Tech swarm Clemson for a 69-64 win on Saturday afternoon
ATLANTA- Georgia Tech needed a win badly after two tough losses in a row and a slow start in ACC play and the Jackets’ strong first-half defense and good shooting delivered a 69-64 win over Clemson on Saturday in McCamish Pavilion. Tech improved to 3-8 in ACC play and 10-12 overall on the year while Clemson fell to 4-6 in ACC play and 12-10 overall.
Tech jumped out early with a 21-2 run to a lead of 16 points late in the first half and held off a late charge by the Tigers to win after losing two games in a row.
“Great win for the Yellow Jackets today and a great win for us. Clemson is a great coach and coach (Brad) Brownell does a great job, we had a great team win. Great contribution from everyone and well-coached and coach Brownell has been in the league for a long time. When Coach K retires this year he will be one of the longest-tenured ACC coaches. I’m really proud of our guys and it was a great crowd in the building and glad we were able to win,” Tech head coach Josh Pastner said. “We are getting better as a team.”
The win moved Tech up two spots in the ACC Standings from last to 13th place and one win away from 10th place in the jumbled middle part of the ACC.
Deivon Smith was the star of the game for Tech with great play on both sides of the court helping him to a season-high 16 points and eight rebounds as well as four of those rebounds coming on the offensive side as well as six assists.
“Just playing hard and wanting to win for our team and my brothers,” Smith said of his play on the offensive glass.
Smith was bothered the game was so close in the end as he said they should've put Clemson away in the second half instead of letting them get within three late.
“We shouldn’t have been in a dogfight late and we need to pull away better from teams when we have them down,” Smith said of the late Clemson run.
Jordan Usher was plagued with foul trouble in the second half but delivered late in the game finishing up with 14 points and three steals.
Mike Devoe had an off-night shooting, but his passing was big in the second half with four second-half assists that led to several big threes.
“Devoe is a great player and we recruited him, he made really good plays and Deivon made some plays off penetration and I give credit to their guys, that was the difference,” Brownell said. “We did a good job of keeping him out of rhythm and when some other guys go he doesn’t have to go,” Brownell said.
With Clemson keying on Devoe throughout the game, Pastner allowed Devoe to distribute the ball more instead of forcing offense and Tech had 18 assists on 25 made field goals, a key metric he looks for that has been down this year.
“Michael Devoe in the second half, the way he played and the way he moved the ball. His shot wasn’t falling, but he had five assists. I thought our two bigs Meka and Howard gave us big minutes. Khalid was solid and Jordan Usher had some big shots and defensive plays. Deebo and Miles Kelly had a great shooting night and were 6-12 shooting from three and Devion Smith and Kyle Sturdivant were great at point guard,” Pastner said.
Freshmen Deebo Coleman (9 points) and Miles Kelly (10 points) stepped up for Devoe from three hitting a combined 6-of-12 from the arc. Tech's bench ended up with 37 points while Clemson had just 14 points off the bench.
“We’ve got good young guys and good older guys, but it takes time with the young guys, we mirror the Georgia Tech student body and you have to be a genius to get in and stay in. My respect for these students and anyone who graduated from here is incredible. There is no school like it with the curriculum and what it takes here,” he said. “It takes time with class and it takes time with basketball and because of that you will get guys you need to develop them. I’m excited about our young guys who are getting great experience. I’m excited about Jalon Moore and he didn’t even play today. We need the young guys to step up and Usher and Devoe and Khalid Moore to step up.”
Jordan Meka was also a key contributor playing most of the game at center despite foul trouble in the second half after replacing Rodney Howard in the first three minutes of the game. Meka had just two points and five rebounds, but his defense was big including three steals.
Meka's entrance into the game coincided with the 21-2 run as Tech switched between the zone and man-to-man defense confusing Clemson and leading to turnovers and transition baskets.
“Jordan Meka gave us great minutes, it was a feel thing, it wasn’t anything Rodney didn’t do, Jordan gave us some great minutes, but that change changed the flow of the game and then we got up 16 and held on,” Pastner said. "It was a feel thing (with Meka) we needed something different with him and it worked itself out. He has been doing good in practice and he gave us energy in there."
Usher said that Meka isn't a stat sheet stuffer, but what he was doing on the court was immeasurable both on the glass and defensively.
“It is tough on Jordan, but he plays so physical but he gets a lot of fouls, he got a lot of tipouts and we got a couple of threes, he needs to see a couple go in and it was like the Georgia State game he had,” Usher said of Meka said.
Al-Amir Dawes was big for Clemson in the second half hitting on five of seven three-point attempts in the second half while the rest of the team was 0-8. Dwaes had 15 points for the Tigers all from three.
PJ Hall scored 16 points but it took him 14 shots to do so because of Meka’s defense in the paint. Tech outscored Clemson 24-20 in the paint despite only getting four points from the post.
“Congrats to Georgia Tech and Josh and his guys, they just outplayed us today. We struggled against their zone in the first half. PJ looked a little slow and he didn’t practice leading into the game, we usually get him in 30 minutes of work before the game, he settled in during the second half, but their kids made better plays than us. Deivon Smith was excellent, he scored and got some timely offensive tips. We did as good of a job as we can against Devoe and Usher, but Kelly comes in and makes threes,” Brownell said.
