Tech Stymies Stanford at McCamish

THE FLATS – Georgia Tech men’s basketball held Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year candidate Maxime Raynaud to a season-low-tying eight points, and the short-handed Yellow Jackets put together another impressive all-around performance in their 60-52 win over 16-win Stanford on Wednesday night at McCamish Pavilion.

Playing once again without a slew of injured key players – including its top two leading scorers in Lance Terry (14.9 ppg) and Javian McCullom (12.2 ppg) – Georgia Tech picked up its third win in four games. All three wins over the last 12 days have come over opponents in the top third of the ACc standings – second-place Clemson, third-place Louisville and, now, sixth-place Stanford (16-9, 8-6 ACC).

Naithan George and Baye Ndongo led the way for Georgia Tech, with George scoring a game-high 22 points (his third-straight 20-point game) and Ndongo adding 15 points and a season-high 16 rebounds (his seventh double-double of the season and third in the last four games). Duncan Powell added 10 points and seven rebounds for the Yellow Jackets.

George, Powell and Ndongo combine to play 115 of a possible 120 minutes for the undermanned Jackets (40 for George and Powell and 35 for Ndongo).

However, the story of the game was the effort that Tech turned in against Raynaud. Guarded primarily by redshirt freshman Ibrahim Souare and Duncan, Raynaud scored just eight points on 4-of-13 shooting and pulled down just six rebounds, which matched his lowest scoring output of the season and was his fourth-lowest rebounding total of the season. The 7-foot-1 Parisian came into the evening ranked second in the ACC in scoring at 20.4 points per game and leading the conference in rebounding at 11.7 boards per game. He was held to single-digit points for only the second time this season (previous: 8 vs. Florida State on Jan. 25) and single-digit rebounds for the fourth time.

Georgia Tech raced out to a 20-10 lead early in the game, stretched the lead to as large as 20 points late in the first half and never trailed. Despite Raynaud’s looming presence in the middle, Tech had a commanding 42-33 rebounding advantage and blocked five shots (three by Ndongo). Stanford’s 52 points were a season low (prev.: 61 at SMU on Feb. 1) and marked only the fourth time that it was held under 70 points on the campaign.

The Yellow Jackets (12-13, 6-8 ACC) will look to stay hot when they welcome their other new conference-mate from the Bay Area, California, to McCamish Pavilion on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on ACC Network.

Naithan George scored a game-high 22 points – his third-straight 20-point game – in Wednesday’s win over Stanford. (photo by Danny Karnik)

 

POST-GAME NOTES

TEAM NOTES

• Tech is now alone in 10^th place in the ACC standings, a mere half-game out of 9^th place (and a first-round bye in the ACC Tournament if the regular season ended tonight).
• Tech has won three of its last four games, four of its last six. The Jackets are just one win shy of their ACC win total from 2023-24.
• Tech has utilized 9 different starting lineups through its first 25 games this season, all because of injury. An injury to Javian McCollum at Clemson prompted the Jackets to send out a new first five at Virginia, with Duncan Powell back in the starting lineup for the third time. Lance Terry’s unavailability (wrist) vs. Stanford opened a spot for freshman Darrion Sutton to make his first collegiate start.
• Stanford’s 52 points were the fewest allowed by Tech since a 69-50 win over Northern Illinois Nov. 17, 2022. It was the fewest Tech has allowed an ACC team since a 71-52 win over Boston College on Jan. 11, 2020. It was also a season-low in points for the Cardinal, who came in averaging 74.5 points per game in ACC play and whose previous low this season was 61.
• Tech’s 60 points were the fewest it has scored in a victory under Damon Stoudamire (the Jackets defeated Syracuse, 65-60, at home last Feb. 17). Tech hasn’t defeated an ACC team scoring 60 points or fewer since it defeated Syracuse, 55-51, on Jan. 31, 2018.
• Tech permitted Stanford to shoot just 30.3% from the floor, the best performance by a Tech defense this season, and 18.5% (5-of-27) from three-point range, second-best this season.
• Tech allowed just 20 points to Stanford in the first half, the fewest points allowed by the Jackets in any half this season, and limited the Cardinal to 23.3% shooting from the floor, 3-of-10 from three-point range.
• Tech’s performance at the free throw line, a season-best 17-of-19 (89.5%) likely was the key factor in defeating Stanford. The Jackets came into the game last in the ACC in free throw percentage.

PLAYER NOTES

• Naithan George has scored in double digits in 12 straight games, and 20-plus in his last three, after tallying a game-high 22 points against Stanford. The 6-3 sophomore has averaged 23.3 points (25-of-54 FG, 10-of-23 3pt FG, 10-of-13 FT) over that stretch, along with 6.0 rebounds and 5.9 assists.
• Baye Ndongo notched his seventh double-double this season and third in Tech’s last four games with 15 points and 16 rebounds against Stanford. The 6-9 sophomore has averaged 15.0 points (25-of-49 FG) and 11.3 rebounds over the last four games.
• Ibrahim Souare and Duncan Powell combined to hold 7-1 Stanford star Maxime Raynaud to just 8 points and 6 rebounds, season lows for the ACC’s leading scorer (20.4 ppg) and rebounder (11.7 rpg).
• Freshman Jaeden Mustaf returned to action after missing five games with a foot injury, scoring 7 points while playing 20 minutes.
• George and Powell each played the full 40 minutes. It was the second time this season for each to play a full game. Powell played 40 vs. Virginia Tech, and George played the full 55 minutes in Tech’s 3-OT win at Clemson.
• Freshman Darrion Sutton has played more than 56 minutes in Tech’s last 2 games after totaling 54 minutes over Tech’s first 23 games (of which Sutton appeared in seven. He made his first collegiate start against Stanford, and made two key free throws in the final minute of play.

Baye Ndongo recorded his seventh double-double of the season – and third in the last four games – with 15 points and a season-high 16 rebounds against Stanford. (photo by Danny Karnik)

 

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

POST-GAME PRESS CONFERENCE VIDEO