Cold-shooting Jackets Stumble at BC, 69-54Cold-shooting Jackets Stumble at BC, 69-54
Men's Basketball

Cold-shooting Jackets Stumble at BC, 69-54

Baye Ndongo leads Jackets with 17 points and 15 rebounds

Box Score

Chestnut Hill, Mass. – Baye Ndongo posted his fifth double-double in the last six games with 17 points and 15 rebounds, but Georgia Tech suffered one of its coldest-shooting games of the season Saturday afternoon and dropped a 69-54 decision to Boston College at the Conte Forum.

The loss ended a two-game winning streak for Tech (13-14, 7-9 ACC), who remain tied for eighth place in the Atlantic Coast Conference standings after Florida State and Pittsburgh both lost. The Eagles (12-15, 4-12 ACC) won their second in a row.

The Yellow Jackets hit only 32.1% of their field goal tries and just 21.7% of their threes in the game. Only against North Carolina (31.3%) this season has Tech shot worse from the floor, and only against Syracuse (19%) have the Jackets fared worse from three-point range. Tech was 11-of-34 from inside the three-point arc.

Only Ndongo, who was 7-of-11 from the floor and made one of the Jackets’ threes, and Lance Terry, who was 8-of-9 from the foul line and scored 15 points, reached double figures for Tech. Naithan George, who had scored 20 points or more in four-straight games, was held to nine, and Duncan Powell, averaging 14 points in ACC games, tallied only three. They combined to go just 4-of-24 from the floor.

Tech trailed most of the first half, hitting just 33.3 percent while connecting on just 7-of-19 from inside the three-point arc. Ndongo (13) and Terry (9) scored 22 of Tech’s 27 points, while BC shut down George and Powell, limiting them to just 3 points on one field goal.

Things got no better coming out of the break for the Yellow Jackets, who did not score for the first 5:36 and missed their first nine field goal attempts before Ndongo got loose for a putback at the 13:48 mark. By then, the Eagles had opened a 15-point lead.

Tech managed to rally, trimming the Eagles’ lead to six points twice in the final five minutes, but Dion Brown made three key buckets for BC to answer scores by the Jackets, the last of which sparked a late 9-0 run to put the game away.

Donald Hand, Jr., led the Eagles with 20 points, while Chad Henning added 13.

Tech returns to action Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. EST when it visits Pitt at the Petersen Events Center. The game will be televised live on the ACC Network.

 

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Lance Terry (0) went 8-for-9 at the foul line and scored 15 points. (photo by Keith Swindell)

 

POST-GAME NOTES

  • Despite the loss at Boston College, Tech remains tied for 8th place in the ACC standings, in position for a first-round bye in the ACC Tournament if the tournament were to begin today. The Jackets have matched their ACC win total from 2023-24.
  • Tech has won 4 of its last 6 games, five of its last eight.
  • Tech’s last 4 wins have come by a total of 17 points, the 2 losses by a total of 29 points.
  • Only against North Carolina (31.3%) did Tech shoot worse than it did at Boston College (32.1%) this season, and only at Syracuse (19%) did is make fewer 3-point field goals than is did at BC (21.7%).
  • Tech’s 54 points at BC were a season low, and only the third time this season the Yellow Jackets have been held to less than 50 (58 vs. Cincinnati, 56 vs. Duke, both at home).
  • At BC and Syracuse, where the high temperature on game day remained below freezing, Tech collectively shot 34.4% from the floor, 20.5% from 3-point range and 55.1% from the foul line.
  • Baye Ndongo has 5 double-doubles in Tech’s last 6 games after tallying 17 points and 15 rebounds at Boston College. The 6-9 sophomore has averaged 17.2 points (58.1% FG/43-of-74) and 12.2 rebounds over the last 6 games.
  • Ndongo has 9 double-doubles this season (15 for his career), 9 of those against ACC teams – 17/14 at Boston College, 26/13 vs. California, 15/16 vs. Stanford, 18/13 at Clemson (2/4), 12/11 vs. Louisville, 14/12 vs. Clemson (1/14) and 19/12 at North Carolina (12/7).
  • Naithan George was held to just 9 points at Boston College (3-13 FG, 3-10 3pt FG), not only snapping a string of 4-straight games scoring 20 or more points, but also snapping a 13-game streak of scoring in double digits.
  • Likewise, Duncan Powell scored just 3 points (1-11 FG, 0-6 3-pt FG), snapping a streak of 8 games scoring in double figures.
  • George sat for 2 minutes and 50 seconds of Tech’s game at BC, more than twice the time he wasn’t on the court in the previous 4 games (1:07).
  • Jaeden Mustaf pulled down a career-high 8 rebounds at Boston College.
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Baye Ndongo (11) has nine double-doubles on the season. (photo by Keith Swindell)

 

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

POST-GAME PRESS CONFERENCE VIDEO