ATLANTA- It was far from pretty with four scholarship players out for the game against Georgia Southern and Mike Devoe being forced to pull a Willis Reed and play through the flu but the Jackets beat the Eagles 61-59 on Friday afternoon in McCamish Pavilion to improve to 5-1 on the season. The Eagles fell to 4-2. Devoe ended up with 26 points in 30 minutes off the bench for the Jackets hitting 8 of his 16 shots including 5-for-9 from three and 5-for-7 from the free-throw line.

Tech head coach Josh Pastner was more relieved than anything after the win.

"It was a great win," he said. "Georgia Southern is a really good basketball team and I think they are very well-coached. I think coach (Brian) Burg does a great job. I told them before the game if we are fortunate enough to win this game it will be a good win for our program because they are a good team and they are going to win a lot of games in their conference. I'm really proud of our young men."

The Jackets started the game without Devoe, point guard Deivon Smith, backup big man Jordan Meka and guard Tristan Maxwell as well as walk-ons Jermontae Hill, Jehloni James and Brayden Daniels who were all out with the flu, and Bubba Parham who was also still out recovering from knee surgery. Tech started the game with eight scholarship players and one walk-on before Devoe joined the game midway through the first half.

"We've just been hit with the flu terribly this week," Pastner said. "It has been running through our team. Tuesday we had to cancel practice because we didn't have enough guys. Wednesday we had five guys so we were able to shoot and lift but that was all we had. Yesterday, we showed up with 10 total guys including Coleman Boyd a walk-on and we just did shooting and the only way we could prepare for the game was through film. I was planning on Michael Devoe playing and then he got sick again."

Pastner said that Devoe was a very late scratch to the starting lineup after he fell ill during early warm-ups before reappearing midway through the first half dressed in his uniform.

"I was doing the pre-game radio with Andy Demetra and he was walking in and looked like something happened to him. He was fine at breakfast this morning. I saw coach (Julian) Swartz behind him and he was shaking his head and I said to Demetra I guess Devoe is not playing today. He told me he was sick again and I told him to lay down in the locker room because he said I'm lightheaded. He came out in the middle of the first half and said coach I'm ready to go and I didn't take him out after that, he played all 30 minutes."

Devoe who had 26 points, also had five assists and four turnovers in a ragged performance as he battled the flu.

"I really just wanted to go out there and fight with my brothers," he said of his decision to play. "I saw their energy and stuff and I just wanted to go out there and contribute. I feel pretty good now but I think it is the adrenaline but before the game, I did not feel so well and I did not know if I would be able to go or not."

Kyle Sturdivant had 11 points, five rebounds and two steals and Rodney Howard had 10 points, three assists with just one turnover and six rebounds. Jordan Usher struggled offensively but added 10 rebounds and a steal.

"How about Rodney Howard's development," Pastner said. "That guy and how much better he has gotten from the first game against Miami (OH) to now, where he had a heck of a game. Last year I literally couldn't put him in games and now it is hard to take him off the court. We pride ourselves on player development and we might not get five-star recruits, but we've done a five-star level job in player development getting guys better and coach Eric Reveno has done a great job with Rodney Howard."

Elijah McCadden and Cam Bryant each had 14 points, Bryant had 11 in the first half and Kamari Brown also had 11 in the first half and was held to just two in the second half as the Jackets adjusted defensively holding Southern to just 28.6-percent shooting in the second half compared to 55.2 in the first half. Southern only scored 20 points in the second half and were just one-for-nine in the second half.

"We held them to 20 points in the second half off our defense and we've been a good defensive team but we held them to 1-for-9 from three and we were fortunate because we did miss some free throws (12-24 FTs)," Pastner said.

Burg said the Jackets did a good job adjusting to his team at the half as well and his team played with less discipline in the second half as well.

"I thought it was a hard-fought game played for 40 minutes and give credit to Georgia Tech and the adjustments they made at halftime. We came out the first 20 minutes and played really good basketball and I thought we were extremely disciplined executing the game plan and jumped out to a big lead but give credit to Georgia Tech they are a well-coached team and they made adjustments at halftime," Burg said.

One of the turning points in the game was a technical foul accessed against Burg that fired his team up going on a 7-1 run that was ended with a Devoe free throw on the final Tech possession.

"I teach our guys to be extremely unselfish every single day whether it be in practice, whether it be off the court, on the court and to get no technicals during the game, so I take ownership in regards to the technical foul," Burg said. "I'm just fighting for my players and I asked these guys to do an awful lot every single day and I'm also extremely demanding of our staff. I'm right there with them."

Tech shot the ball at a 48-percent clip in the second half after struggling at 34.6-percent in the first half.

Missed free throws kept the game close as the Jackets missed 12 of the 24 attempts at the charity stripe.

It was a low-scoring affair early with Georgia Southern leading 11-10 at the under 12 timeout. Trailing 14-10, Mike Devoe came off the bench with 10:17 left in the half. The Eagles continued a 9-0 extending their lead to 10, 20-10 with 9:44 left in the first half. Tech ended up down 12 at the break 39-27 with Devoe leading the way with 11 points off the bench. Georgia Southern shot 55.2-percent from the field while Tech shot just 34.6 percent. Jordan Usher was 1-6 shooting, 0-3 from three and 0-2 from the line with two turnovers in the first half. Cam Bryant and Kamari Brown each had 11 for the Eagles both on 4-7 shooting from the field.

Rodney Howard got going to start the second half with five points quickly in the first 90 seconds of the half to make it a 7-point game. Kyle Sturdivant hit a basket to make it a 40-36 game leading to a timeout by the Eagles. Usher out of the under-16 timeout hit a three to make it 40-39. Southern snapped a four-minute scoring drought and a 7-0 run by Tech to make it 42-39, but Devoe hit back-to-back baskets to give Tech the lead 43-42. The Eagles fought back retaking the lead 48-47 with 9:25 to go. Devoe hit a stepback three and the Eagles hit a pair of free throws to tie the game at 50. Devoe hit a corner three to make it 53-50 at the under-8 media timeout. Georgia Southern coach Brian Burg got a technical foul with 3:20 left for arguing about a non-foul call against Tech. Devoe hit the two free throws to make it a 59-52 game. Missed free throws and turnovers kept the Eagles in the game. Bryant hit a three with 53.6 left to make it a one-point game 60-59 after three straight turnovers by the Jackets. Devoe turned the ball over on the next possession. Usher got a key defensive rebound and got the ball to Devoe who was fouled. Devoe hit one of his two free throws to make it 61-59 with 7.8 seconds left. Elijah McCadden missed a three and Tech got the rebound to seal the win.

Georgia Tech hosts Wisconsin on Wednesday at 9:15 pm as the closing game of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The Eagles play at Morehead State on Wednesday in Kentucky. The Badgers are red hot coming off winning the Maui Invitational. The Jackets will raise the 2020-21 ACC Championship banner at the game.