Wake Forest came out cold Tuesday night, going down early to Georgia Tech basketball. The Demon Deacons fought back, but the Yellow Jackets prevailed 70-69 to give Wake their first home loss.
The Jackets (14-16, 7-12) won the game with freshman forward Baye Ndongo hitting a baseline hook shot with 0.4 seconds, while also dominating the boards with 11 rebounds.
The Deacons (18-12, 10-9) were led by junior guard Hunter Sallis with a game-high 22 points but went 0-of-4 from beyond the arc. In fact, this is the fifth time in conference play that Wake shot less than 25% from three-point range. Junior guard Cameron Hildreth scored 11 of his 17 points in a two minute stretch in the second half, cutting their deficit to three points.
Here’s what you need to take away from the game.
Takeaway #1: Tech is starting to dominate the boards
Prior to their victory against Syracuse on Feb. 17, the Jackets had only outrebounded conference opponents three times in 14 games.
Since then, Georgia Tech has been dominating on the glass and going 4-1 in those games.
“Most importantly, we was getting stops on [the] defensive end,” said junior guard Miles Kelly. “That was huge for us and our confidence and going into the game.”
In the first half, sophomore forward Tafara Gapare dominated the boards by grabbing five boards in just 12 minutes of action. As Wake started to prevent his rebound opportunities, Ndongo took up the challenge. 7 of his 11 rebounds were recorded in the second half.
“I thought that, you know, Baye [Ndongo] did really well on the glass,” said first-year head coach Damon Stoudamire.
Everytime Wake took a shot, Gapare and Ndongo came down with the ball 61.6% of the time. Despite having their starters playing over 30 minutes, the Deacons didn’t have an answer inside for the Jackets and their presence in the paint.
Takeaway #2: Playing tight put Wake down, but they battled
Two threes by Miles Kelly forced fourth-year head coach Steve Forbes to call a timeout at the 18:17 mark.
“We played really tight in the first half,” Forbes said. “You could see it in their faces.”
By the time the second media timeout was called, Wake was down by 14 points. The confidence seemed not to be there, which shocked Forbes because they came off really good practices and a warm-up before the game.
Hildreth hit a jumper to start Wake getting their offensive mojo back. They were able to keep the deficit at 14 going into halftime.
“It’s been a bit of a hard team to figure out…throughout the year and some of these stretches that we have…why we do certain things that we do,” Forbes said.
Hildreth went on a run in the second half and got the deficit to within three points. Unfortunately for Wake, the closer they got to tying the game, Georgia Tech would hit a clutch basket to keep the lead.
Finally, with 18 seconds left, Hunter Sallis hit a jumper to finally take the lead. The arena was electric in appreciating the fight this team had.
“The positive is that we didn’t settle in the second half,” Forbes said. “We got inside their defense, got to the basket and to the foul line.”
Although Wake lost the game on a last second basket to extend their losing streak to three, Forbes praised the team for not giving up and battling to the very end.
Takeaway #3: Miles Kelly dominates first half from three
One of the key components to Georgia Tech’s dominant start of the game was Miles Kelly. He went 4-of-5 from the field, with every made basket coming from beyond the arc.
“[He] had a nice game and made some shots,” Forbes said.
The Jackets, as a team, went 8-of-14 from beyond the arc. This is the seventh time in conference play that they shot over 40% from three.
Kelly was also looking to put his last game against Wake in the rear-view mirror, where the Deacs held him scoreless on five attempts.
While Kelly was dominating from beyond the arc, freshman guard Naithan George went 5-of-8 from the field for 10 points. This balanced attack frustrated Wake Forest, even on their home court.
Kelly will look to have a better performance in their regular season finale against Virginia. He was held to 8 points in the 75-66 loss on Jan. 20th. A victory, combined with a Boston College and Notre Dame loss, would give the Jackets the 11th seed. Wake, on the other hand, needs to beat Clemson and make a deep run in the ACC Tournament if they want to avoid the NIT.
Next game for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets: at Virginia (Mar. 9 – 8 p.m.)
Next game for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons: vs. Clemson (Mar. 9 – 6 p.m.)