Jackets stun #7 Duke 72-68 for back-to-back top 25 wins

ATLANTA- Georgia Tech has struggled with Duke dropping 16 of the last 17 games, but freshman Baye Ndongo and first-year coach Damon Stoudamire’s new-look Jackets had different plans. The Jackets led most of the game and made key plays down the stretch to beat #7 Duke 72-68.

Stoudamire became the first Tech coach to knock off Duke in his first meeting against the Blue Devils.

It was the first back-to-back wins over ranked teams since the 2016-17 season when the Jackets beat #6 Florida State and #14 Notre Dame and the first top-10 win since 2020 when the Jackets beat then #5 Louisville in Atlanta.

"it was a big win, but this is what I'm proud of the most, most people don't know how hard it is coming into a new situation and bringing in new players with old ones. In the pros they fired my first coach after my first year, I got traded after my third year and in Portland, they fired my coach in the third year and then fired another. I'm used to change. To come in here and try to mold different personalities to play for me is not easy. Fast-forward to losing to Cincinnati, they could've rolled over and played dead. Instead, they rolled their sleeves up and went hard and chose to let us coach them harder. The guys I inserted in the lineup hadn't played major minutes and the ones I took out were. Even the ones I took out are still good. We have connectivity that spells the team. I'm not going to waiver, our margin of error is this big versus Duke or UMass-Lowell. We need everyone to be successful. These guys have bought in way early. I’m proud of them. The ending of the game, the last two and a half minutes we go down two or three weeks ago I wouldn’t have thought I would be playing Duke like that down the stretch," Stoudamire said.

Baye Ndongo the freshman big man for the Jackets had a huge night with 21 points, four blocks, a steal, five rebounds, and two assists in 27 minutes while battling an injury.

Stoudamire isn't one to give a lot of praise to his players or hype and he kept talking about Ndongo's potential in the preseason, but an injury held him out of the first three games of the season.

“Everybody else got to see the whole show. I just left the NBA and that is what they look like. He is dynamic. The weakside shot blocks he was getting, not a lot of guys get that. He slowed down because he was tired and that helped him. He was effective all game. We put a freshman on Filipowski, it was a collective effort, but Baye did a great job. Down the stretch of the game, he was amazing on the offensive end and that is young legs. He was walking off with cramps and he could still get those dunks. He has been wearing it on his face the last two games he played, we told him to relax and he will find his rhythm and he is playing with new guys, but tonight he was special,” Stoudamire said.

Junior guard Miles Kelly added 16 points including hitting all four of his free throw attempts.

Ndongo and Kelly scored the final 10 points for Tech as the Jackets had to overcome a late 66-62 deficit. Duke forward Mark Mitchell had back-to-back dunks to put the Blue Devils up four, but a technical foul for taunting against Mitchell gave the Jackets the ball back and Kelly hit both technical free throws and scored to tie the game up. Duke scored one more basket to go up 68-66, but Tech scored the final six points to ice the game.

“Obviously it was a big play. Mark has two big finishes and that is the thing he hasn’t done that I wanted to do. I didn’t see the play, they told me it was taunting and it was clear (according to the official). He pointed and said something. I haven’t see the play yet, but that was a big play in the game, we were up two possessions and instead, Kelly hits the two free throws and then they tied it right away. It was a huge play,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said after the game.

Duke had two chances to tie the game or take the lead late with Tech up 70-68, but Ndongo's shot block on Jeremy Roach ended the threat and Miles Kelly came up with the rebound and hit his free throws with 0.03 left on the clock.

“I was just doing my job and that is what I’m hear for I’m a shot blocker and I was just playing the game the right way,” Ndongo said of the final play.

While Ndongo didn't want to make a big deal of his final defensive play, Stoudamire was a lot more impressed with his freshman big man.

“We pretty much had a game plan and a scouting report and the guys executed it. I watched and played a lot of basketball, it is hard to guard Jeremy Roach on an empty side ball screen, but we did a good job of fighting. I’m proud of the guys, it is not easy, last week we lost by 35. Now we’ve beat two ranked teams and I’m proud of these guys,” he said.

Kowacie Reeves was clutch from outside for the Jackets with 14 points on 4-5 shooting from the arc to help put the Jackets up early and build a lead on Duke.

Freshman point guard Naithan George scored just two points, but he had nine assists including multiple alley-oops.

“The pressure they put on him, he was still poised. For him to even be in the position to play the way he is playing, I’m proud of him and the plays he made down the stretch and it will pay dividends for us down the road,” Stoudamire said of George.

Tech won the game at the free throw line hitting 12 of 13 at the line while Duke hit just 12 of 20 free throw attempts.

Ball movement also was big as the Jackets had 19 assists on 27 made field goals.