Tech shot 40-percent from three for the game while holding Clemson to 25-percent and the Jackets had 15 second-chance points and 16 fastbreak points doubling up the Tigers in both of those categories.
Brownell said the ACC is deeper than people realize and not everyone is giving the Jackets enough credit for how dangerous they are every game.
“I think the middle and the bottom of the league is better than people think, you got Mike Devoe and Jordan Usher on your team, they are high-level players. We have PJ Hall who is a high-level player and it is hard to win, they played well today and it was a good win for them,” Brownell said.
Former Yellow Jacket and recently retired NBA guard Anthony Morrow met with team on Friday and was sitting courtside during the game. Both Usher and Smith said it was inspiring meeting and spending quality time with Morrow over the previous two days.
"Anthony Morrow sat in the locker room with us yesterday and some guys were down and he told us to keep playing through it,” Smith said.
Usher said it was interesting seeing how someone who had been in their shoes react to coming home to Tech and how close they felt with a long-time NBA player.
“People look up to him and want to have the career he had both here at Tech and in the NBA. He was sitting at his old locker and he was saying this is a lot nicer and he wanted to come back and play here with us and I would take him,” Usher said of Morrow.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Georgia Tech trailed early thanks to some missed buckets from three and around the rim trailing 8-2 early. Usher and Devoe scored on back-to-back plays to bring it to 8-7 after the first media timeout with 15:03 left in the half. Jordan Meka was the first sub in the game followed by Deebo Coleman at the next deadball. Tech pulled ahead on a Sturdivant three and held a 12-10 lead at the next media timeout at 11:30. Tech continued to pull away on a 21-2 run before Brownell called a timeout with 7:13 left in the half and Tech also on a 13-0 run and Clemson scoreless for 5:41. Clemson went on a 6-0 run to cut it to 26-16 at the final media timeout of the half while Jordan Meka was on the bench for a break. Georgia Tech ended the half with two strong defensive plays to take a 33-20 lead to the locker room. Tech forced 12 first half turnovers by Clemson and held the Tigers to 1-9 shooting from three in the half. Naz Bohannon was the only bright spot on offense for Clemson in the first half with 7 points, while three different Jackets hit that mark Sturdivant, Usher and Kelly. Mike Devoe struggled hitting just one of his four shots and he was on the bench for Miles Kelly during Tech’s big run. The Jackets hit 5 of 11 from the arc in the first half.
Tech started the second half flat, allowing Clemson to claw within 5 thanks to back-to-back offensive fouls by Jordan Usher, but a Deebo Coleman three and a an old-fashioned three-point play by Smith allowed the Jackets to pull away by 11 41-30 at the first media timeout. Coleman hit another three to make it a 14-point game prompting a timeout by Clemson. Clemson hung around in the next stretch 51-38 with 11:22 to go and Jordan Meka picked up his fourth foul during that stretch. That led to Rodney Howard coming back in the game for the first time since early in the first half. Tech’s lead dropped to eight during the time on the floor with Howard 56-48 leading to a Pastner timeout with 7:03 to go. Usher came in off the bench and scored on a backcut and picked up a free throw to make it 59-48 Tech out of the timeout. Dawes hit a three for Clemson to make it 59-53 with 4:33 left helped by a Tech scoring funk. Usher hit a three off a good pass by Devoe to put Tech back up nine. Smith and Hall traded buckets leading to a Clemson timeout with 1:33 to go and Tech up 64-57 with the ball. Brownell opted to start fouling to lengthen the game, Smith hit both his free throws to make it 66-57 with 1:26 to go. Dawes hit a three to make it 66-60 and David Collins hit a bucket after a Tech miss to make it 66-62. Tech turned the ball over and then Usher stole the ball and Chase Hunter committed a foul on Smith. Smith hit one of two and Devoe then fouled Collins on the other end going for a steal with 20.6 left. Collins hit both to make it 67-64 Tech. Sturdivant hit one of two free throws on the other end and Hall missed a three and Usher rebounded it and got fouled with 8.4 left. He hit one of two and Clemson could not hit on the other end and the clock hit zero.
UP NEXT
Georgia Tech hits the road to face Miami on Wednesday and then Virginia on Saturday in Charlottesville as part of a two-game road trip that will have a major impact on Tech's positioning for the ACC Tournament and any potential postseason hopes.
“We have two tough games coming up, we are 1-0 in the second half of the season right now,” Pastner said. “People think that if UNC and Duke are not #1 in the AP Poll the league is down, that is from the 90s or 2000s, the parity in the league and everybody can beat anyone else. From top to bottom the parity is as equal as anywhere else in basketball. I’m in the league, people are fixated on this. If you are sick and you want to know something you go to the doctor, if I want to know if basketball is good I ask a coach and I’m telling you everyone is getting better and it will be a grind anytime we step on the floor,” he said.
Clemson will host Duke, North Carolina and Notre Dame in a three-game homestand all next week.