The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets started the game red-hot, but the Syracuse Orange turned up the heat and blazed to an 80-63 victory at the McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta on Saturday.
Georgia Tech jumped out to early leads of 10-2, 20-10 and, eventually, 26-15 midway through the first half. The Yellow Jackets made six of their first seven shots of the game, including three 3-pointers.
Syracuse then scored 17-straight points, a run the Orange jump-started with its full-court press. The full-court pressure wasn’t all that effective. The press didn’t create any turnovers. But the change in defenses did speed up Georgia Tech and cause the Yellow Jackets to take some rushed shots.
After scoring 25 points in the game’s first 10 minutes, Georgia Tech managed just eight points in the last 10 minutes of the half. It made their first three attempts from 3-point range and then went 1-for-11 from beyond the arc the rest of the half.
The trend continued in the second half as Syracuse held the Yellow Jackets to 30 points after halftime. Syracuse outscored Georgia Tech 64-38 after the slow start.
Syracuse improved to 13-7 overall and 6-3 in the ACC. Georgia Tech fell to 8-10 on the season and 1-8 in the conference. The Yellow Jackets have lost their last five games.
Syracuse guard Joe Girard played a huge role in the Orange’s first-half comeback and the win. The second of back-to-back 3-pointers from the senior guard gave Syracuse a 26-25 lead less than two minutes after trailing by nine. Girard later capped off the 17-0 run with another 3-pointer. He scored 18 first-half points.
During the rally, Girard passed former Syracuse center Bill Smith to move into 30th place on the school’s all-time scoring list. Girard now has 1,465 career points.
Girard finished the game with 28 points, just three shy of his career-high set earlier this season against Richmond. Girard made six of his 10 3-point attempts. The senior has now scored more than 20 points in five of Syracuse’s last seven games. He also doled out seven assists for the Orange.
Maliq Brown scored a career-high 18 points on 8-for-9 shooting. The freshman reached double-figures for the fourth time in the last five games. He also picked off four steals.
Syracuse center Jesse Edwards contributed 14 points, seven rebounds and three blocks. Freshman guard Judah Mintz overcame a rocky start following his rough outing at Miami and finished with 13 points and six assists and only one turnover.
Quadir Copeland, who had logged just one minute in SU’s last four games, played a season-high 17 minutes in the win. Copeland scored just two points, but he pulled down a career-best six rebounds.
Georgia Tech turned the ball over 16 times, leading to 24 Syracuse points. The Orange committed just eight turnovers.
Syracuse is now 12-0 this season when holding its opponent to 72 points or less. Meanwhile, Georgia Tech is 2-10 when failing to reach the 70-point mark.
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