ATLANTA- Georgia Tech had a tough task in game number two facing a very good North Florida team and the Jackets were not up to the task falling 105-93. Tech trailed by five at the break and North Florida kept coming after the Jackets while Tech struggled for much of the second half offensively and defensively allowing the Osprey to go up 20. Tech moved to 1-1 on the season and North Florida improved to 3-0 with wins over the Jackets and South Carolina on their resume.

North Florida shot 53.6% from the field in the game and 9-31 from three while outrebounding the Jackets 41-38 and 13-10 on the offensive boards.

The Jackets shot 46.8% and 13-29 from three-point range but the interior scoring was a major issue as big man Baye Ndongo missed multiple shots at the rim in the second half. Tech shot just 39% from the field in the second half.

"When you play a team like North Florida the first seven seconds are really important in transition and then shots they made in the first seven or eight seconds and then you have the middle of the possession and then the last seven seconds. In the second half, we didn't do a good job of rebounding the ball and that to them getting pubacks and things of that nature. We scored the ball, but we couldn't stop them at all," Tech head coach Damon Stoudamire said.

Ndongo ended the game with a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds, but he had zero blocks.

Tech senior guard Kowacie Reeves added 17 points, Luke O’Brien had 15 points, Javian McCollum and Lance Terry added 14 points.

“Our zone was the difference in the game and that allowed us to play freer and we got daggers, 18 of them stop and scores,” North Florida coach Matthew Driscoll said.

Josh Harris led the way with 22 points for North Florida and Nate Lliteras and Jasai Miles added 18 each. Six players hit double figures for the Osprey. North Florida shot 74% at the rim reversing their trend of shooting threes better inside.

O'Brien summed up things very clearly.

"Defensively we were pretty pathetic tonight," O'Brien said. "Until we start to understand that getting stops is more fun than getting buckets, I mean you saw it today. We were scoring at will, that was not the problem, but until we understand that defense wins games, we are not going to change much. It is plain and simple."

North Florida scored 52 points in the paint and 16 second chance points while Tech had only 10 second chance points and 46 points on poor shooting inside the arc.

"Tonight Georgia Tech made more threes than us, but we shot 74% at teh rim and it was all layups and dunks and wide-open threes so you pick what you want to take away and we are going to attack whatever that looks like," North Florida coach Matthew Driscoll said. "When you don't turn the ball over and you have this much talent that plays with a lot of confidence, you saw some shots tonight and some scores from that confidence."

Georgia Tech controlled much of the first half before North Florida took the first lead of the game with 2:36 left in the half. The Ospreys ended up leading by four at the break 53-49 behind balanced scoring and 55.6% shooting and 8-9 free throw shooting in the first half. Poor free throw shooting held the Jackets down in the first half hitting just 1 of 6 attempts. Both Luke O’Brien and Javian McCollum hit double-figures in the first half with 11 and 12 points each.

Freshmen Jaeden Mustaf and Darrion Sutton missed the game with injuries. Stoudamire said that Mustaf has a thumb injury suffered in practice that will have him out for a week to 10 days and Sutton is dealing with a hamstring injury.

Tech took a 14-11 lead into the first media timeout as both teams went back and forth offensively in the first four-plus minutes of action. The action stayed tight through the second media timeout as Tech held a 24-22 lead with 11:35 left in the half. Tech went on a 7-0 run to go up seven, but the Ospreys countered with their own 7-0 run to tie the game at 33 at the under-eight timeout. North Florida took their first lead of the game 40-39 on a three by Liam Murphy with 4:55 left. Tech went through two-minute scoreless stretch and North Florida went up three, 47-44 with 2:36 left in the game. Tech trailed 53-49 at the break after Luke O’Brien missed a three at the buzzer to pull the Jackets within one.

Tech clawed back and retook the lead in the second half, but North Florida used a 9-0 run to go up 64-56 forcing Stoudamire to burn a timeout after Baye Ndongo missed multiple close-in baskets. The run extended to 11-0 before Doryan Onwuchekwa hit a putback to end the run. The Osprey used several missed shots and turnovers to extend the lead to 20, 80-60 with 11:03 left in the game before Tech used a 7-0 run to cut it back to 13. Tech got it down to 12 with a chance to make it nine, before North Florida used a 7-0 run to go back up 19, 89-70.