Georgia Tech hammers N.C. State for sixth win in last eight games

Tech’s 25-point win was the second-largest margin of victory in series history against the Wolfpack. The result gave the Jackets their seventh win in the past 10 games and sixth in the last eight. Tech (15-14, 9-9 ACC) also won its 13th home game, the most for the program since winning 17 in 2016-17.

The 25-point win was also Tech’s largest in an ACC game since beating Miami by 27 on Feb. 20, 2021.

Duncan Powell had 23 points and 10 rebounds in the victory while Lance Terry scored 15 and Jaeden Mustaf chipped in 13. Point guard Nait George dished out a career-high 12 assists.

The Yellow Jackets host Miami (6-23, 2-16) at 7 p.m. Tuesday for their home finale.

“This was a great team win. The collective effort of the guys, from start to finish, was consistent,” Stoudamire said. “We talked about maturing and growing within games. Last Saturday (at Boston College) we were in the same situation, yeah we were at home (this Saturday), but we still handled business. I was really proud of that effort.

“I’m proud of the fellas because, to me, from a maturity standpoint, they showed me where we can go. This was a game, playing at home, right now the way we’ve been playing, we were supposed to win this game. But how we played and how we responded after one of them big games (Tuesday at Pittsburgh), it hasn’t always been there. The effort, the energy, the connectivity and the sense of urgency from jump was there.”

Tech missed seven of its first nine shots Saturday but tied the score 8-8 on George’s cherry-picking layup and went up 12-11 on a Terry reverse layup going right to left along the baseline. A mid-range jumper from Ndongo on the right side of the paint at the 11:33 mark put the Jackets up 14-11.

After the Wolfpack put together a 7-2 spurt that forced Stoudamire to call a timeout, Powell responded with a left-corner 3 and a jump-hook from inside the lane to give the Jackets the lead back. Tech then briefly trailed 23-21 before a Powell bucket beneath the basket, Ndongo one-handed jam off a George lob and Powell 3 from the right wing made it a 28-25 game.

Another Ndongo finish off a lob (this one turned into a three-point play) followed by Mustaf’s own finish from another George lob put Tech ahead 33-25.

The Jackets would finish the half with a flourish, getting a breakaway dunk from Mustaf and a step-back 3 on the right side from Terry making it 41-30. Ndongo had 13 points and 10 rebounds over the first 20 minutes, Tech outrebounded NCSU 22-13 and George racked up eight assists.

“I’ve always told (George), ‘You don’t have to score for this team to be successful.’ He’s a connector. He’s a guy that gets the ball to the right people,” Stoudamire said. “You can look at our stat sheet and tell what he means to it by looking at the other guys’ numbers. Toward the end of the first half he really started connecting and got guys open.”

Tech controlled the game in the second half, leading by as many as 16 less than eight minutes into the period. Ndongo had a violent, one-handed dunk off a lob on an inbounds pass and Mustaf made a right-wing 3 during that time. When Terry hit a 3 with 10:51 to go, the Jackets were up 63-45.

The Wolfpack continued to hang around and trimmed the deficit to 65-55 on Dennis Parker Jr.’s 3 from the left side with 8:15 on the clock. But NCSU would never get any closer and the rout was officially on with 4:39 left when Ndongo finished an easy layup making it 80-56.

Seldom-used guard Emmer Nichols even joined in the fun late in the ballgame with a 3-pointer of his own, much to the joy of 4,491 fans in the building.

Saturday’s result moved Tech above .500 for the first time since Jan. 4 when it was 8-7.

“Beginning of the year, it’s not how we wanted it to start, not how we wanted things to go. But it’s just sticking with it, like coach says,” George said. “The big jump we made was really just staying sharp, staying disciplined on both ends of the floor and (Ndongo) and everybody else playing hard on both ends. If we just do that, everything else will just fall into place. I feel like that’s just been what’s happening and we’ve been leaving it all on the floor.”

The Wolfpack, a Final Four team in 2024, fell to 11-18 and 4-14 in the ACC. Dontrez Styles and Ben Middlebrooks, who fouled out with 5:50 to go, each scored 13 for N.C. State.