After easily handling Arkansas in the first match of the NIT Season Tip-off, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets fell to the No. 8 Villanova Wildcats 69-52.
Tech's defense held strong throughout the day, holding the Villanova offensive attack to its second-lowest total of the season, but the offense had their worst performance to date, which was not a good match.
The game was pretty close throughout, but mostly in the first half where, in spite of an 11-0 run in favor of the Wildcats toward the end of the half, the Jackets only trailed by seven points. And then in the second half, despite a strong attempt by the Jackets to unseat the undefeated Wildcats, Villanova was able to run away with a victory.
Senior Charles Mitchell continued his hotstreak this season, as he finished with another double-double. Shooting 58.3 percent from the floor, Mitchell scored 16 points to go along with 11 rebounds (both were tops for the Jackets).
Outside of Mitchell, the Jackets' offense just couldn't do anything against a strong Villanova defense, especially from behind the three-point line, where the Jackets only completed 2-of-14 shots. The team as a whole only shot 35.7 percent for the game.
Villanova's offense, on the other hand, had a pretty strong game, with three players (Kris Jenkins [12], Josh Hart [13] and Jalen Brunson [13]) go for double-digits. Despite going just 8-of-27 from beyond the three-point line, the Wildcats finished the game shooting 52.9 percent from the floor.
Despite not doing much offensively for the Jackets, Nick Jacobs had a strong game defensively, collecting six rebounds on defense. His three turnovers, though, pretty much undid all of the good he did.
The Yellow Jackets will get back to action on Dec. 1 as they play host to the Wofford Terriers (1-3) at McCamish Pavilion. The game is scheduled to start 7:00 EST.