Georgia Tech’s 35-16 halftime deficit against Clemson on Saturday was the largest the Yellow Jackets have faced since trailing by 20 against North Carolina in coach Brian Gregory’s first season, 2011-12.
That the Yellow Jackets came back to force overtime Saturday is a credit to the team, as much as falling behind by 23 in the first half is a demerit.
By the time Tech fell behind 26-4 with 6:28 left in the first half, the Jackets had missed 14 shots and turned the ball over eight times in their first 20 possessions. Clemson compounded it with above-average shot-making, finishing the half at 50 percent from the field.
“The first five shots we had in the game, I think, were all good shots, right around the basket,” Gregory said. “I thought that was the storyline of the game, our inability at times to finish around the basket.”
Despite being down more at halftime than they had in blowout losses to Virginia and North Carolina (12 and 14 points, respectively), the Jackets rallied by shooting 55.2 percent in the second half and forcing 11 turnovers.
“It would have been easy to just kind of mail it in when you got down that much, but they played hard,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said. “They rebound as hard as anybody you’ll play.”
Critical non-call: Gregory received a bench warning after Tech's first possession of overtime after arguing about a non-call on center Demarco Cox's missed layup attempt. Gregory thought he was fouled. Cox did, too, saying that Clemson center Landry Nnoko grabbed his left arm as he went up to attempt a dunk. A basket would have given Tech a 62-60 lead.
Up-and-down: Guard Tadric Jackson made his fourth consecutive start in place of Chris Bolden, who is serving a six-game suspension for a violation of the school's student-athlete conduct policy, effective through the first game of the ACC tournament. The freshman scored 12 points, his most in an ACC game, but was 2-for-7 from the free-throw line. He was a 66 percent shooter entering the game.
Said Jackson, “I’ve got to get better and come back and redeem myself.”
So long: Barring an NIT game, Saturday's game was Clemson's second-to-last in Littlejohn Coliseum in its present form. As Tech did in gutting Alexander Memorial Coliseum and renaming it McCamish Pavilion, Clemson will renovate Littlejohn following graduation in the spring. Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich led the remodeling project of Alexander while in the same position at Tech.
The Jackets won’t mind. Tech is 8-35 at Littlejohn, and Saturday was its 10th consecutive loss in the arena. Gregory, who earned his first win over the Tigers on Feb. 16, has lost all four games at Littlejohn, by a combined 16 points.
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