Georgia Tech Basketball: Tech Diced By Dayton Sharpshooting 75-61

Georgia Tech had their worst showing of the season against Dayton, falling by a score of 75-61 in a game that probably wasn't even that close.

The main culprit was the feeble Tech long range shooting. Tech shot just 4-20 (20%) from long range, which is sadly only slightly worse than their season average coming in (24.5%). That rate is tied for 3rd worst in D-I. The only Jacket shooting above 28% from deep is Quinton Stephens. Tech simply cannot rely solely on their inside game to win consistently against good competition.

Jordan Sibert and Dyshawn Pierre absolutely ate up the Tech defense all night long. Pierre was 6-11 overall for 19 points and hit on all 4 of his three pointers. Sibert was even better, with 24 points on 14 shots by finding his way into the lane at will. Tech doesn't have a real rim protector, so this game is proof of the importance of perimeter defense.

Unlike Tech, Dayton caught fire from deep, hitting on a blistering 10-18 (55.6%) clip. They also held onto the ball extremely well as Tech was only able to record one steal during the contest. The Jackets turned the ball over 13 times, compared to 6 for the Flyers, and those turnovers took the team out of their rhythm for most of the contest.

The silver lining is that Dayton is simply a really good team and UD Arena is a very tough setting for visitors. This was easily the toughest test of Tech's out of conference schedule. Still, one would think the emotions of Brian Gregory coming home would have helped muster up a better effort from the crew in white and gold but sadly no.

Marcus Georges-Hunt led the charge with 13 points and 8 rebounds. Charles Mitchell and Demarco Cox dominated the inside at times, but were largely silent in the second half. 12 of their combined 16 points came in the first 21 minutes of the game.

With 18:40 left to go in the game, Tech was within a point of the Flyers after some good offensive possessions out of the halftime break. But the offense went silent for 5 minutes, and Dayton would never give up their double digit lead after that point.

Georgia Tech falls to 8-3 overall and close out their non-conference schedule with Charlotte at home on December 30.