Tech falls in overtime to ND 75-68 to extend losing streak

ATLANTA- Georgia Tech men’s basketball hosted Notre Dame aiming to end a skid, instead the Jackets went to overtime losing 75-68 to the Irish. Tech fell to 1-3 in ACC play while Notre Dame improved to 2-3 in league play.

The Jackets lost their fourth straight game.

The game was tied at 66 at the end of regulation and Tech scored just one basket in overtime by freshman Nait George with Notre Dame closing with a 6-0 run on free throws.

George a true freshman for Tech said that the offense simply didn't execute down the stretch.

"Execution, we had shots, but we couldn't execute the plays that were called," George said.

George finished the night with nine points and 11 assists with two steals and only three turnovers.

Star guard Miles Kelly was 0-3 in overtime and Tech was 1-8 shooting and 0-6 from three in overtime.

"For me, Miles Kelly is coming, but he hasn't been the guy on a winning team. You have to respond in a variety of ways, not just scoring, it can be leadership, playing hard, or setting a standard and he hasn't ever done that. Then we have two freshmen playing and they are learning on the run. The dog days will make the good days better and when they come it will be a lot of fun. We have to lock in and we need guys to come all the way in. There has to be buy-in both ways. Building trust is a two-way street," Stoudamire said.

The Jackets had only seven free throw attempts in the game compared to 21 from Notre Dame.

"We've got to put more pressure on their defense. We took a lot of jump shots and we need to get downhill to attack," Kelly said.

Kelly played well in regulation with 25 points on 7-15 shooting from three, but he missed a key one-and-one free throw late in the half with a chance to push a lead on Notre Dame.

Freshman big man Baye Ndongo added 16 points and nine rebounds, but

Braeden Shrewsberry tied Kelly for the lead for all scorers with 25 points. He was 5-9 from three in the game.

Guard JR Konieczny and forward Tae Davis posted double-doubles for the Irish. Star guard Markus Burton was just 4-18 shooting in the game, but Notre Dame added 13 offensive rebounds and 10 second-chance points.

Tech was stagnant on offense for much of the first half taking a lead after two different runs in the middle of the first half, but Notre Dame clawed out a 31-29 lead thanks to 45% shooting compared to Tech’s 32%. The Irish committed 10 first-half turnovers that turned into 14 Tech points.

Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsberry offered some interesting insight after the game after watching Stoudamire's first-year squad.

"I always congratulate the other team for how hard these games are fought. Winning is hard and I came from the NBA and coached in the same organization as Damon and I know what they are doing and how they are playing," Shrewsberry said. "Sometimes when you see a new coach you have no idea what they are doing, but I know what they are trying to do and they've had some tough losses and close losses. Miles Kelly started the year not shooting well and Ndongo is a good player in this league. We were fortunate to get out of here with a win. Our guys competed in the second half and in overtime. 9-2 in overtime was big, a lot were free throws but we will take it any way we can."

Tech trailed early in the game but fought back into the game forcing multiple turnovers on a 7-0 run to take a 17-13 lead. The teams traded threes and were tied at 20 at the third media timeout. Kowacie Reeves scored four straight points and Miles Kelly hit a three after the defense forced a shot clock violation to put Tech up 27-20 with 4:53 left in the half. Notre Dame closed the half with a 9-0 run to lead Tech 31-29.

Tech led three briefly before Notre Dame took a 43-36 lead with 15:07 left. Tech trailed by two 49-47 at the second media timeout and Miles Kelly hit a three out of the timeout to put the Jackets up 50-49. Tech led 61-60 at the final media timeout with 1:49 left. Kelly missed the front end of a one-and-one and Braeden Shrewsberry hit a three to put Notre Dame up 63-61 with 1:22 left. Ndongo turned the ball over on the other end. Markus Burton missed one of his two free throws on the end and Kelly hit a layup to make it 64-63 Notre Dame with 20.4 left. Shrewsberry hit his two free throws on the other end, but Ndongo redeemed himself with a three to tie the game at 66 with 5.5 left. Burton missed his pull-up jumper to send the game to overtime.

The Irish took a three-point lead with 3:53 left in overtime on a Roper three. Nait George broke the seal for Tech with a jumper to make it 69-68 with 2:43 left. Shrewsberry added a pair of free throws to extend the lead to 71-68. Kelly missed two open threes with a chance to tie the game. Burton added a pair of free throws with 13.1 left. The Irish hit six free throws to end the game.

Georgia Tech travels to face Duke at 5 pm at Cameron Indoor on Saturday.