Head coach Damon Stoudamire has said repeatedly over the last few weeks during Georgia Tech's struggles that his team is still working every single day with the same positive energy, and that he still believes even with the limited numbers on the roster due to injuries that he has a team that can win ballgames.
Well, his team proved him right on Saturday afternoon at McCamish Pavilion.
Georgia Tech battled back from an 11-point halftime deficit against a red-hot Louisville team that had won 10 straight coming in to put together an impressive second half, outscoring the visiting Cardinals 50-32 to earn a 77-70 victory in front of a packed house.
After trailing 38-27 at the break, the Jackets (10-12, 4-7 in ACC) quickly cut into the lead to open the second half, forcing Louisville to burn an early timeout with the score at 43-36. The Cardinals pushed the lead back up to 49-39 soon after that, but from that point on Georgia Tech refused to be denied, reeling off several big runs to get momentum on their side and find a way to the much-needed upset win.
Tech immediately scored the next 10 points to even the game at 49-49, and then a little later scored nine straight to turn a 52-51 deficit into a 60-52 lead.
Down the stretch, Georgia Tech answered each big Louisville bucket with one of its own or was able to get crucial stops at crucial spots.
"What a win. Happy for the guys. I felt and I've been saying it that we were ready to get a break, and I felt like today was that day," said Stoudamire. "In the second half I thought we made a lot of plays. So I was really happy about the effort. Happy for our guys. We made plays down the stretch. We got big efforts offensively from Lance (Terry), Nait (George)...Javian (McCollum) made plays when we needed them. Duncan (Powell) didn't start off shooting the ball well, but he came through. And Baye (Ndongo) again had a good game playing with energy and effort. So I'm proud of the fellas for how they responded after Tuesday (at Notre Dame)."
Terry had the biggest offensive contribution of the bunch Stoudamire mentioned with a game-high 23 points, including four 3-pointers and 14 of that total coming in the second half. Terry and George each had several big buckets during those runs in the second half to turn the game in the Jackets' favor.
George finished with 15 points to go with nine assists as he narrowly missed the double-double. Ndongo and McCollum each scored 12 points with Ndongo adding 11 rebounds for the double-double, and Powell was the fifth Jacket in double figures with 11 points.
Georgia Tech held Louisville (16-6, 9-2 in ACC) to just one 3 in the second half after the Cardinals made 8-of-16 from beyond the arc in the first half. The Jackets' defense also forced Louisville into 14 turnovers, and the Cardinals made just 9-of-17 free throws in the second half as well. Louisville was held to just seven offensive rebounds, which was one of the keys Stoudamire talked about before the game also.
"Everything that we wanted to do, we succeeded," said Stoudamire. "To play against a Louisville team that has more turnovers than assists...they haven't done that, and if they did it's been a while. They only had seven offensive rebounds. They pound the glass, and that was one of the emphasis for us that we talked about. Even in transition, again we did a good job matching up not worrying about if it was our man or not. So guys were connected. The fellas had a good connectivity, and then you could see us getting confidence. When you get stop score, stop score, stop score, you know you always will get more confidence, you get more energy, and I think you saw that.
"I also thought that our crowd was really good. Early on, you heard a lot of red, but as the game went on, I thought the crowd responded to the players and that gave our guys energy. And we needed that."
Louisville was led in scoring by Terrence Edwards Jr. who had 22 points, but the Jackets limited him to nine in the second half. Chucky Hepburn added 17 points, but Tech's defense stiffened on him in the second half as well, limiting him to just four after halftime.
J'Vonne Hadley was also in double figures for the Cardinals with 16 points before fouling out late in the game, and Aboubacar Traore scored 10 points in the losing effort. James Scott was Louisville's leading rebounder with 11.
Both teams came out of the gates firing as Georgia Tech grabbed a 16-15 lead at the first media timeout of the game at the 14:05 mark of the first half.
The Jackets cooled off a bit after that fast start and were held scoreless for a little over a six-minute stretch from the 11:00 mark to the 4:58 mark as Louisville was able to build as much as a 13-point lead at one point at 31-18.
Georgia Tech cut Louisville's deficit to six late in the first half, but the Cardinals scored the final five points to push the advantage back to 38-27 as the teams headed to the locker room at the half.
Georgia Tech will take the trip up I-85 on Tuesday to battle Clemson in another ACC matchup at 9 p.m. as the team tries to carry the momentum forward. The Jackets fell 70-59 to the Tigers when the teams met at McCamish Pavilion back on Jan. 14.
Stoudamire said a win like Saturday's can help rejuvenate a team after going through as much adversity as his Jackets have this season, and he's hoping it has a carry-over effect as the team heads down the stretch.
"It will (have an effect). I've played basketball before, and I've been on really good teams. I've been on teams that had injuries," said Stoudamire. "To get some payback for what we've been going through today and against a ranked team that came in on a 10-game winning streak and was playing some of the best basketball in the country, this was a big win. So hopefully this carries us and gives us momentum moving on."
Stoudamire also joked about the NCAA implementing a transfer portal to be able to sign guys to 20-day contracts with all the injuries his team has had to endure this season.
Louisville will look to bounce back as they are on the road once again on Wednesday when the Cardinals visit Boston College for a 7 p.m. tip in conference play.