Tech's defense stifles NIU in 68-50 win to improve to 3-0

ATLANTA- Georgia Tech led by some stifling defense shut down Northern Illinois for a 68-50 win in McCamish Pavilion to move to 3-0 on the season. The Huskies fell to 1-2 on the season. A pair of strong efforts on the boards led the way with forward Ja’von Franklin going for 14 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks while point guard Deivon Smith fell just short of his own double-double with 11 points, nine rebounds, six assists and three blocks in the win.

It was the first 3-0 start under head coach Josh Pastner for the Jackets.

“We have been better as the season went on, but we have not started out well. We have a great test on Monday night against Utah down in Fort Myers, we have to keep getting better and being 3-0 beats the alternative,” Pastner said plainly after the game.

Tech struggled in the second half going stone cold from the floor and hitting just eight field goals in the second half, but they added eight free throws to pull out the win.

“We had to fight our way to win that game and that is a credit to coach Bruno, his staff and team,” Pastner said. “The first 18 minutes of the first half was great defensively, but the last two minutes of the first half and the first five minutes of the second half we were not getting it done on the defensive end."

During that stretch, Deivon Smith left the game to go through some protocols after a hard fall to the court after running into two NIU players. Smith missed the final six games of the season last year after a concussion at Pitt.

“It was a quick bang up and I had to go through some protocols, and I was able to get back on the court and finish the game with my teammates,” Smith said.

NIU cut the lead to seven during that stretch, but Tech was able to end a long five-minute scoring drought and pull away to put the game away.

Northern Illinois had 20 offensive rebounds in the game, but just six second-chance points and the Huskies missed 18 layups in the game.

“I’m really disappointed with our defensive rebounding and a couple of times they beat us to the ball and that was disappointing. We did a good job of not stopping playing when they got the ball, they beat us to the defensive glass,” Pastner said. “The rebounding aspect, we have to be better at that.”

Franklin said the Jackets have to get better at keeping teams out of second-chance opportunities by cleaning the boards better on the first shot.

“I think it was second chance effort and we have to do a better job on the first hit. We have a lot of guys that can block shots and we were getting back and getting the second board,” Franklin said.

Tech's second-chance defense kept the game outreach thanks to some timely blocks and misses.

“I loved the block shots and Ja’von and Deivon had eight and Jalon (Moore) had two. We need to have someone on the All-ACC defensive team and we didn’t last year. We’ve got to defend and rebound the ball and we have to have a lot of guys in contention for that.”

The five blocks were the most by a Tech player since 2020 when Moses Wright had seven blocks against Louisville playing all 40 minutes.

“Defense is ahead of our offense. We are not turning the ball over a lot, 11 turnovers in not bad, NIU came in averaging forcing 15 a game. We had some great looks we missed, we have to continue to get better and make sure we are better

Deebo Coleman added 12 points and Miles Kelly scored 13 off the bench for the Jackets, but he was just 1-7 from three in the game.

Starting Tech center Rodney Howard played only nine minutes in the game and just three in the second half after landing three first-half fouls. Pastner said that Franklin and Jalon Moore were able to fill that gap with Howard struggling.

“Rodney is really good for us. Today he didn’t get in a rhythm with foul trouble and Ja’von played great. Against Georgia State once he settled in he was really good defensively late in that game,” Pastner said. “We have more than five starters and we have great depth and it can be any group of five or any individual that can step up that night.”

Zarique Nutter scored 18 points to lead the Huskies and he added 15 rebounds including five offensive boards but it took him 16 shots to score 18. David Coit was the only other NIU player in double-digits with 10 points, but he took 16 shots to get there.

Tech held NIU to 26.9-percent shooting and under 21 percent from three. The Huskies also missed 12 free throws on 21 attempts.

The Jackets have held teams to just 18.3 percent from three this season through three games. Smith said that Tech's defense is what they are going to hang their hat on as a program.

“We are a really good defensive team at each position and we are on a string helping each other and guys are switching and all of us are on the court working hard on the defensive end,” Smith said.

The Jackets' defense will get tested next week with two games in Fort Myers facing Utah on Monday and then either Marquette or Mississippi State on Wednesday. Tech has not had a 4-0 start since the 2008-09 season.

Georgia Tech took an early 7-0 lead and led by 11-5 at the first media timeout against NIU. Tech extended the lead to 17-8 at the under-12 media timeout thanks to a pair of blocks and five rebounds early from Deivon Smith. Tech ended up leading 30-8 before David Coit hit a three to break a six-minute scoreless stretch for the Huskies. The Jackets led 34-15 at the final media timeout with 3:55 left. Tech ended up with a 43-20 lead over NIU at the break led by balanced scoring with six players with five or more points led by Miles Kelly off the bench with 9 points at the break. Tech shot 46.3-percent in the first half while NIU shot only 7 of 35 for 20 percent shooting and NIU was just 4-11 from the free-throw line. Tech also forced 10 first-half turnovers and had six blocks. Deivon Smith had eight rebounds, five assists and three blocks in the first half as well as seven points. Zarique Nutter led the Huskies with 7 points in the first half and 7 rebounds.

NIU came out and found some holes in the Georgia Tech defense to cut the lead down to 44-31 on the play before the layup that made it 44-31, Deivon Smith collided with a pair of NIU players and had to go to the locker room. NIU went on a 10-0 run thanks to turnovers by the Jackets leading to some transition buckets making it a 44-37 game. Tech went scoreless for over five minutes before a layup by Ja’von Franklin broke the cold stretch. Deivon Smith returned to the game with GT up 48-37 with 9:31 left in the game. Smith made an immediate impact with a fastbreak dish to Lance Terry for a dunk then block and an old-fashioned three-point play on the other end to put GT up 53-37. Deebo Coleman hit a three to make it 58-43 with under five minutes to go and then Coleman hit Kelly for a dunk on the fastbreak after a Terry steal to make it 60-43 leading to a Huskies timeout with 4:14 to go. Franklin picked up his fourth foul with 3:06 to go and Tech leading 62-45.