Jackets Get Big Road Win at Pitt

Pittsburgh, Pa. – Duncan Powell drained six 3-point field goals and scored a career-high 26 points, while Lance Terry punctuated a 20-point night with a breakaway layup with 23 seconds left, lifting Georgia Tech to a 73-67 road victory over Pittsburgh Tuesday night at the Petersen Events Center.

In a game Tech (14-14, 8-9 ACC) led for nearly 37 minutes, Pitt (16-12, 7-10 ACC) rallied from a nine-point deficit to take its only lead at 59-58 with 5:34 to go, but Tech recovered and built a 67-61 advantage after two Terry free throws with 3:13 to go. Again, the Panthers rallied to tie the score at 67-all with 1:15 left, but the Jackets scored the game’s final six points to seal the victory.

Naithan George was fouled on a drive to the basket and hit a pair of free throws with 55 seconds to go, then rebounded a Pitt miss and found Terry streaking down the court for a layup, which turned out to be Tech’s only field goal in the last nine minutes of action. Baye Ndongo then hit a pair of free throws to seal the game with just over a second remaining.

Among Powell’s six 3-pointers were two four-point plays from the same left corner spot on the floor in the second half, the second of which gave Tech a 52-43 lead with 10:53 to go. It would be his final score of the night, but George, Ndongo and Terry picked up the Jackets by scoring all the team’s points the rest of the way.

George scored on a driving layup and eight free throws down the stretch to finish with 16 points and five assists. Ndongo scored seven points, all on foul shots, and his last two gave him 11 for the night with 17 rebounds, his 10^th double-double of the season. Terry added four of his 20 with the layup and a pair of free throws.

Tech went 25-of-28 from the line, its most free throws made and attempted in an ACC game this season, and scored 17 points on second chances to Pitt’s two.

The Panthers’ guard tandem of Jaland Lowe (25 points and Ishmael Leggett (20) combined for 45 of their team’s points, together going 16-of-18 from the foul line.

Tech returns home to face NC State at 3 p.m. at McCamish Pavilion for its penultimate home game of the 2024-25 season. The game will be televised live on the ACC Network.

 

Naithan George (1) went 8-of-9 from the free throw line and scored 16 points. (photo courtesy of Pitt Athletics)

 

POST-GAME NOTES

• Tech earned its third Quad 1 win of the season to go with its Feb. 1 home win over Louisville (77-70) and Feb. 4 win at Clemson (89-86 in 3-ot). The Jackets are 3-5 vs. Quad 1 teams this season, 7-12 under Damon Stoudamire.
• Tech’s win over Pitt coupled with Virginia Tech’s loss to Louisville Tuesday night and Florida State’s loss to North Carolina Monday leaves the Yellow Jackets alone in 8^th place in the ACC standings. Tech remains in position for a first-round bye in the ACC Tournament if the tournament were to begin today.
• The Jackets have exceeded their ACC win total from 2023-24 and have their most conference wins since 2020-21, when they went 11-6 and won the ACC Championship.
• Tech has won 5 of its last 7 games, 6 of its last 9.
• Tech earned its second road win of the season and is now 2-7 in ACC road games in 2024-25. The Yellow Jackets also won at Clemson on Feb. 4.
• Tech’s last 5 wins have come by a total of 23 points, the 2 losses by a total of 29 points.
• Tech is the only ACC team to defeat both Clemson and Louisville, the teams tied for 2^nd place in the standings, this season. The Jackets stopped a 10-game winning streak by Louisville, which has gone on to win 5-straight since, and stopped a 6-game win streak by Clemson, which responded by defeating Duke and North Carolina and has won 4-straight since.
• Duncan Powell scored just 3 points vs. BC (1-11 FG, 0-6 3-pt FG), but bounced back at Pitt with a career-best 26 points, including a career-best 6-of-10 from 3-point range, the most 3s for a Tech player since Miles Kelly at Miami last Feb. 24. He made 8-of-15 from the floor overall and 4-of-4 from the foul line.
• Lance Terry has scored 20-plus points in 8 games this season, 5 times in ACC games. The senior guard, who has missed 3 games in Tech’s last 11 and is playing through with a wrist injury, scored 20 points against Pittsburgh and has 35 points in his last 2 games, hitting 14-of-16 from the free throw line.
• Terry logged his first complete game of the season, never leaving the court at Pittsburgh.
• Baye Ndongo has 6 double-doubles in Tech’s last 7 games after tallying 11 points and 17 rebounds at Pittsburgh. The 6-9 sophomore has averaged 16.3 points (56.3% FG/45-of-80) and 12.9 rebounds over the last 6 games.
• Ndongo has 10 double-doubles this season (16 for his career), 8 of those against ACC teams – 11/17 at Pittsburgh, 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).
• Ndongo has averaged nearly a double-double in ACC games this season, now at 13.2 points per game and 9.9 rebounds per game, which ranks No. 3 in the league. He also ranks 3rd in offensive rebounds per game and defensive rebounds per game.
• Naithan George bounced back from a 9-point effort at Boston College to score 16 at Pitt, giving him 14 double-figure scoring games in his last 15.
• Across his last 6 games, which includes 4 straight 20-point efforts against Clemson, Virginia, Stanford and California, George has averaged 18.1 points, 6.0 assists and 5.3 boards.

Duncan Powell (31) knocked down six 3-point field goals, including a pair of 4-point plays. (photo courtesy of Pitt Athletics)

 

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

POST-GAME PRESS CONFERENCE VIDEO