Tech Drops Tight Contest at NC State

Raleigh, N.C. – Miles Kelly led four Georgia Tech players in double figures, and the Yellow Jackets led as late as the under-4 media timeout of the second half, but NC State closed the game on a 12-3 spurt and claimed a 72-64 Atlantic Coast Conference men’s basketball victory Saturday at PNC Arena.

Tech (8-15, 1-12 ACC), which had won four straight games against NC State on its home court, appeared poised for a fifth when it battled to take the lead midway through the second half and held the advantage for more than six minutes. Instead, the Yellow Jackets sustained their ninth straight loss.

With Tech leading 61-60 the media timeout, Wolfpack (19-5, 9-4 ACC) turned to a reliable source in center D.J. Burns, who pulled his team back ahead with a pair of free throws at the 2:34 mark, and Casey Morsell drained a long three for a 65-61 NC State lead with 2:06 to go. Jarkel Joiner and Ernest Ross each tacked on a pair of free throws for a 69-61 advantage before Tech scored again.

Tech connected on 44.1 percent of its shots from the floor and 8-of-24 from three-point range, and the Jackets limited the Wolfpack to 41.1 percent from the floor and held their high-scoring guard tandem of Joiner and Terquavion Smith to 10 total points. Burns and Morsell picked up the slack for State with 24 and 17 points, respectively.

Kelly scored 17 points, hitting 7-of-14 shots from the floor and 3-of-8 from three-point range with a career-high nine rebounds, while center Ja’von Franklin countered Burns inside with 16 points (7-of-12 FG), eight boards, five assists and five blocked shots. Kyle Sturdivant added 13 points and four assists, and Lance Terry returned from a four-game injury absence to score 10.

Tech returns to action Wednesday with a 7 p.m. contest against Notre Dame at McCamish Pavilion. The game will be televised live on the ACC Network.

 

Lance Terry returned from a four-game absence to score 10 points. (photo by Olivia Dail)

 

Post-Game Notes

TEAM TRENDS

• NC State swept the regular-season series from Tech for the first time since the 2012-13 season, and snapped a four-game losing streak to the Yellow Jackets on its home floor. Tech had not lost to the Wolfpack at PNC Arena since Jan. 26, 2014.
• Georgia Tech has utilized 11 different starting lineups total this season. Nine Yellow Jackets have started at least two games this season, eight have started at least nine games, nine have started at least one ACC game, and none have started every game.
• Tech’s five starters in the NC State game played the entire second half until Ja’von Franklin fouled out with 11 seconds left in the game.
• Franklin became just the second Tech player to foul out this season, Jordan Meka, who replaced Franklin for the final 11 seconds, fouled out of the Dec. 17 game against Alabama State.
• Nine or more Yellow Jackets have taken the court in 16 of 23 games. Tech ranks No. 99 in the nation this season in bench minutes (34.1 pct.), and only one other Josh Pastner Tech team has seen its reserves play more. At NC State, however, Tech’s four reserves played a total of 14 minutes. All five starters were on the court for more than 36 minutes each.
• Tech has averaged 24.4 three-point attempts in ACC games, trying at least 20 in every game except Virginia (16).
• Tech’s 44.1-percent success rate from the floor was its best since it connected on 44.4 percent against Virginia on Dec. 31, a span of 10 games. Its 33.3-percent conversion on three-pointers (8-of-24) was the Jackets’ best since Jan. 14 vs. Pitt (41.4 pct., 12-of-29). Still, Tech has made just 30 percent of its threes in ACC play, and 24.3 percent over its last six games.
• Tech outshot an opponent from the floor (44.1 pct. to NC State’s 41.9 pct.) for the first time since Jan 4 vs. Miami, and lost for the first time this season when doing so. Tech is 1-14 this season when the opponent makes a higher percentage of its field goal attempts, 7-1 when it has a better percentage.
• Tech is 6-1 this season when scoring 70 or more points (1-0 in the ACC), 2-14 when failing to reach 70. The Jackets have reached 70 points in ACC play only against Miami and Notre Dame.
• Tech went 4-for-6 from the foul line at NC State and has hit just 39-of-68 over its previous seven games. The Jackets have scored 14.6 percent of their points from the foul line this season.
• Tech has assisted on 55.6 percent of their field goals in ACC games, fourth-best in the ACC.
• Tech’s bench scored no points (0-for-4 FG) for the first time this season. The Jackets entered the weekend No. 1 in the ACC in bench scoring (21.1 points per game).

PLAYER UPDATES

• Miles Kelly has led Tech in scoring seven times this season, and did so against NC State (17 points) for the first time since Jan. 4 against Miami, Tech’s only ACC win.
• Kelly has scored 33 points in his last two games (16 at Louisville Wednesday night), his best back-to-back games since scoring 20 against Miami on Jan. 4 and 16 on Jan. 7 at Florida State.
• Center Ja’von Franklin filled up the stat sheet with 16 points and eight rebounds, as well as five assists and five blocked shots, both of which were career highs. The 16 points were one shy of his season best.
• Franklin has blocked eight shots in his last two games and ranks fifth in the ACC at 1.59 per game.
• Franklin has averaged 10.5 points and 6.8 rebounds over Tech’s last four games, hitting 19-of-32 from the floor in that stretch.
• Away from McCamish Pavilion this season, Franklin has averaged 9.2 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.8 blocked shots and 1.9 assists per game. He has hit 54.5 percent of his shots from the floor (36-of-66).
• Kyle Sturdivant’s 30 points in his last two games (17 at Louisville, 13 at NC State) is his best back-to-back effort of the season. He played more than 37 minutes in each game, hit 10-of-26 shots from the floor, 5-of-15 from three-point range, dished eight assists and grabbed eight rebounds.
• Lance Terry returned from a four-game injury absence (hamstring) to score 10 points (4-of-9 FG) in more than 38 minutes. He has seven double-figure scoring games this season and is Tech’s second-leading scorer in ACC games (9.3 ppg).

Kyle Sturdivant hit three three-point field goals in the first half and scored 13 points. (photo by Olivia Dail)

 

Game Highlights

Post-Game Press Conference

Head coach Josh Pastner post-game audio