Louisville, Ky. – Miles Kelly scored a career-high 36 points, almost single-handedly giving Georgia Tech a chance to win Saturday night at the KFC Yum! Center, but Louisville outscored the Yellow Jackets 28-7 over the final 8:15 and pulled away for a 79-67 victory.
Tech (10-14, 3-10) lost its third straight game and for the 11th time in 13 games, remaining winless in six games on the Cardinals’ home court. Louisville (8-16, 3-10 ACC) won for the second time in three games.
Kelly scored 15 of his points during a 23-13 run in the second half that staked the Yellow Jackets to a 60-51 advantage. Freshman Ibrahima Sacko started the rally with a pair of layups, and the Jackets went to the free throw line 10 times during that stretch.
Louisville turned the tables, however, scoring seven straight points to cut its deficit to two, and after Carter Murphy’s layup made it 62-58, the Cardinals scored 11 in a row to take a 69-62 lead. The Jackets were unable to recover. Kelly scored just one more point, while the Cardinals went 10-for-10 from the free throw line and made seven of their last 12 shots from the floor to pull away.
Kelly made 11-of-20 shots from the floor, including 6-of-11 from three-point range, and went 8-of-10 from the free throw line. It was the highest-scoring game for a Yellow Jacket since Michael Devoe tallied 37 in a win at Georgia in 2021.
He was the only Jacket in double figures, Murphy finished the game with a season-high eight points in a season-high 21 minutes.
Six Louisville players scored in double digits, with Kaleb Glenn leading the way with 15. Glenn also pulled down nine offensive rebounds, helping the Cardinals collect 20 second-chance points.
Kelly single-handedly kept Tech in the game in the first half, scoring 16 of the Yellow Jackets’ first 21 points and 21 in the period, knocking down five three three-point field goals. Murphy came off the bench and added a pair of threes to help the Jackets take a 32-30 lead into the locker room.
Tech remains on the road for its next game, traveling to South Bend, Ind., to face Notre Dame Tuesday night. Tip is at 7 p.m., and the game will be televised live on the ACC Network.
Miles Kelly (13) scored a career-best 36 points. (photo by Jaylynn Nash)
Post-Game Notes
TEAM NOTES
- Tech was whistled for a season-high 28 fouls (two players – Baye Ndongo and Tyzhaun Claude – fouled out) and surrendered a season-high 31 points at the free throw line.
- Tech has made 75 percent of its free throws (108-of-144) in its last five games.
- At least nine players have seen the court in 23 of Tech’s 24 games (only eight played against Hawai’i). Nine players average more than 12 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 outscored Louisville 26-16.
PLAYER NOTES
- One game after being held scoreless against Wake Forest, Miles Kelly scored a career-high 36 points at Louisville. His 11 field goals (in 20 attempts) were also a career high, and his eight free throws (in 10 attempts) matched his personal best.
- Kelly’s 36 points were the most by a Tech player this season and most since Michael Devoe tallied 37 in a win at Georgia in 2017. It was Kelly’s second career 30-point game (he scored 30 last Feb. 28 at Syracuse).
- Kelly is now 35 points away from reaching 1,000 for his career. He would become the 48th player in Tech history to reach that milestone.
- Kelly’s 164 career three-point field goals rank 14th in Tech program history. He has made more than his six against Louisville just twice in his career (seven vs. Notre Dame on Jan. 10 of this season and Syracuse on Feb. 28 of last season).
- Carter Murphy, a grad transfer from Air Force, played a season-high 21 minutes against Louisville and scored a season-high eight points, including a pair of three-point field goals.
- Kowacie Reeves, Jr., averaging 11.5 points coming in, was held scoreless for the first time this season.
Kyle Sturdivant scored seven points with three assists off the bench. (photo by Adrian Garthaus)
