Georgia Tech's recent struggles continued on Tuesday night as a slow offensive start and a rough end to the first half allowed Clemson to build a substantial lead en route to a 70-59 road win in ACC play at McCamish Pavilion.
Georgia Tech (8-10, 2-5 in ACC) didn't convert its first bucket until the 12:42 mark of the first half when Duncan Powell drove to the rim to cut Clemson's lead to 8-2. The Jackets continued to battle despite the tough start and eventually got the deficit down to one at 19-18 with 6:35 left in the first half, but Clemson (14-4, 6-1 in ACC) finished the half on a 17-7 run to push the lead back out to double digits at 36-25 as the teams went to the locker room for the break.
The Jackets cut the deficit to seven early in the second half, but that was as close as they got as Clemson pushed the lead back to double digits soon after that and never let it get under 10, including leading by as many as 19 at one point.
Georgia Tech continued to fight until the final horn, cutting the deficit to nine multiple times in the final two minutes, but Clemson was able to possess the ball enough and make free throws down the stretch to ice the game away.
"I thought we played really hard. I thought we competed well tonight against a good team," said Georgia Tech head coach Damon Stoudamire. "To me we had two lapses, the first one the first four minutes before the TV timeout we lost that 6-0, and then that last four minutes of the first half, we had gotten it to 23-20, and then (Clemson) went on a 13-5 run to end the half. That just put us in the hole.
"The one thing about it is you are already playing shorthanded and you can't put ourselves in holes by committing unforced turnovers, different things. When you're trying to get out of a rut and find a rhythm, you can't do harm to yourself is what I always like to say. That's what we did, and that kind of hurt us. But the effort was there. I was proud of the guys. They played hard. They competed, and we had our moments. Unfortunately you don't win a game by having moments or get a half a point. It's the left-hand column or the right-hand column. So we've got to regroup and get ready for Saturday."
Jaeden Zackery led Clemson with 21 points while three other Tigers finished in double figures as Ian Schieffelin scored 16, Chase Hunter had 14 and Viktor Lahkin added 10. Clemson made 16-of-20 free throws in the win and had 16 assists to only nine turnovers.
Georgia Tech's top scorer in the loss was Baye Ndongo with 14 points to go along with 12 rebounds for the double-double. The Jackets actually won the rebounding battle 36-32 over Clemson but shot just 35.2 percent from the field to Clemson's 44.2.
Nait George had 13 points for the Jackets, including three made 3s, while Jaedan Mustaf and Javian McCollum were also in double figures with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Duncan Powell scored nine before fouling out late in the game.
Georgia Tech was without starting guard Lance Terry who didn't play due to a wrist/hand injury as the Jackets' horrible injury luck continued for the 2024-25 season. Stoudamire said after the game that he didn't have a timetable on when Terry would be back, but he's hoping it's not anything too serious for him to miss an extended period of time.
They are already playing without Kowacie Reeves and Luke O'Brien who are still wearing boots with foot/ankle injuries, and freshman big man Doryan Onwuchekwa is still away from the team as well due to personal/family reasons. The Jackets used their sixth different starting five combo of the season in Tuesday's loss.
"I'm going to keep fighting," said Stoudamire in response to being down to eight healthy scholarship players. "I can't make no excuses because it's just part of the business. The thing about it is nobody really cares (if you have injuries), and I understand that. The places that I've been, you feel like you were always there for a reason, and you go through a little something and you find out who you are a little more. At 51, you can still find out more. I feel like right now, it's about figuring things out, adjusting on the run. That's a part of coaching. That's a part of teaching. That's a part of healing. A whole lot of different things because you're still trying to connect a group of young men. It's already hard anyway, but it makes it harder when guys are in and out. But these guys have given me their all, and I think it showed tonight. And again, I was proud of them for the way they played and competed."
Georgia Tech will look to get back on the positive side of things on Saturday when the team visits Tallahassee for a noon tip-off against Florida State.
Stoudamire said he still believes the team has the potential to turn things around and make a run down the final stretch of the season.
"I think we can go on a run. I mean it is a lot of basketball left," said Stoudamire. "I'm not naive enough to think that we don't get these games back either. But big picture when I look at five conference losses, we played two of the top teams in the league, we played Carolina, I don't think that we should overreact to those losses. But at the same time I think we've got to put a string of games together. We do need healthy bodies, but at the same time too, I feel like we have enough to compete and win with what we have. It's just a matter of managing a game and doing different things.
"That's where we're at. I think we have it, but we've got to show it."
Clemson is on the road on Saturday as well as the Tigers head to Pittsburgh for a noon tip-off of their own.
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