DALLAS, TX- Georgia Tech faced SMU for the first time as ACC foes on Saturday afternoon in Moody Coliseum and the Jackets fell 93-71 in a game they trailed by as much as 37 points in. Tech fell to 8-9 on the season and 2-4 in ACC play while SMU improved to 12-4 and 3-2 in ACC play.
The Jackets trailed big in the first half as they struggled with turnovers, bad defense, hot SMU perimeter scoring, and poor shooting on the offensive end.
The second half was more favorable to the Jackets but overall it was a poor performance.
In his return to his hometown, Tech forward Duncan Powell scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds on 5-10 shooting. It was the first time he played a game in his hometown since his junior year in high school.
"Coming home put everything into perspective. The last time I was here playing I was like 17 and I missed two years of playing and I'm grateful to play the game of basketball. We didn't play good at all and we didn't do what we needed to do at all," Powell said.
Guard Javian McCollum led the Jackets with 20 points on 7-11 shooting and 5-8 from three along with four rebounds and five assists off the bench.
Senior guard Lance Terry battling a stomach bug was held to 10 points on 5-15 shooting but was 0-6 from three.
Tech point guard Naithan George was 4-10 shooting with 11 points and 10 assists but he also had seven turnovers.
SMU was led by guard B.J. Edwards who scored 19 points on 8-11 shooting and had six steals. Chuck Harris led all scorers with 21 points and was 4-6 from three. Tech did hold Boopie Miller in check with just four points on 2-7 shooting, but he had nine assists in the game.
Georgia Tech trailed 50-19 at the break thanks to 15 turnovers on 11 SMU steals in the first half and tailed by as much as 33 at one point. Tech shot just 29.2 percent from the floor and 1-7 from three in the first half. SMU shot 55.9 percent from the floor and 8-14 from three.
“SMU shot the three-ball well and I thought they did a good job of capitalizing on our mistakes,” Tech head coach Damon Stoudamire said after the game. “We had 22 turnovers and they are not even a team trying to turn you like that. I think that is probably the most disappointing thing. My team we have a thing, if we share the ball we are pretty good, but we have to share the ball from the start. When we don’t share the ball this is how we look... We put ourselves in an insurmountable hole and we couldn't get it back.”
Stoudamire said his guards are trying too hard to make a big play instead of settling for what the defense is giving them leading to the flurry of turnovers.
"We need to hit singles and for whatever reason we try to hit home runs and you can't do that against a heavy gap team. You've got to take what the game gives you and that is the disappointing part to me. That is two games in a row where we put ourselves in a hole with our offense. Everybody talks about teams that score points, I don't care what sport you are in, if you play basketball and have live ball turnovers in football that is like an interception returned for a TD, or a pick-six those are killers or a fumble recovery. It just multiples in basketball then you have a 6-0 run, a 9-0 run, a 10-0 run and then a 12-0 and you are down 32-13. It is hard and we don't have the wiggle room to put ourselves in that type of situation."
Tech ended the game with 22 turnovers and 22 assists but only two steals with the second coming late in garbage time. SMU had 15 steals in the game and just 10 turnovers while compiling 25 assists. The Mustangs shot 50 percent from the field and 14-28 (50 percent) from three. Stoudamire said that they were supposed to run SMU off the three-point line but his players didn't execute the game plan.
"What surprised me was we didn't run them off the line because that is what we talked about. Listen the one thing about SMU is they are not trying to trick you. They have a really good three-point shooting team. The first play of the game we get a layup and we come back down and (Matt) Cross who we played against last year at UMass we close out short on like he isn't going to shoot a three and he is 40+ on the season. At this juncture, the numbers are the numbers and say what they say, he has enough attempts you have to make him a driver. We have to do better understanding the assignment and that is each and every game," Stoudamire.
SMU took an early 11-2 lead behind a trio of early three-pointers while big man Ryan Mutombo got stuffed at the rim multiple times by Samet Yigitoglu capping an an 11-0 run. SMU extended the run to 18-2 before McCollum hit a three. The Mustangs used a 7-0 run to extend their lead to 32-13 leading to another Stoudamire timeout with 10:03 left in the half. The lead extended to 22 after the U-8 timeout with 7:58 left 37-15. The run extended to 14-0 before Tech responded but the SMU lead grew to 31, 46-15. The Mustangs got the lead to 33 with 2:12 left, 50-17.
SMU used a 7-0 run to push the lead to 59-22 in the opening four minutes of the second half. Ndongo was ejected with 11:27 left in the game for a flagrant-two foul on Yigitoglu. Jaeden Mustaf fouled out with 6:32 left in the game. Tech outscored SMU 52-43 in the second half.
“Georgia Tech is a very good team and they are very good offensively. They have a lot of guys who can score as you saw in the second half and their guards are good and Duncan Powell had a great game tonight with 13 and 11,” SMU coach Andy Enfield said. “We knew this was going to be a close one and as you saw in the second half it was."
The Jackets return home to McCamish Pavilion to face Clemson Tueday night at 9 pm.
