Tech guards lead Jackets to improbable upset of #3 UNC 74-73

ATLANTA- Georgia Tech men’s basketball under first-year head coach Damon Stoudamire specializes in the improbable win and it took every second of the game but the Jackets knocked off #3 North Carolina 74-73 on Tuesday night in McCamish Pavilion.

It was the ninth time Tech beat both Duke and North Carolina in the same season in 45 years. It was the fifth quad-one win of the season for the Jackets and a big moment for first-year Tech coach Damon Stoudamire.

“What a win for the guys. This was about as big of a team win as I’ve seen. I'm proud of each one of them that was on the court. They all delivered in their own way,” Stoudamire said. “It was a great team win. I told them in the locker room I was just so proud of them. I’ll say the same thing in wins and losses. I demand a lot and I have a standard and we see that. Tonight we’ve seen that when we lock in without our best player for 40 minutes. Our best player played four minutes. It could’ve been easy for the guys to fold,” Stoudamire said.

Georgia Tech star freshman big man Baye Ndongo took a knee to the head with 4:32 remaining and did not return. That was a turning point in the game for Stoudamire's young squad.

Freshman guard Naithan George hit the game-winning shot for the Jackets his fourth made field goal of the game and he hit 8-10 from the free throw line in the second half scoring 16 points. He added four rebounds, four assists and a steal.

North Carolina coach Hubert Davis said he expected George to have the ball and he set up a switch with big man Armando Bacot on the final Tech offensive possession. George was able to score over Bacot who is almost a foot taller around the rim.

“George feels comfortable in that situation and Armando is a great on-ball defender, it was really just a great shot by George,” Davis said.

George was ready for the switch to Bacot and took him to the hole hoping for the best.

“I wanted to attack the big because he is slower with his feet and I wanted to get a shot up so my teammates could crash the glass and my shot the left-footer,” George said.

George and senior Kyle Sturdivant did the heavy lifting for the Jackets with 25 combined points in the second half including 10-12 shooting from the line from the pair. Stoudamire was proud of how his two point guards played together.

“In the second half, we got into the penalty early and you can go and shoot free throws. I just think we did a really good job as the game went on I thought we controlled it up until the end. We had some mistakes, we’ve got to get better in the late-game situations and we did a really good job and Nait was in the middle of it. When you have Kyle going and he did a good job and what Nait does, he's a balancing act for Kyle and Kyle is a balancing act for Nait.

Without Ndongo, Tyzhaun Claude stepped up and had his best game as a Yellow Jacket with nine points, eight rebounds and three blocks along with Ebenezer Dowuona who was forced into more minutes than usual playing 17 minutes.

“I thought Ty played really well. He didn’t play small tonight. He played really big. Ebe is one of those guys, he does whatever you ask of them. Ty as well. Those guys don’t get big minutes and then they play big minutes. It is a testament to them playing big minutes and Nait made that big shot and made several big shots. What a game and happy for these kids. Someone sent me my own quote on the ACC. I’ve got a weird team, I love my team but I’ve got a weird team. We want to drive the speed limit, we get road rage and drive all over the road. That is consistency and where we are trying to get," Stoudamire said.

Carolina veteran guard RJ Davis led all scorers with 28 points, but he needed 24 shots and four free throw attempts to get there.

Tar Heels point guard Elliot Cadeau fouled out in just 21 minutes of action as George baited him into several close calls. He shot two of seven from the floor.

All-American Carolina center Armando Bacot was held to just nine points and 13 rebounds. Bacot had just one point in the second half and three rebounds as Tech clamped down on him defensively.

“We were definitely going to double him and we were going to mix up our defense. They are one of the few along with Duke and Clemson, NC State, they are the few teams like Boston College, that have an All-American inside and out it is tough. That is tough. I’ve played with another All-American with another guard, but not a one-two-punch and we knew they’d feed Bacot and we did a lot of doubling,” Stoudamire said.

Carolina shot a season-low 36.4 percent from the field and 8-28 from three in the game. The Heels shot only 33.3 percent overall in the second half and hit just 2-14 from three.

The Jackets hit 9-20 from three and 41 percent overall from the field while blocking eight Tar Heel shots and picking up four steals. UNC had zero blocks.

