It was about this time last year that Georgia Tech’s season took a turn.
Four games (one of those being an exhibition) into Damon Stoudamire’s maiden campaign, the Yellow Jackets went on the road to face Cincinnati. They had their lunch money taken in an 89-54 blowout against the Bearcats, but center Baye Ndongo and point guard Nait George, both freshmen at the time, made their Tech debuts.
From there, the trajectory of Tech’s season somewhat changed. Inserting that duo into the starting lineup from then on didn’t make the Jackets an NCAA Tournament team or even give them a winning record, but it did give them an identity and a base from which to work.
Stoudamire is looking for a similar sort of spark for his team after it lost two of its first four games this month, a 105-93 loss to North Florida on Nov. 10 and 77-69 loss to Georgia on Nov. 15. And that spark needs to come again against the Bearcats, who arrive at McCamish Pavilion at 2 p.m. Saturday undefeated and ranked 18th in The Associated Press Top 25.
Tech also needs that spark to avoid its first losing streak of the season.
“We gotta get off the canvas and prepare for Saturday, but more importantly, we got time where we can get some guys healthy — but we gotta get some work,” Stoudamire said after losing to UGA on Nov. 15. “That’s more important for me — we gotta get work. We gotta see what the two-big lineup looks like, the spacing, different things, and just kinda see what’s going on.”
Tech has looked good in easy wins over West Georgia and Texas Southern. It has looked like a bit of a mess in its two defeats, allowing 105 points to North Florida and then showing up disjointed on offense (the Jackets managed only 19 points in the first half) in the eight-point loss to Georgia.
The ups and downs through two games shouldn’t be all that surprising, given that Stoudamire returned only five scholarship players from the 2023-24 roster. Not allowing the early-season inconsistencies to fester, however, will be key going forward.
“Get better. That’s all we can do, we can move on from this, learn from this game and areas where we failed to execute,” newcomer and senior point guard Javian McCollum said. “That’s the biggest thing, just go to practice and just still stick together as a team and just get better.”
The Bearcats have home wins over Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Morehead State and Nicholls State, respectively. On Tuesday, Cincinnati went to Northern Kentucky and won 76-60. Cincinnati also beat Ohio State 80-62 in an October exhibition.
Coached by Wes Miller, the Bearcats are getting 17 points per game from Simas Lukosius, who has missed only 10 of the 37 shots he has taken this season. Jizzle James (14), Dillon Mitchell (12) and Wheeler High graduate Arrinten Page (10.3) all also are scoring in double figures, while Mitchell is pulling in eight rebounds per game. James already has 22 assists through four contests.
Stoudamire has three wins over nationally ranked opponents under his belt since arriving in Atlanta in 2023. His team will need its best showing of the season to get a fourth.
“It’s on all of us. Your mental and your approach, it has to do without a lot of things, but the biggest thing is, No. 1, it’s a mindset, obviously,” Stoudamire added. “Just don’t let fatigue break you down. When fatigue breaks you down, it don’t matter. I think collectively there’s enough guys in that room where we can get right. Then the guys are a little bit better in terms of absorbing and recovering faster and you can help those other guys.
“But sometimes what happens is the communication isn’t there. And on-floor communication is what you need if you’re gonna be successful as a team. It’s continued maturation, it’s continued growth. It wasn’t gonna happen overnight.”
