Georgia Tech put together one of its most complete halves of the season in the first half vs. Alabama A&M on Saturday afternoon at McCamish Pavilion and used it to roll to an 92-49 win over the visiting Bulldogs before starting the stretch run of ACC play this coming week as both Javian McCollum and Lance Terry had impressive scoring days.

The Jackets (6-7) held Alabama A&M scoreless for almost six minutes from the 11:00 mark of the first half to the 5:08 mark to turn a one-point lead into a 13-point lead. From there Georgia Tech continued to control the game and built up a lead of as many as 26 points before going into the locker room with a 50-25 advantage.

"This was a good game off the break. I was happy with the offensive performance, and most importantly the defensive performance," said Stoudamire. "The one thing I've been preaching ever since we got back is we've got to worry about who we are. That's all I care about, getting better as a team. Getting better individually, and getting ready to get back into ACC play. There's a lot of basketball to be played, and there's a lot of teams within our conference that are trying to find themselves. And probably about halfway through, you'll probably start to see separation as you always do. We need to be one of those teams that are trending in the right direction. That's been my only message to the guys."

McCollum and Terry combined for 32 of the 50 first-half points for the Jackets as the pair each knocked down three 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes. McCollum had 18 at the break while Terry had 14.

Terry finished with a game-high 22 points, including five 3-pointers.

"Today it just felt pretty good," said Terry. "I had a lot of open looks so just staying confident, just keep trying to believe in what I practice."

McCollum stuck on his 18 from the first half as he left the game early in the second half after getting tangled up on a screen and appearing to injure his ankle. He returned to the bench later in the half with ice on his foot but didn't play again. Stoudamire said he is hopeful it isn't anything major and McCollum can get some treatment and rest and be ready for the next game.

The Jackets are already playing without Luke O'Brien and Kowacie Reeves who were each in boots on the bench on Saturday with foot/ankle injuries, and Doryan Onwuchekwa is also away from the team currently due to undisclosed reasons.

Two others scored in double figures for Georgia Tech finished in double figures as Jaedan Mustaf had 13 points (to go with seven rebounds) and Baye Ndongo had 10 points. Nait George contributed nine assists. Ibrahim Souare added eight points off the bench.

The Jackets never let up in the second half, outscoring Alabama A&M 10-2 over the first five minutes of the half to put the game even further out of reach. The closest the Bulldogs (4-9) got in the second half was 28 points.

Alabama A&M's top scorers were AC Bryant and Bilal Abdur-Rahman who each scored 11. London Riley added nine points.

Georgia Tech will be back on its home court on Tuesday for a New Year's Eve showdown vs. Notre Dame at 2:30 p.m. to start the stretch run of ACC play as the Jackets look to make up for an 0-2 start in league play following December losses to North Carolina and Duke.

The Jackets will be at home again next Saturday to host Boston College in an ACC showdown at noon.

"I'm very excited," said Terry about the ACC schedule ahead. "I feel pretty confident. You know we talked about 19 guaranteed games left, now it's 18. As long as we stay confident and continue just to grow each and every game, I feel like we'll be fine. As far as the ACC play coming up, I think we're all really excited. We're ready to make a name for ourselves really and probably prove a lot of people wrong about about what they're thinking about us."

Alabama A&M opens its SWAC schedule next Saturday when the Bulldogs host Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 4 p.m.