Georgia Tech holds Stanford to 52 points in home win

“He’s actually a player when you let him feel, when you don’t put pressure on his body, he feels free to pass and make the play. He’s kind of their point guard, he’s the man on their team,” Tech forward Ibrahim Souare said about defending Reynaud. “You have to make sure all the time to put stress on him and that’s what I did. Coach put me on him and he give me the hard job. He told me he believe in me. I had to limit him to one shot, two shots and that’s what I did.”

Nait George led three Tech players in double figures. The sophomore scored 22, grabbed seven rebounds and had five assists. Baye Ndongo also had a monster game with 16 rebounds, 15 points and three blocks. Duncan Powell added 10 as the Jackets won in front of 3,869 fans, the second smallest crowd of the season.

The 52 points scored by Stanford was the fewest Tech allowed in an ACC game since winning 71-52 at Boston College on Jan. 11, 2020. It was a defensive effort sorely needed when considering Tech gave the ball away 10 times in the second half and only made eight shots over the final 20 minutes. But the Jackets (12-13, 6-8 ACC) went 17 of 19 from the line to make up for some of the shortcomings in other areas.

Tech moved into 10th place in the ACC standings. The Jackets host California (12-12, 5-8) at 4 p.m. Saturday.

“The bumps that these guys have taken, they feel that. I think that they tired of it a bit,” Stoudamire said about his team, which has won four of six. “And so I think they’re locked in a little more. They wanna have the success that they’re having. I don’t think they wanna get those type of games no more. I’ve seen their growth and it has to be continuous.”

Tech, playing without Lance Terry and Javian McCullum due to injuries, began Wednesday’s affair with a 7-2 run while Stanford was missing its first five shots. The Cardinal cut that deficit to 11-10 only to see the Jackets go on a 10-0 run, a spurt highlighted by Jaeden Mustaf’s reverse, one-handed jam going from right to left on the baseline.

Stanford continued to be a mess offensively, and Tech took advantage. George’s 3 from the right wing put Tech ahead 26-13 and then the Jackets made five of their next free throw attempts to build a 31-15 advantage 16 minutes into the half.

When Ndongo put in a short shot with 1:59 left on the clock, the Jackets had mounted a 35-15 lead and completed a 24-5 run.

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com

Tech had a 35-20 lead at the break. It held the Cardinal to 23.3% shooting, went 10 of 11 from the line and totaled eight assists on 11 made field goals. Ndongo had 11 points and nine boards over the first 20 minutes.

“Started off with physicality. That was our mentality, to be the more physical team,” George said. “That kinda wore them down throughout the game.”

After a George 3 early in the second half put the home team up 40-22, the Jackets suffered through a scoreless drought of nearly four minutes, a spell broken by a Ndongo bucket keeping Tech up 18. A few minutes later Soaure soared in from the right block for a two-handed, putback slam making it 44-28. Another George 3 gave Tech a 19-point lead eight minutes into the period.

Stanford was able to close the gap to 49-41 a few ticks under the 6-minute mark. George saved the day with a pull-up jumper from the left side, then a dish to a streaking Souare who flushed a dunk with two hands to force a Stanford timeout.

With 3:20 to play, Tech’s lead shrunk to 53-46 on Chisom Okpara’s breakaway layup and then 55-48 on another Okpara layup 79 seconds later. But the Cardinal could get no closer.

Jaylen Blakes led Stanford (16-9, 8-6) with 12 points. The eight points for Reynaud was a season-low.

“Probably (Reynaud’s) roughest, toughest outing for us,” Stanford coach Kyle Smith said. “I hope that’s a one-time (thing). He’s a good player and he’ll bounce back, but I’ll say they had a good game plan and they did a good job on him.”