Georgia Tech concluded a seven-game homestand to open its season in victorious fashion on Saturday afternoon with an 87-68 win over Central Arkansas at McCamish Pavilion.
Central Arkansas (2-5) was able to hang around for a while thanks in large part to its ability to knock down the 3-ball, but Georgia Tech (4-3) methodically wore the visitors down and was able to pull away in the second half for a comfortable victory in front of a crowd of Jackets' fans that needed a boost after what else happened in the Georgia Tech Athletics world on Friday.
The visiting Bears hit 14 3s out of a total of 21 made field goals and cut the deficit to seven at one point early in the second half, but there was no panic in the Jackets as they were able to run their offense without turning the ball over at a high rate (only 5 in the game) to pull away down the stretch.
"Proud of our guys for our effort tonight. It wasn't an easy game regardless of the opponent because we had injuries and being down Javian and Kowacie," said Georgia Tech head coach Damon Stoudamire. "That puts a lot more on the rest of the perimeters and they have to play longer stretches. They're going to have a little more fatigue and different things, but again I was proud of them.
"Probably the biggest thing for me was Jaedan Mustaf. Happy for him, proud of him. It's not even really the points because I think that we've seen he's a strong kid and he can get downhill. But I think when I put him on (Elias) Cato, he did a hell of a job and I thought that changed the game because he had his way with our other guys, but Jaedan did a good job and really got into him (defensively). I thought that was one of the biggest differences in the game. Points aside, I'm happy with the defensive effort he gave. Lance (Terry) is just really consistent. The things he does, you expect it every day. I thought Nait (George) was really good especially early. He helped keep the ball moving and all those good things. And I thought Duncan Powell did a good job coming in and getting those big nine rebounds. But 18 to 5 assists to turnover ration, that's always going to be big as well. I would've wanted to force a few more turnovers this evening but Central Arkansas is a solid team. I thought they played well enough to make me uncomfortable. You had to keep playing and do different things, and we were able to do that."
Terry had his second straight impressive performance as he has played several more minutes due to the injury situation. He scored a game-high 25 points, which is his career high at Georgia Tech. (He previously scored 26 in a game while playing at Gardner-Webb.) He made 5-of-10 3s and also had three steals.
Mustaf continued to assert himself as he also had a second-straight strong game with 18 points off the bench, and George finished with his first career double-double with 16 points and 11 assists. George tied his career high in assists as well.
Nine of George's assists came in the first half as Georgia Tech was able to build a 49-38 lead before the teams headed to the locker room at the break.
Baye NDongo narrowly missed a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds while Powell had nine rebounds off the bench. Luke O'Brien also scored eight points.
Layne Taylor led the scoring for Central Arkansas with 20 points, including hitting five 3s of his own. Cato added 17 points, and Brayden Fagbemi was the third Bear in double figures with 15 points. He was also their leading rebounder with six as Georgia Tech won the battle on the boards as a team 41-28.
Georgia Tech was once again without its full assortment of guards as Javian McCollum, Kowacie Reeves Jr. and Darrion Sutton all missed the game. It was the second straight game missed for McCollum after experiencing concussion-like symptoms following last Saturday's Cincinnati loss while Reeves' absence broke a streak of 38 straight starts as he suffered an ankle issue in Wednesday's win over Charleston Southern. Sutton continues to battle a hamstring issue suffered several games ago.
Stoudamire had no update on the injuries after Saturday's game. He said he would love to have all of them back soon, but he said his main focus right now is coaching with the guys he has available.
The Jackets will now enter a tough stretch in December that starts with a trip to Oklahoma on Tuesday at 9 p.m. for the SEC/ACC Challenge. Georgia Tech then opens ACC play next Saturday when they visit the Dean E. Smith Center for a 2 p.m. tip against North Carolina.
Stoudamire said it was important to get these last two wins coming off the 2-3 start to have some momentum going into a tough week ahead of road challenges and the December schedule overall.
"It's big. You know I've said, I didn't say it to the team, but I was pointing to these two games as like tune-ups, the prelims, because you know the heavyweight fights are coming up, and we've got to get better," said Stoudamire. "We're going to play a tough Oklahoma team. I look forward to playing them, but again, I don't have to go out on the floor. We've got to prepare for this next week like, we've got some time in between obviously, but almost like we're going to an ACC Tournament or something like that. We've got to prepare like that. Because everything we lost in losing to Georgia and Cincinnati, we can gain it right back on Tuesday, and that's how I see it. I'm excited about the opportunity because for me now we'll see what we look like against a team like the ones we haven't had success against, and that was nine or 10 days ago. So I'm looking forward to that. I'm looking forward to this challenge and seeing how we respond to that."
December's slate also includes a neutral-site game in Milwaukee vs. Northwestern (Dec. 15), a home ACC date with Duke (Dec. 21) and a New Year's Even showdown with ACC foe Notre Dame.