The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets came into their game against the Clemson Tigers coming off their worst performance of the season, but the team is still alive in their game against the Clemson Tigers, as they trail 36-25 at halftime.
The Yellow Jackets offense came out stagnant, missing their first five shots of the contest, while the Tigers offense was rolling early, jumping out to an 8-0 lead over the Yellow Jackets. While the Tigers did have the paint firmly in control on the offensive end, both teams struggled to make anything from beyond the arc, with both teams missing a combined 14 three-point attempts to start the game.
The Yellow Jackets would go on to miss their first 11 shots of the game before junior forward Duncan Powell got the team on the scoreboard for the first time on a layup inside to cut into the Tigers lead 8-2. It became clear early that the Tigers game plan was to feed Chase Hunter the ball and allow him to get shots off, but the senior guard started the game 1-5 from the field, including 0-2 from three-point range. Hunter would finish the half with seven points.
On top of the problem that they couldn't get shots to fall, the Yellow Jackets would turn the ball over four times in the first ten minutes of the contest. The Yellow Jackets would get consecutive makes on three offensive possessions for the first time in the game when senior guard Javian McCollum would make a pair of free throws, sophomore forward Baye Ndongo would make a jumper, and Duncan Powell would make consecutive free throws, to make the score 10-8 in favor of the Tigers.
The Tigers offense would then put together a 7-3 run, pushing their lead up to 17-11.
Clemson would make a pair of free throws, and the Yellow Jackets would strike back in way of McCollum making his first three-pointer of the game. Ndongo would go to the foul line and make both his free throws, followed by a dunk by Jaeden Mustaf that would make the score a one-point game at 19-18 in favor of the Tigers. A made free throw by the Tigers and a three-pointer by Hunter would increase the Tigers lead to 23-18.
The Tigers would go on to end the half on an 13-5 run and head into the locker room up 36-25.
The Yellow Jackets are still looking for a player that can get the ball in the basket, as the leading scorer for the team at halftime is Javian McCollum with 11 points, while no one else on the team has more than four.