all scorers with 18 points on 7-15 shooting and Judah Mintz was the only other double-figure scorer with 14 points, but he needed 15 shots and four free throw makes to get there.
“I think they are a big two-point shooting team. My philosophy is threes beat you and twos don’t, Bell had made 15 threes in recent games and we wanted to limit him and stay between our man and the basket. They never found their rhythm, Starling made a couple, Mintz never found a rhythm,” Stoudamire said.
Tech trailed at the first media timeout 9-5, but the Jackets strung together a 12-8 stretch forcing Syracuse to call a timeout with 10:28 as Miles Kelly sunk a three to give the Jackets a lead. Tech clamped down defensively after trailing at the third media timeout by two and held Syracuse without a point for nearly four minutes taking a 29-23 lead with 3:26 left in the half at the final media timeout taken after three easy buckets by Tech at the rim. Kelly hit a three to extend the run to 13-2 and put Tech up nine 32-23. Tech committed four turnovers to let Syracuse back in the game with a 7-0 run 32-30.
Nait George picked up his third foul to start the second half and the Orange tied the game at 34, but the Jackets pulled back ahead on a 7-0 run 43-36 forcing the Orange to use their penultimate timeout with 15:14 remaining. Tech expanded the lead to 10 on a Sturdivant three by the third media timeout with 11:24 remaining. The Orange peeled away at the Tech lead pulling within four 52-48 with 7:13 remaining on ten points from the duo of Copeland and Starling. The Orange tied the game at 52 with a pair of transition buckets off bad Tech possessions and took the lead 55-54 on a Bell three. Sturdivant hit a three to put Tech back up two, 57-55. The Orange tied the game on a pair of free throws at 57 and that was the score at the final media timeout with 3:54 remaining. Ndongo hit a layup out of the timeout to put Tech up 59-57 and Copeland picked up his fourth foul for the Orange on the play. Sturdivant picked up his fourth foul blocking a dunk attempt by Kyle Cuffe Jr. who missed one of the two free throws ot make it 59-58. Kelly hit a layup with 31.5 left and was fouled by Maliq Brown who fouled out on the play. Kelly hit the free throw to put Tech up 62-58. Mintz was fouled with 26.4 remaining in the game and the Orange down four, hitting both free throws to make it a two point game. Sturdivant was fouled by Copeland in the corner in front of the Cuse bench with 23.7 left to go the line for a one and one. Ndongo saved the ball on the second shot that Sturdivant missed and tipped it to Kelly who was fouled with 18.1 remaining. Kelly hit both free throws to put Tech up 65-60.
Georgia Tech hosts Clemson on Wednesday night at 7 pm as the Tigers aim to avenge an early season home loss to Tech.
