The road has not been kind to Georgia Tech during the Damon Stoudamire era.
The Yellow Jackets have won just three times in 11 true road games under the second-year coach, including 0-2 this season. Stoudamire and his crew are intent on changing that trend at 7 p.m. Tuesday when they play at Syracuse.
“The biggest thing about road games — defense travels. Then you got to get your offense into those games,” Stoudamire said. “We have to continue to do the things that we’ve been doing to be successful. That’s no turnovers. That’s shot selection that doesn’t lead to them getting out and running. And then once the game settles in, we have to figure things out and rely on the things that we feel like can help us beat (Syracuse).
“We got to figure out a way to get our game from McCamish to (the JMA Wireless Dome).”
Tech won two of its final three road games in the 2023-24 season, but has begun this season with losses at Oklahoma and North Carolina. At home, though, the Jackets have gone 4-1 in a 2½-week stretch, with the loss coming against a top-five Duke squad.
The Jackets take a three-game winning streak to Syracuse and will be looking to win four in a row for the first time since December 2023.
“The road is different and I told them guys at midnight you got to turn the page and get ready for Syracuse because playing on the road is a little different, especially if you haven’t played in a dome. It’s a different type of environment,” Stoudamire said Saturday following a home win over Boston College. “We have to be prepared and we have to be locked-in, but I like where we’re at right now. We’re playing as a connected group and we’re playing intentional on both ends of the floor.”
Syracuse (6-8 overall, 0-3 in the ACC) has dropped two in a row and four of its past five. All six wins have come at home.
Coach Adrian Autry’s team is one of the league’s worst in free throw shooting, scoring defense, steals, 3-point shooting and turnovers. Junior guard J.J. Starling, a former five-star recruit who has missed significant time with a hand injury, is averaging nearly 19 points per game. True freshman forward Donnie Freeman, who considered Tech during the recruiting process, is averaging 13.4 points and 7.9 rebounds.
Tech is 3-6 in its history at Syracuse, including a 96-76 victory in 2023.
“Just staying connected. Really, we’re gonna be the only ones that we got on the road,” Tech point guard Nait George said about being in the hostile environment. “Just staying together with that same energy, regardless of no fans or not. Just staying connected for 40 minutes and just having our minds right is the main thing.”
Injury report: Trio of Jackets still out
Stoudamire said Monday that Luke O’Brien (toe), Kowacie Reeves (foot) and Doryan Onwuchekwa (personal) remain out for Tuesday’s game and that there is no timetable for their returns.
Onwuchekwa (6 feet 11, 240 pounds), a freshman, has played in 10 games (started eight) and averaged 4.9 rebounds and 3.5 points. Onwuchekwa has not been with the team since playing less than eight minutes in a loss to Northwestern on Dec. 15.
“He’s still out for family things,” Stoudamire added. “He’s in compliance, all of that good stuff, but just waiting for things to clear up on that end. That’s kind of where we at.”
Reeves, a senior guard, has averaged 9.3 points in six games, but hasn’t played since Nov. 28 against Charleston Southern. O’Brien, a senior forward averaging 6.4 points after transferring from Colorado, hasn’t played since Dec. 18.
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