ATLANTA- It was the same old story for Georgia Tech as the Jackets fell to 8-10 on the year and 1-7 in ACC play with a 78-66 loss to NC State on Tuesday night in front of a very small crowd in McCamish Pavilion.

Tech’s guard could not shoot and turnovers in key spots in the game killed the Jackets’ momentum the few times the defense really clamped down on the Wolfpack.

The core group of guards for Tech Kyle Sturdivant, Deebo Coleman, Miles Kelly, Lance Terry, and Deivon Smith combined to shoot 14 of 44 from the field and 2 of 19 from three. After shooting well from inside and poorly outside against Pitt, the roles reversed in this game.

“We have incredible young men, the facts are we are not going to win if they do not put the ball in the basket, they’ve got to produce and perform and put it in the hole. Against Pitt, we hit some good threes and we had some good looks against Pitt and in this game, we just didn’t hit them. The players when they are open have to make them, unfortunately, if we were standing at a pier we couldn’t hit the ocean,” Tech head coach Josh Pastner said. “I thought going into the year we would be one of the best shooting teams in the country and we shot the daylights out of the ball all summer and against Vanderbilt and Tulane. We were 35% from three in ACC play coming into, but not tonight.”

Kelly, Tech's leading scorer this season was held to nine points on 13 shot attempts and he was 0-6 from three. It was his first game since late November against Alabama State where he failed to hit a three. He had hit two or more threes in 11 straight games.

The Jackets’ woes stretched to the free throw line as well with the Jackets hitting just 8 of 19 including several misses on one and ones in key points in the game. NC State hit 17 of 20 free throw attempts and that stat alone was the difference in the game.

“One NC State is a really good team with really good players and great guard play with Smith and Joiner. We did a lot of good, but we missed a lot of open shots and we could not score the ball and we had some incredible looks,” Pastner said. “We did a great job of taking care of the ball, we’ve got back to who we are with taking care of the ball, 16 assists on 28 made field goals with just 10 turnovers. We did a nice job of forcing them into turnovers they hit some nice shots and we missed them and that was the difference in the game.”

Jalon Moore was the lone bright spot for Tech with a career-high 17 points and eight rebounds in the loss.

Rodney Howard came up just short of a double-double with nine points and seven rebounds, but he was held scoreless in the second half.

“I think we’ve got to knock down open shots and we had plenty of opportunities to cut the lead and we stunk at the free throw line. We were 8-19 after going 0-3 and we can’t do that,” Rodney Howard said.

Both big men were bottled up in the second half along with Tech's guards though Moore thought it was more of an execution issue and sticking shots than anything NC State was doing.

“I really didn’t see a change, other than when they made an adjustment on our ball screens. When we came out in the second half it was like there was a lid on the basket,” Moore said.

Howard said the team continues to struggle in the second half and the middle section of the game for some reason.

“I feel like teams are just blowing up on us in the second half. We have to take away their three and their best play,” Howard said. “We need to play 40 minutes together and we can’t keep giving these games away. I think we just are not playing hard enough.”

Pastner said he still feels like his team can hit their stride in ACC play and turn around what has been an abysmal start in league play.

“We just have to see the ball go through the hoop. Against Pitt we made some threes, but we missed a lot of layups. Once we see that happen, we will get rolling. Jalon Moore did a great job tonight for us and Rodney and Ja’von were great on the glass. That is about effort and playing hard, we are getting good shots,” Pastner said.

Conversely Terquavian Smith ended the night with 25 points, two blocks, five assists and three rebounds as he continued his hot play in McCamish.

Jarkel Joiner added 19 points and eight rebounds including a perfect 9-9 from the free throw line in the win for the Wolfpack.

The Wolfpack shot an impressive 17-30 (56.7%) in the first half, but eight turnovers allowed the Jackets to stay in the game. Tech struggled offensively aside from post players Jalon Moore (12 points) and Rodney Howard (9 points) in the first half. Tech’s guards hit just six of 21 attempts in the first half. Terquavian Smith led all scorers at the break with 14 points.

"I’ve thought we’ve had good starts, we’ve got to keep our lead and going into the half we missed free throws and Deivon missed four free throws and we missed a three, Deebo missed some wide-open shots. It was like there was a lid on the basket. We missed a lot of open shots including free throws,” Pastner said.

Tech used the eighth different starting lineup of the season with Howard, Moore, Coleman, Kelly and Sturdivant.

State played the game without big man Ebenezer Dowuona who was out with an undisclosed illness.

The attendance was very light for the game and Pastner said he understood why it was lightly attended.

“I understand the fans' frustration and we’ve got to win. Our guys give all they can on the floor, but in the end, this is big-time college basketball and you’ve got to win the game,” Pastner said.

Tech has a chance to turn things around with Syracuse on Saturday at noon at McCamish before heading up to play a hot Clemson team next Tuesday on the road.

Tech took a 13-6 lead into the first media timeout thanks to a strong start defensively. The Wolfpack closed the gap behind an 11-2 run at the second media timeout. Tech limped into the final 3:32 of the game with a three-point lead 35-32 over the Wolfpack thanks to the defense. Smith missed four free throws in the first half with the last two allowing NC State to get a transition layup to retake the lead 38-37 with 1:29 left. The Jackets remained scoreless into the half and the Wolfpack extended their lead to 42-37 with a 8-0 run.

Tech ended an almost five-minute scoring drought on a jumper by Kyle Sturdivant. NC State extended the lead to eight during the next segment of time 51-43 thanks to some Tech offensive miscues forcing Josh Pastner to burn a timeout. Lance Terry broke a long three-plus minute stretch without a field goal as the Jackets trailed by 11 with a hoop and harm ahead of the second media timeout with 11:56 left. Tech went cold again and State grew the lead to 12, but a steal and dunk by Kelly and a corner three by Terry cut it to 59-52 leading to a Keatts timeout. Ja’von Franklin slammed home a drunk and got fouled by Gantt leading to a three-point play cutting the State lead to six, 63-57 with just over six minutes to go. A pair of free throws and a three by Smith extended the lead back out to 11 for the Wolfpack. State closed the half strong with four straight buckets to extend the lead to 76-61 as the Jackets continued to struggle at the free throw line.