Losing key big man Baye Ndongo canceled an early Tech lead as the Heels went on a 12-0 run to take control of the game, but the Jackets eventually adjusted and went on a 12-1 run to close the half to tie the game at 37 with one second remaining on a George layup. Tech held UNC without a field goal for the final 5:34 of the half. The Heels still managed to shoot 40 percent despite that and 6-14 from the arc. Tech shot 42.4 percent and 5-13 from the line. Foul trouble was an issue as well with Miles Kelly and Ebenezer Dowuona both picking up three first-half fouls. Kelly scored 15 points on 5-8 shooting in the first half to lead all scorers. Both teams had 10 first-half turnovers.

“We were sped up in the first half and we had turnovers and stepped out of bounds. We talk about offensively executing with purpose and pace and I think we hurried. We were down eight and ended up taking the lead with 30 seconds to go. I was really proud of them,” Davis.

Tech improved to 10-11 on the season and 3-7 in ACC play while delivering the first ACC loss of the year for the Heels who fell to 17-4 and 9-1 in league play.

“You have to compliment Georgia Tech. We had a double-figure lead in the first half and defensively we made mistakes on coverages and they capitalized on it. They play extremely well at home. They beat Duke here and beat Clemson an outstanding team on the road,” Davis said.

The win continued a rollercoaster of a season that includes top 25 wins over Mississippi State and Duke at home and a win over a very good Clemson team on the road. Sturdivant said it was something he told his teammates late in the game, they've been close with nine of their eleven losses coming in games that were one or two possession games in the final four minutes.

“I told you guys we were one possession away from having a different season. I communicated to our guys that we fought too hard to let this one slip away and we had to attack this one,” Sturdivant said.

Stoudamire said the big takeaway now is building on this and stopping the up and downs of the season as they head on the road Saturday to play NC State in Raleigh.

“The biggest thing for me is I want to build consistency and I love everything that comes with it, I don’t want it to be us just getting up for these types of teams. You have to live it every day. That comes with working every day and when you have expectations you don’t get scared of it.

Miles Kelly opened the game with seven points hitting both of his field goals and a pair of free throws as the Jackets controlled the first four minutes of the game taking an 11-10 lead over UNC at the first media timeout with 15:28 remaining. Ndongo went to the locker room during the timeout after a collision with Bacot. The Tar Heels went on a 12-0 run with Ndongo out to take a 20-11 lead over the Jackets. Sturdivant broke the run with a basket. Tech went on a 7-0 run out of the second media timeout to pull within three, 23-20 on a pair of Gapare free throws. Gapare helped lead a stretch of four turnovers in three minutes for the Heels taking a charge, but the Jackets still trailed 30-22 at the third media timeout. Nait George hit a basket and then had a steal on the other end to set up a Kelly three to pull the Jackets within four, 36-32 with 3:07 remaining in the half. Tech’s defense clamped down on the Heels and the run extended to a 10-0 run thanks to a corner three by Ibrahima Sacko to make it 36-35 with 49 seconds left in the half. The Heels did not hit a field goal in the final 5:34 of the half and George hit a layup with one second left in the half to tie the game at 37.

Tech struggled to score to open the second half and UNC took a three-point lead into the first media timeout 45-42 with 15:58 remaining. Dowuona picked up his fourth foul with 15:02 left in the half. The Jackets used a 6-0 run to retake the lead 54-52 at the second media timeout with 11:56 remaining in the game. The Jackets expanded the lead to five on a Sturdivant three 59-54 with just over ten minute to play. UNC clawed back to be down two, but George hit a pair of free throws on a handcheck foul on Elliot Cadeau his fourth with under eight to play. Cadeau fouled out just two possessions later as George drew him into contact near the rim. George hit both free throws to put Tech up 65-59. Claude converted a hoop and harm against Bacot to put Tech up 68-60. George picked up his fourth foul on a shot by Davis that pulled UNC within five, 68-63. Seth Trimble converted a hoop and harm to make it 68-66 Tech. Davis hit a layup to make it a one-point game with 3:55 remaining. Kelly was forced to call a timeout which turned into the final media timeout with 3:48 remaining. Sturdivant hit a bank three out of the timeout to put Tech back up four. Ingram hit a three for the Heels with 1:58 remaining to make it a one-point game again. Ingram missed a second three and George missed a three, RJ Davis off George’s miss went coast-to-coast for a layup to put the Heels up 73-72 with 34.6 seconds left. George hit a layup with 7 seconds left to give Tech a 74-73 lead. UNC called a timeout with 4.6 seconds left.