After escaping with an overtime win over Maryland-Eastern Shore, Georgia Tech hopes to see a more complete effort Friday against visiting Bryant in Atlanta.
Georgia Tech (1-0) needed Peyton Marshall’s game-tying free throw with 1.7 seconds left to send its season opener to overtime, where the Yellow Jackets won 56-52, avoiding a disastrous setback.
“You can always take more from a win like this than winning by 30 points,” said Georgia Tech head coach Damon Stoudamire. “You didn’t want the anxiety of the game, but at the same time, it puts us in a state where we’ve got to be locked in. It gives us something to go and work on as we move forward and get ready for Friday.”
Freshman Mouhamed Sylla opened his career with a 14-point, 15-rebound double-double in place of preseason All-ACC junior Baye Ndongo, who missed the game with injury but could be back against Bryant.
“Everybody is getting a chance to see Mo,” Stoudamire said. “I think that Mo is just going to continue to get better. Personally, I think that we’ve got the best front court, not only in our league, but the best one in the country. I really believe that, and Baye didn’t even play. … We look to get (Baye) back on Friday.”
Bryant (0-1) never led in its 82-66 loss at Siena on Monday, beginning the head coach Jamion Christian era for the Bulldogs. Freshman Timofei Rudovskii led the team with 15 points.
Christian’s group shot 45.5% (10-for-22) on 3-point attempts in defeat, a trend the veteran head coach will want to see continued against the ACC opponent Friday.
“We’ve got some guys that can really go and we’re always going to shoot the three,” Christian said. “I think my teams shoot 50% of our shots from three. We try to turn you over 20% of the time. Whether that means we’re going to be playing fast or slow, we’re still trying to figure that out.”
Christian formerly was the head coach at Mount St. Mary’s (2012-18), Siena (2018-19) and George Washington (2019-22), before spending the last two seasons coaching in Italy.
Bryant, which is playing Georgia Tech for the first time, was picked sixth in the America East preseason poll.
