Jackets' losing streak hits nine with lopsided loss at Louisville

LOUISVILLE — Problems that have plagued Georgia Tech recently and some all season popped up again on Saturday as the Jackets gave up 14 3s, went through multiple extended scoring droughts and had 17 turnovers in an 87-70 loss at No. 21 Louisville.

Georgia Tech (11-17, 2-13 ACC) put together a big 14-0 run in in the second half to cut the deficit to 11 at 66-55 with just under eight minutes to play, but Louisville was able to steady the ship and hold on down the stretch to send the Jackets and head coach Damon Stoudamire to a ninth-straight loss.

“What sticks out to me, which I knew coming into the game, is how good of a three-point shooting team they (Louisville) are. Fourteen made threes,” said Stoudamire after the game. “Really good three-point shooting team as well. A lot of that is always going to be hard to overcome when you only make threes (of your own).”

“But for me, I’m proud of my team coming in here fighting. We didn’t do that the other night (vs. Virginia),” added Stoudamire. “So to come in here against a team like this that has the offensive firepower that they have, I thought we did a really good job. I thought we fought.”

Louisville (20-7, 9-5 ACC) was led by Mikel Brown Jr. with 19 points, including three made 3s and a perfect 6-for-6 at the free throw line. Three others scored in double figures including J’Vonne Hadley with 17 points, Ryan Conwell with 15 and Isaac McKneely with 14. McKneely was a perfect 3-for-3 from 3-point range.

The Cardinals shot 51.9 percent from the field for the game and 45.2 percent from 3 (14-of-31) while Georgia Tech was limited to just 3-of-18 from long distance. The Cardinals also got 20 points off their bench.

Georgia Tech also had four players in double figures led by Baye Ndongo‘s 17 points. He also seven rebounds.

Akai Fleming contributed 15 points and five rebounds for Georgia Tech while Jaeden Mustaf and Lamar Washington each finished with 12 points. Cole Kirouac was steady off the bench with six points and and a team-leading 10 rebounds.

Tech battled back and forth early with the Cardinals offensively, trailing 15-10 at the first media timeout, but a scoring drought that lasted almost six minutes allowed the deficit to grow to as many as 12 at 22-10 before the Jackets scored another bucket.

Louisville went on to lead by as many as 18 in the first half before Georgia Tech battled back, including going on a 12-0 run at one point to cut the deficit to 37-31. But the Cardinals got the last five points of the half, including a 3 at the buzzer by Ryan Conwell to send the teams to the break with the home team leading 42-31.

The Jackets cut the deficit to nine on multiple occasions early in the second half, but a 3-plus minute scoring drought allowed Louisville to go up by 21 at 58-37, forcing Stoudamire to use a timeout at the 12:53 mark to try to stop some of the bleeding.

The Louisville lead ballooned to as many as 25 shortly thereafter, and Georgia Tech never got any closer than 11 from that point forward thanks to its final charge with the 12-0 run.

Georgia Tech will have a week off before its next action as the Jackets host Florida State next Saturday at noon at McCamish Pavilion. With four games left on the schedule, Stoudamire said it’s about continuing to fight as a team and for him, to keep preaching the right message to his players.

“With kids, it’s easy for us to look down the road. It’s my job to keep them focused on winning,” said Stoudamire. “I’ve been in these situations. I’ve been in these situations in college. As a coach, but, you know, I’ve been in these situations. And I think the biggest thing I try to say to them, and I talk to them about it (is) playing with a sense of pride, not having an agenda, not letting selfishness creep in.”

“So I talk to them a lot about that. You know, the guys are bought in. They’re playing hard. Like I said, we didn’t get the same effort on Wednesday night. But, you know, I’m just going to keep on preaching. It is what it is, you know. And so I think that as long as they can look at their head coach and ‘what won’t break me, it don’t make me.’ And that’s how I’ll always be. So they see me. It’s the basketball coach. It’s the mentorship. Because I got to each and every day, I still got to get them to pick their heads up. That’s how I feel about it.”

Peyton Marshall wasn’t listed on the injury report prior to the game after missing more than a month with a hand/wrist injury, but he still didn’t see action on Saturday as he tries to work his way back on the court.

Louisville has a quick turnaround with the Cardinals traveling to Chapel Hill for a 7 p.m. tip at North Carolina.