North Florida easily runs past Georgia Tech in 105-93 win

Georgia Tech coach Damon Stoudamire harped all offseason long about a defensive focus and improvement effort and execution on that end. On Sunday, however, Tech’s defense took the day off.

Visiting North Florida shot 53.6% and eased its way to 105-93 win inside McCamish Pavilion in front of a light crowd of 3,553. Six Ospreys finished in double figures in a win that UNF led by as many as 21. North Florida also outrebounded Tech 41-38.

“It’s a weird game from the standpoint of we scored the ball but we just couldn’t stop them at all,” Stoudamire said. “We gotta go back to the drawing board. I’m not disappointed by any means, it’s still early, we just got some things we need to address. I’m bent out of shape by losing, I’m mad about losing, but we’ll get past this and we gotta get ready for the next game.”

North Florida (3-0), which also has a win at South Carolina this season, received $90,000 from Tech to play Sunday’s game. The 105 points scored by the Ospreys was the most against Tech since Georgia State scored 123 in a four-time win over Tech on Nov. 25, 2020, and the most in a regulation game since Duke scored 110 when beating Tech on Jan. 4, 2017.

The Yellow Jackets (1-1) had five players score in double figures, but it was little consolation considered they couldn’t do much to stop the opponent. Baye Ndongo finished with a team-high 20 points and 10 boards., Luke O’Brien had 15 to go along with eight rebounds and Nait George tallied seven assists.

Tech next hosts Texas Southern (1-1) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday

“I felt like defensively we were pretty pathetic tonight,” O’Brien said. “Until we start understanding getting stops is more than scoring buckets – you saw it today, we were scoring at will, that was not the problem. But until we understand that defense wins games, we’re not gonna change much.”

Stoudamire’s team started the afternoon hot by hitting 10 of its first 13 shots and had a 24-16 lead on Javian McCollum’s layup with 13:23 to play in the half. North Florida hung tough and put together a 10-2 run that tied the game after Dante Oliver’s and-1 from inside the paint.

The Ospreys finally took their first lead at the 4:55 mark when Liam Murphy connected on a 3 from the right wing making it 40-39. That lead went to 51-46 four minutes later when Kamrin Oriol splashed a fall-back jumper from the middle of the lane.

North Florida held a 53-49 lead at the break thanks, in part, to shooting 55.6% from the field, making 8 of 9 free throws and getting 24 points off the bench. Tech got 23 combined points from McCollum and O’Brien and registered 11 assists on 23 makes over the first 20 minutes.

Nate Lliteras’ short jumper put UNF up 64-56 less than three minutes into the second half and forced Tech coach Damon Stoudamire to call timeout. But it was only the beginning of Tech’s demise as the Ospreys continued to play with poise and confidence and the Jackets continued to play sloppy and erratic.

Another Lliteras layup, this one coming with 12:42 to go, put UNF up 77-60 and then Lliteras’ one-handed slam that drew a foul emphatically capped a 25-4 run and made it a 20-point game.

Tech responded with seven straight points to draw within 80-67, but it never really threatened to take the game back from there.

Josh Harris scored 22 to lead North Florida which had just 12 assists on 37 made field goals. Jasai Miles had 18 points and 11 rebounds.

“I’m not panicking. We lost. We accept that. And we gotta get better,” Stoudamire added. “We have a lot more opportunities early on to get this game back, so we just gotta in, we gotta watch film, we gotta get better. That, to me, is the biggest thing.

“We did give up 105 points and I would never say that I’m happy about that, but I’m also not gonna, again, not think that we can’t correct it in that locker room. We got a mature team, we got an older group, I think we’ll be better coming out on Tuesday.”

Freshmen duo inactive

Tech freshmen Jaeden Mustaf and Darrion Sutton did not suit up for Sunday’s game. Stoudamire said Mustaf is dealing with a thumb injury and Sutton is dealing with a hamstring injury.

Mustaf, a 6-foot-5, 210-pound guard, played a little less than 15 minutes in the team’s season-opener Wednesday against West Georgia. He had four points, two rebounds and two assists.

Sutton, a 6-foot-8, 205-pound forward, played 6 1/2 minutes against WGU, missed a shot, picked up two fouls and turned the ball over.