Published Nov 23, 2024
Jackets' slow start costs them in loss to No. 18 Cincinnati
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Alex Farrer  •  JacketsOnline
Staff Writer
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Georgia Tech got off to a slow offensive start on Saturday afternoon, scoring just nine points in the first nine minutes of the game and could never dig itself out of the hole as No. 18 Cincinnati rolled to an 81-58 over the Jackets at McCamish Pavilion.


Georgia Tech (2-3) cut the early deficit to 23-14 with 7:46 remaining in the first half after the slow start, but Cincinnati (5-0) finished the first half strong from there to build a double-digit lead at 45-29 as both teams headed to the locker room.


Georgia Tech head coach Damon Stoudamire said his team didn't start the way he wanted them to, and the talented Cincinnati team made them pay for it.


"From the jump Cincinnati just did a good job of bringing the game to us. I didn't think that we matched any of their energy on the initial," said Stoudamire. "A lot of the execution you can't get to in a game because of the way the game was being played on the initial. I thought we played hard in the first half in spurts, but we couldn't put enough good minutes together. And every time we would get things withing striking distance, something would happen. We turned the ball over. A lot of live-ball turnovers, a lot of indecision. Things that we had talked about, but you've got to give them (Cincinnati) credit as well."


The Bearcats maintained the same halftime lead of 16 points with a 58-42 advantage at the 12:21 mark of the second half before Georgia Tech made its final real push to get back in the game, cutting the deficit to 14 at 58-44. But Cincinnati quickly scored five points to go back up by 19 and the game was never closer than 17 the rest of the way.


Cincinnati had four players in double figures in scoring with three of those sharing the scoring lead with 14 apiece as Dillon Mitchell, Connor Hickman and Jizzle James all reached that mark. Simas Lukosius added 12 points. Mitchell finished with a double-double as he pulled down 11 rebounds, and James added seven assists.


Cincinnati hit 9-of-22 attempts from 3-point range while Georgia Tech was held to a 5-of-20 mark from beyond the arc in the loss.


Naithan George led the Jackets' scoring with 13 points, including knocking down three 3s while Duncan Powell was the only other scorer in double figures with 10 points. Lance Terry added seven points off the bench. Georgia Tech's offense had 12 total turnovers compared to just eight assists in the loss.


Stoudamire said after the loss that a lot of the lack of success offensively was not being able to stick to the gameplan because of lack of execution as well as Cincinnati's defensive effort.


"Well I just think that we didn't do anything we talked about," said Stoudamire. "And it just starts right there. The way we wanted to attack Cincy, we didn't do it. You know we didn't have any ball movement, player movement, just kind of hard to play against a team that's really good defensively when you don't get the ball to the second side and you allow them to load to the ball. And they had what I like to call a goaltender in the back that was right there. You've got to have an awareness of where he is on the floor. We just didn't do anything we talked about to be honest. That's more so the disappointing thing. The execution part of it, you don't have to play perfect because you can win without playing perfect and you can stay in games by not playing perfect. But we just didn't do any of that. We had 10 turnovers in the first half, and those things just can't happen when you're trying to beat a team like Cincinnati."


Jackets' starting guard Javian McCollum scored five points in the game but didn't play or even make it out to the bench in the second half after taking a hard hit on a screen late in the first half. Stoudamire said after the game that he didn't have a full update on McCollum's condition but said it was obviously something related to the hit he took on the screen that caused him to have to meet with the medical staff.


Stoudamire said he's disappointed in the 2-3 start of the season, but he said he has been in this spot before and isn't concerned as he knows how to get things fixed and get the team going in the right direction.


"At this juncture, really disappointed about...not necessarily the outcome or the score, but just disappointed in the whole. I didn't expect to be here after five games, but I have been through this rodeo as a player and a coach before so I'm not concerned. I know what to do," said Stoudamire. "So we're just going to do it. We're going to come back on Monday and figure it out."


Georgia Tech will look to bounce back and snap its two-game losing skid when it hosts Charleston Southern on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. back at McCamish Pavilion.