Jackets Drop Another Close One, 58-55 at Notre Dame

South Bend, Ind. – Georgia Tech got double-figure performances from freshmen Ibrahima Sacko and Baye Ndongo and junior Miles Kelly, but a four-minute scoring drought late in the game led to a 58-55 loss to Notre Dame Wednesday night at Purcell Pavilion.

Tech (10-15, 3-11 ACC) lost its fourth straight game despite outshooting the Fighting Irish, 46 percent to 32. But Notre Dame (9-16, 4-10 ACC), which swept the season series from the Jackets, countered by outscoring the visitors 17-6 at the foul line and scoring 20 second-chance points on 16 offensive rebounds.

Trailing 31-28 at the half, Tech went on a 9-1 spurt to open the second period – three straight buckets from Kelly, Kowacie Reeves, Jr., and Ndongo, then a three from George after a Notre Dame free throw – to take a 37-32 lead forcing the Irish to take a timeout.

Notre Dame rallied back, taking a 49-46 lead with a 6-0 run capped by Markus Burton’s two free throws with 7:49 left. Kelly scored Tech’s next seven points, tying the game at 49 with a three-pointer, then adding a pair of free throws and a layup to give the Jackets their last lead, 53-52, with 4:33 to go.

Tech did not score for the next four minutes as Notre Dame nudged back ahead with a three-pointer and a baseline jumper by J.R. Konieczny and Tae Davis’ layup for a 56-53 lead with 1:23 left. Ndongo broke the drought with a layin to make it 56-55, and the Jackets forced a miss by the Irish, but the home team came up with the rebound, and Burton added a pair of free throws with 1.2 seconds left for the final margin.

Sacko led Tech with 13 points, hitting 6-of-8 shots from the floor, while Kelly and Ndongo each scored 11. Burton scored a game-high 18 for the Fighting Irish, with Davis adding 17.

Tech returns home to face Syracuse for the first time this season Saturday at McCamish Pavilion. Tip is at 5:30 p.m., and the game will be televised live on The CW Network.

 

Kowacie Reeves, Jr. (14) scored seven points with six rebounds for the Jackets.

 

Post-Game Notes

TEAM NOTES

• Tech is 0-10 at Purcell Pavilion since Notre Dame joined the ACC, 1-11 all-time, and is 2-8 in true road games this season.
• Ten of Tech’s 14 ACC games have been decided by single digits. Seventeen of Tech’s 24 games this season have been decided by fewer than 10 points, tied for the second-most in Division I, and the Yellow Jackets are 8-9 in these games. Ten games have been decided by five points or fewer.
• Tech has scored less than 60 points three times this season (at Cincinnati, Wake Forest, at Notre Dame), all losses.
• Tech has held three opponents under 60 points this season, but this was the first loss in such a game. The last time Tech lost a game in which the opponent scored fewer than 60 points was Jan. 9, 2019, a 52-49 loss to Virginia Tech.
• At least nine players have seen the court in 24 of Tech’s first 25 games (only eight played against Hawai’i). Eight players average more than 16 minutes per game in ACC games.
• Tech ranks No. 36 nationally in use of its bench, 34.7 percent of the minutes compared to a national average of 31.2 percent. The Jackets rank No. 2 in the ACC and No. 82 nationally in bench scoring (24.4 points per game). Tech’s reserves have scored 20 or more points in nine straight games.
• Tech has made 73.5 percent of its free throws (114-of-155) in its last five games.

PLAYER NOTES

• Freshman Ibrahima Sacko more than doubled his season high in points by scoring a team-high 13 at Notre Dame. His previous six at Louisville). The 6-7 forward made 6-of-8 shots from the floor, including a three-pointer. He added four rebounds, an assist, a block and a steal in a season-high 26 minutes.
• Mile Kelly is now 24 points away from reaching 1,000 for his career after tallying 11 at Notre Dame. He would become the 48^th player in Tech history to reach that milestone.
• Carter Murphy, a grad transfer from Air Force, has played 38 minutes in Tech’s last two games, the most he has played all season. He scored a season-high eight points against Louisville, including a pair of three-point field goals, and added another three at Notre Dame.
• A freshman has led Tech in scoring in 10 of its last 16 games, with Ibrahima Sacko doing the honors at Notre Dame. Baye Ndongo led the Jackets in points in seven games, Naithan George in three.

Miles Kelly (13) scored 11 points for Tech.

 

Game Highlights

Post-Game Press Conference Audio

Head coach Damon Stoudamire, junior guard Miles Kelly