Ndongo’s Historic Day Lifts Tech to Rout Over NC State

THE FLATS – Baye Ndongo recorded only the second 29-point, 17-rebound game in Georgia Tech history to lead the Yellow Jackets to a convincing 87-62 win over NC State on Saturday afternoon at McCamish Pavilion.

Ndongo joined former Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year Moses Wright as the only Tech players to ever tally as many as 29 points and 17 rebounds in a game. However, Wright needed four overtimes to score 31 points and pull down 19 boards against Georgia State on Nov. 25, 2020.

Sparked by Ndongo’s 13 points and 10 rebounds in the first half alone, Georgia Tech (15-14, 9-9 ACC) closed the opening half on a 20-7 run and led 41-30 at the break. NC State never got closer than 10 points in the second half, as the Yellow Jackets cruised to their sixth win in eight games and marched closer to securing a first-round bye in the upcoming Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.

Ndongo’s whopping 29 points and 17 rebounds were good for seventh double-double in the last eight games and 11^th double-double of the season overall. The sophomore’s 29 points were a career high and his 17 rebounds were just two shy of his career best of 19, which he pulled down as a freshman against Penn State. He recorded double-digit rebounds for the 13^th time this season and posted the fourth 20-point, 10-rebound game of his career.

Duncan Powell (23 points), Lance Terry (15) and Jaeden Mustaf (13) rounded out four Yellow Jackets in double-figures. Powell’s second-straight 20-point game was his fifth of the season and he also grabbed 10 rebounds, good for his third double-double as a Yellow Jacket.

Despite four double-digit scorers, Georgia Tech’s offensive catalyst was point guard Naithan George, who dished out a career-high 12 assists.

George’s deftness directing Tech’s offense also contributed to the Yellow Jackets committing just six turnovers and outscoring the Wolfpack by a 21-2 margin on points off miscues. The Jackets also had 14 offensive rebounds, which led to a 23-4 advantage in second-chance points.

Ben Middlebrooks and Dontrez Styles led NC State (11-18, 4-14 ACC) with 13 points apiece.

With just two ACC games left to play, the Jackets stand in eighth place in the conference standings, a game ahead of ninth-place Virginia Tech and two games ahead of Florida State, Pitt and Virginia, who are tied for 10^th in the league standings. The top nine teams in the league will receive a first-round bye in the ACC Tournament, which begins on March 11 in Charlotte, N.C.

Georgia Tech closes out the home portion of the regular-season schedule on Tuesday when it hosts Miami (Fla.) at McCamish Pavilion. Senior Night tipoff is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on ACC Network.

Baye Ndongo (11) became the second player in Georgia Tech history with 29 points and 17 rebounds in a game in Saturday’s 25-point romp over NC State (photo by Danny Karnik)

 

POST-GAME NOTES

TEAM NOTES

• Georgia Tech has won 6 of its last 8 games, 7 of its last 10.
• Tech is 13-5 on its home court after beginning the season 2-3, and 7-2 in ACC games, having clinched its first winning home conference record since the 2020-21 season, when the Jackets were 8-1.
• Tech has won 5-straight ACC games at home, the first time the Jackets have accomplished that since late in the 2019-20 season, when they won their final 7 ACC home games.
• Tech moved closer to earning a first-round bye in the ACC Tournament, remaining alone in 8^th place in the ACC standings, one game ahead of Virginia Tech (8-10), who also won Saturday. Tech is 2 games ahead of Florida State, Pitt and Virginia (all at 7-11).
• Tech’s 25-point margin over victory was its largest this season and largest in an ACC game since Feb. 20, 2021, an 87-60 win at Miami.
• Tech has not had an overall won-loss record above .500 at this point in the season since the 2020-21 season, nor an ACC record at or above .500 since then.
• 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 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 6-straight since, and stopped a 6-game win streak by Clemson, which responded by defeating Duke and North Carolina and has won 5-straight since.

PLAYER NOTES

• For the first time in Georgia Tech’s ACC era, two players (Baye Ndongo, Duncan Powell) posted 20+ points and 10+ rebounds in the same ACC game. Overall, since 1979-80, that has happened only one other time, vs. Georgia State on Nov. 25, 2020, a 4-overtime game in which Moses Wright (31/19), Michael Devoe (24/13) and Jose Alvarado (29/10) reached those marks in a 123-120 game.
• Baye Ndongo posted his 11^th double-double of the season and his 7^th in Tech’s last 8 games with a career-high 29 points and 17 rebounds, which were 2 short of his career best. It was the 3^rd game this season and 4^th in his career in which he scored 20 points with 10 rebounds.
• Ndongo has 11 double-doubles this season (17 for his career), 9 of those against ACC teams – 29/17 vs. NC State, 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).
• Duncan Powell notched his third double-double this season with 23 points and 10 rebounds against NC State. He has scored 49 points in Tech’s last 2 games (26 at Pitt on Tuesday), hitting 17-of-30 shots from the floor and 8-of-15 from 3-point range.
• Naithan George scored a season-low 2 points, but operated Tech’s offense with a career-high 12 assists, beating his previous best of 11 vs. Notre Dame last season and Central Arkansas this season. It was his fourth career 10-assist game, and he has beaten his assist average of 6.4 (No. 1 in the ACC) 14 times.
• Lance Terry reached double figures for the 20^th time this season and remains the Yellow Jackets’ leading scorer overall (14.8 ppg), and No. 2 in ACC games (14.3) behind George (14.6).

Naithan George (1) dished out a career-high 12 assists, several of which led to thunderous alley-oop dunks (photo by Danny Karnik)

 

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

 

POST-GAME PRESS CONFERENCE VIDEO

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Full Steam Ahead

Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.

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