“Share the sugar, when we pass the ball we are a good team. We are not Duke with guys who beat you off the dribble, we’ve got to pick and roll and set screens. Tonight the ball was moving,” Stoudamire said.

After losing 86-43 last year at home to Duke, Kelly said it was special to get this win.

“Since I’ve been here we haven’t been able to get them. Junior year I made it a plan to come out here and get a win and to seal the deal means the world to me,” Kelly said.

Roach led the Blue Devils with 20 points, but he missed the final shot of the game with a chance to tie the game and send it to overtime. Roach played all 40 minutes for Duke.

The Jackets harrassed Duke in the paint holding Kyle Filipowski to 12 points and nine rebounds forcing him to become their lone passer with five assists.

"Dowuona has been in this league for a long time and he had eight offensive rebounds against us a couple of years ago. We countered them in the second half, but they were more consistent. They bowed up and kept us in front of the basket. Flip didn’t finish like he normally does.

An early injury was also a huge turning point for the Jacket as guard Tyrese Proctor left the game just over a minute into the game after a lower-body injury under the Duke basket.

"It was a tough day for us, losing Tyrese right away is a thing you have to react to in real time. We gave them life letting them hit threes. We didn’t start out well and we spent the whole game fighting and clawing back,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said.

Tech held a 35-31 lead at the half thanks to 6-14 shooting from three and holding the Blue Devils to 37.1 percent shooting and 2-10 from three. Duke scored 11 points to 0 on fastbreaks as well to help keep the first half close.

Jacket fans stormed the court after the game marking the first time it has happened since McCamish Pavilion opened.

“It was crazy. I was in the moment, playing the game,” Ndongo said of the court storming.

Stoudamire called on social media for fans to show up and he was impressed with the showing in the stands as Tech neared the first sell-out of the season with almost 7800 fans in attendance.

“It was great out there today and we’ve got to challenge the people. I’ve heard stories and I saw it on TV growing up, but it was a big-time atmosphere today and I’m glad they got to witness what they did today,” Stoudamire said of the crowd.

Baye Ndongo hit a three to open the scoring for Tech, his first career three. On the second possession of the game for Duke, Tyrese Proctor ended up in the seats under the Duke basket and had to leave the game. Miles Kelly and Kowacie Reeves hit back-to-back threes in transition to put GT up 9-2 and then Nait George found Reeves in the corner for a fourth three in a row to put the Jackets up 12-2 leading to a Scheyer timeout. Tech held Duke without a field goal for the next six-plus minutes and just a couple of free throws before Mark Mitchell hit a corner jumper. Duke worked the lead down to 16-11 at the second media timeout with 11:12 left. Duke hit three baskets in a row to cut the Tech lead to three, 21-18 and Stoudamire burned his first timeout with 8:24 left. Duke briefly took the lead 23-21 thanks to some Tech turnovers, but a three by Reeves and a pair of free throws by Kyle Sturdivant put the Jackets back up five, 28-23 with under five minutes to play.

Reeves opened the second half with a three and Ndongo converted and old-fashioned three-point play on a hoop and harm to put Tech up nine 41-32 early in the second half. Duke chipped away as Tech went up by 11 twice in the next segment. Both Mark Mitchell for Duke and Ebenezer Dowuona picked up their third fouls during that stretch and Tech led 47-41 with 13:33 left at the first media timeout. Tech maintained a small lead 49-44 at the second media timeout with 11:36 left. With Tech up 52-44, Ndongo blocked Jared McClain’s fastbreak layup and injured himself leading to a 7-0 run by the Blue Devils shortly after to cut the Tech lead to 56-53 with 8:13 left. Ndongo returned to the game and slammed home a dunk to put the Jackets back up 58-53 before leaving the game again with an ankle injury. Caleb Foster hit a three to make it a two-point game and then missed a pair of free throws with a chance to tie the game. Duke got the offensive rebound off the missed free throws and Filipowski tied the game with a pair of free throws at 60. Coleman hit a tough jumper to put Tech up two, 62-60 at the final media timeout with 3:43 left. A Mitchell dunk gave Duke the first lead since early in the first half, but he missed the free throw on a foul. He dunked the second chance basket off but got accessed with a technical foul. Kelly hit both free throws and added a layup to tie the game at 66. Ndongo scored off a lob after a Filipowski basket to tie the game at 68 with 1:18 left. Mitchell turned the ball over and Tech got the ball on a tie-up with 53.1 left. George hit Ndongo on the lob to go up 70-68 Roach turned the ball over with 32.8 left. George missed the front end of a one and one and Duke called timeout with 18.2 left. Roach traveled but there was no call and Duke called a timeout with 5.7 left to reset.

Georgia Tech heads back on the road to face Georgia in Athens at 7:30 pm on Tuesday night on the SEC Network.