Kyle Sturdivant Leads Georgia Tech To Win on Senior Day vs Florida State

Georgia Tech travels to take on Wake Forest on Tuesday in its penultimate game of the regular season

It was Senior Day in Atlanta and the Yellow Jackets welcomed Florida State to McCamish Pavillion. Georgia Tech had a whole week off after upsetting Miami last week and hoped to win back-to-back ACC games for the first time all season. 

That is what they did. 

Guard Kyle Sturdivant, a four-year member of the program after transferring from Southern California, got to play his final home game along with forward Tyzhaun Claude and guard Carter Murphy, both graduate transfers.

Also honored Saturday will be managers Alex Gaynor of Boca Raton, Fla., Ankith “A.K.” Kodali of Raleigh, N.C., and Wyatt Pangan of Austin, Texas.

They were all sent out with a victory today and the first time that Georgia Tech has won back-to-back games since the month of December. It was perhaps the best game that they have played all season start to finish, as they rarely trailed in this game. 

Let's recap the afternoon in Atlanta. 

There were no changes to the starting lineup today for the Yellow Jackets. Nait George, Miles Kelly, Kowacie Reeves, Baye Ndongo, and Tafara Gapare were the first five on the floor for Georgia Tech. 

The offense for Georgia Tech got going early. They hit five of their first seven shots and grabbed an 11-6 lead at the first timeout. For the first ten minutes of the half, their defense was playing well. They held the Seminole's offense in check and were contesting shots and not letting them get easy baskets. They led 17-12 with 11:49 left and they looked like the better team early on. 

The Florida State's offense started to find itself. 

They hit their next five shots, but luckily for Georgia Tech, their offense was still going strong too. With 3:49 left in the first half, Georgia Tech still led, but it was 36-33. Over the next few minutes, the two teams kept going on offense and the Yellow Jackets led 44-41 at the half. 

Georgia Tech shot 53% from the field in the first half and 33% from three. Ndongo led the way for the Yellow Jackets with nine points and three rebounds. 

BAYE. NDONGO. 🔥#SCTop10 👀

🎥 @GTMBB | ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/gqZX1aUM12

— ACC Men's Basketball (@accmbb) March 2, 2024

Florida State shot 46% from the field and 36% from three. 

It did feel fortunate that Georgia Tech had the lead at the half. They committed nine turnovers, but Florida State only scored five points off of them. 

It was a slow start for both teams in the second half. Combined, they started off 2-15 from the field. That trend would continue for Florida State for the rest of the half, but Georgia Tech would find a way to do enough to win the game 85-76. 

Kyl3 catching fire ♨️

✔️ 8 points in the 2H
✔️ 3-for-4 from downtown
✔️ And-1

2H | 11:24
🍢5⃣0⃣
🐝5⃣7⃣ pic.twitter.com/WDoI2rnUAj

— Georgia Tech Men’s Basketball (@GTMBB) March 2, 2024

In the second half, Georgia Tech outscored Florida State 41-35, but the Seminoles did most of their scoring when the game was out of reach in the second half. The Yellow Jackets held Florida State to 34% shooting in the second half and 30% from three. 

After only scoring three points in the first half, Sturdivant played his final half at McCamish Pavillion and it was one of his best. He scored 17 points on 5-9 shooting and 3-4 from three. It was one of his best games of the season and a great way to play in his last game. 

Ndongo finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds and Nait George had 15 points. 

It was a great effort from the Yellow Jackets today. They led for most of the afternoon and did not allow the Seminoles to find a way to come back. Let's see if they can carry it over to the last two regular season games vs Wake Forest and Virginia. 

2024 Georgia Tech Spring Football Position Previews: Linebacker