After a 2-3 start to the season and losing the last two against Georgia and Cincinnati, Georgia Tech was in need of a bounce-back performance in a big way, and they got exactly that on Wednesday night as the Jackets celebrated Thanksgiving eve with a convincing 91-67 win over Charleston Southern at McCamish Pavilion.
Georgia Tech (3-3) was able to use its pressure defense in the first half and several missed shots from Charleston Southern along with a balanced offensive attack of its own to stretch a 12-10 lead at the 15:58 mark to as many as 19 at one point in the first half before leading 47-32 at the break.
Charleston Southern (1-7) cut the deficit to eight at one point early in the second half, but a quick 7-0 spurt around the 14-minute mark that included a dunk by Lance Terry, a lay-up in transition by Nait George and a 3-pointer by Luke O'Brien pushed Tech's lead out to 17, and Georgia Tech controlled the game from that point on despite dealing with foul trouble.
The final margin of 24 was the largest of the game and the biggest margin of victory in head coach Damon Stoudamire's Georgia Tech head coaching career. The 91 points were also the second-highest point total under Stoudamire.
"Happy to get back on the right track. You know it's a step in the right direction," said Stoudamire after the game. "We've have what I thought were two or three good days of practice, focusing on really getting into that attention to detail. Sometimes you can get humbled into thinking that you're a little better than you are, and that's all of us, starting from the top all the way down in the program. But we've got to get back to work, and that's what we've been doing. And I think we got some payback today. It's a start."
Stoudamire went on to say that the biggest thing that stood out to him was his team only turning the ball over seven times and recording 10 steals as his team got back to getting deflections and causing disruption with their defense.
The Jackets had a balanced scoring night with four players in double figures led by Baye Ndongo and Nait George, who scored 17 points apiece. Jaedan Mustaf had a career-high 16 points off the bench in his sixth game of his college career, and Lance Terry scored 15 points as he played a bigger role on Wednesday night.
Ndongo and Duncan Powell were the top rebounders for Georgia Tech in the win with eight boards apiece.
"It was great to see the bench guys get extended minutes in a meaningful game," said Stoudamire. "I was happy for (Ibrahim) Souare and Duncan and Jaedan and Luke...he's still coming back from his ankle injury. But just guys being able to play extended minutes again in a meaningful game and seeing what they can do. Jaedan I think is going to be a really good player. And Duncan, he had eight big rebounds. And Souare his energy I think is contagious and he really helps us out when he's in there. So I was happy about that as well."
Charleston Southern was led by former Grayson High product Taje' Kelly with a game-high 20 points before fouling out in the second half. Thompson Camara added 14 points.
Georgia Tech dealt with foul trouble for much of the second half with four players finishing with four fouls each while Doryan Unwuchekwa fouled out in the second half.
Georgia Tech was without starting guard Javian McCollum in Wednesday's game after McCollum missed the second half of Saturday's loss to Cincinnati following a hard screen late in the first half of that game. Stoudamire said after the game that McCollum was still experiencing concussion-type symptoms and no timeline for his return was given.
The Jackets also continue to play without freshman Darrion Sutton who has missed the last few games with an injury. Stoudamire said after the game that Sutton is still dealing with a hamstring issue and things are still about the same as they have been. Georgia Tech also lost Kowacie Reeves with what appeared to be an ankle injury in the second half, but Stoudamire said the trainers kept him out as a precautionary measure for the remainder of the game but he will be "fine."
With those injuries and George getting in some foul trouble, Mustaf and Terry were asked to take on a bigger role in Wednesday's game and both stepped up into it well.
"We've got a couple guys out so we're down a lot of guys. I was just excited to start today, and try to bring as much energy as I could," said Terry. "I'm one of the older guys on the team so I'm just trying to lead everybody, trying to talk to everybody on the court. Just trying to get out of my comfort zone to do what I can to help us win."
"For me, just being confident. Coach has been on me recently so just being confident, believing in myself and just trying to do whatever I can do to help the team win," added the freshman Mustaf.
Georgia Tech will wrap up its season-opening, seven-game homestand on Saturday when it hosts Central Arkansas at 1 p.m. at McCamish Pavilion. The Jackets then head on the road on Tuesday to visit Oklahoma for the SEC/ACC Challenge for a 9 p.m. Eastern tip-off.
Mustaf said the team knows the season hasn't started the way they would've wanted, but they are doing whatever they can to turn things around and hopefully Wednesday's win will get that momentum going in the right direction.
"It felt amazing. Nobody in there (in the locker room) wants to lose. We all want to win, and we all want to just continue building the program up," said Mustaf. "So that felt great to win tonight."