By Andy Demetra | Voice of the Yellow Jackets
A win is only as good as the follow-up.
A loss is only as bad as the response.
After watching his team sputter to an 89-66 defeat to Pittsburgh, Damon Stoudamire sensed Georgia Tech (11-8, 2-4 ACC) had reached a line-in-the-sand moment. How they held themselves accountable, how they rallied together and responded in their next matchup, against a hot-shooting NC State team at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, would be telling – one way or another.
How did we get here? And where do we go from here? Those questions set the tone for the Yellow Jackets’ next team meeting.
“We got a lot of clarity out of that meeting. It was a good meeting. What I took from there was that we’re still a connected group,” Stoudamire said afterwards.
That clarity and connectedness showed in a 78-74 come-from-behind win over the Wolfpack last Saturday.
The Yellow Jackets responded from a listless loss.
Can they now follow up on a stirring win?
After a midweek bye, Georgia Tech’s next opportunity comes at McCamish Pavilion against No. 18 Clemson (16-4, 6-1 ACC), which may find itself asking the same question that Tech did a week ago. Enjoy the top notes from my chart as the Jackets try to follow their first road win of the season with their first ranked win of the season (12:00 p.m. ET, Georgia Tech Sports Network).
Georgia Tech captured its first road win of the season at NC State last Saturday. (photo by Jaylynn Nash)
Unlike Tech, Clemson will be looking to brush off a loss to NC State: The Tigers had their nine-game win streak snapped on Tuesday in an 80-76 overtime loss to the Wolfpack at Littlejohn Coliseum.
Despite the setback, winning has remained a constant at Clemson, even with a roster that saw six players transfer and seven others exhaust their eligibility. The Tigers have won 11 straight ACC road games, and 16th-year head coach Brad Brownell still runs a system based on spacing, cutting, smart passing, and post touches. Between 6-7, 240-pound R.J. Godfrey (team-leading 12.2 ppg), 6-11 Carter Welling and 6-10 Nick Davidson, Clemson has a fleet of hard-to-move post targets with a knack for creating seals and angles.
The Tigers aren’t quite as dynamic from deep – they rank 223rd nationally in three-point percentage (33.4%) after finishing 39th in that category a year ago – though they’re actually hoisting threes at a higher rate than last year. Point guard Dillon Hunter is Clemson’s leader in both assists (3.2) and three-point percentage (39.7%) and offers no easy answers on ball screen coverage, while transfer Jestin Porter (11.2 ppg) gives them burst off the dribble. They’ll likely come out aggressive after going a combined 5 for 22 against NC State.
Managing the turnover margin will be crucial Saturday: Clemson commits the fewest turnovers per game in the ACC (9.8), while Georgia Tech averages the most (13.8). Can the Jackets also be disciplined on shot fakes and match a team that plays as physically as anyone in the ACC? Worth remembering: Clemson ranked third in the ACC in efficiency a year ago. Georgia Tech held them to 39.5% shooting across their two meetings.
When Georgia Tech knocked off Clemson in triple overtime last year, the Tigers ranked 22nd nationally in efficiency and 11th in three-point percentage. The Jackets held them to 36.4% shooting on their home floor.
When Tech knocked off NC State last week, the Wolfpack came in with strikingly similar rankings… and Georgia Tech held them to strikingly similar shooting numbers.
Team Off. Efficiency 3pt.% FG% vs. GT
at Clemson ’25 (W) #22 NCAA #11 NCAA 36.4%
at NC State ’26 (W) #26 NCAA #7 NCAA 37.1%
Since that loss at Littlejohn, Clemson had won 14 straight ACC regular season games before falling to the Wolfpack.
Jaeden Mustaf has scored in double-figures three times in ACC play. (photo by Danny Karnik)
NC State’s bench featured 6-8 freshman Musa Sagnia, a native of The Gambia who spent the past four years playing in the Spanish Liga ACB (where he occasionally dueled against former Yellow Jacket Ben Lammers).
The Gambia isn’t exactly well-worn recruiting territory in college basketball. There couldn’t possibly be a connection between Sagnia’s mater patria and this year’s Georgia Tech team, could there?
Au contraire. Jaeden Mustaf’s father, Jerrod, was appointed Sports Ambassador to The Gambia in 2006.
Mustaf paid his father quite the homage in Raleigh, recording his first career double-double and holding NC State’s leading scorer Darrion Williams to 2 of 11 shooting.
That two-way ability may be in even greater demand against Clemson, which ranks 15th nationally in defensive efficiency. The Tigers are physical with cutters, force drives into help, and flatten out teams’ spacing in the halfcourt, all of which result in labor-intensive possessions and disjointed, late-shot clock isolations:
Opponents vs. Clemson
Category Rate NCAA Rank
Offensive Rebounding % 24.8% #7
Assist Rate 44.4% #17
3pt.% 29.3% #23
Average Possession Length 18.6 seconds #357
*-Per KenPom
Georgia Tech had success against NC State by playing inside-out. Can they continue to cut with pace, not get bogged down in their short rolls, and get second-side opportunities against the Tigers’ prickly defense? With Clemson’s preference for playing two bigs, will that demand more of Tech’s frontcourt players besides Baye Ndongo? The junior had double-doubles in both meetings against Clemson last year and comes in needing eight points to reach 1,000 for his career.
Baye Ndongo has posted three double-doubles against Clemson in four meetings. (photo by Danny Karnik)
They’ve tested their nerves, to say nothing of their stamina. But all-time, Georgia Tech has played in four triple-overtime games.
The Jackets have won all four of them.
Even more impressive: Its opponent was ranked, and Georgia Tech came in unranked, in three of them.
Georgia Tech – Triple overtime games
Date Opponent Score
2-14-59 #14 Oklahoma City W 71-65
1-23-84 Virginia W 72-71
12-19-90 #17 Georgia W 112-105
2-4-25 #21 Clemson W 89-86
Now that we’re prepared, we hope you are as well. Join us for pregame coverage starting with the “Ramblin’ Wreck Tipoff Show” at 11:30 a.m. ET on the Georgia Tech Sports Network. See you at McCamish.
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