The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets will host Alabama A&M on Saturday, Dec. 28 and Notre Dame on New Year’s Eve. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta VoiceGeorgia Tech men’s basketball head coach Damon Stoudamire dropped his backpack and picked up a stat sheet. He was preparing to give his postgame press conference, but wanted to get a good look at the numbers first. His team was only down by five points at halftime to visiting Duke on Saturday. The Yellow Jackets would go on to be outscored 41-16 during the second half of an 82-56 loss.“We gave it a fight in the first half. I thought we did some good things,” said Stoudamire. The second-year coach credited Duke’s efforts by saying he’d be surprised if there are many teams in the ACC as good as the Blue Devils, and credited his team for playing tough, but a loss is still a loss. Georgia Tech, who was without several key players, including seniors Kowacie Reeves, Jr. and Luke O’Brien, was outrebounded 36-25 during the game. Tech senior big man Ryan Mutumbo led the team with just six rebounds, while the Yellow Jackets had only two players score in double-figures (sophomore forward Baye Ndongo and junior forward Dunan Powell scored 14 and 13 points, respectively). Duke freshman stars Cooper Flag and Kon Knueppel scored a combined 31 points and fellow freshman 7-2 center Khman Maluach scored 15 points to go along with eight rebounds and a block.The Yellow Jackets are off for a couple of days before returning to practice on Christmas night. Their next three games will be at home and Stoudamire said having the next few games at home can help the team “figure out some momentum.”“I think we need to worry about getting healthy, we need to get back to having a committed group, and do the things that are going to help us be successful moving forward,” Stoudamire said. “I won’t sleep during this little break, trying to figure it all out.”First up during this three-game home stand (which is technically five games when you included the loss to Duke in front of a near-sellout crowd, and the victory over Maryland-Baltimore County on Wednesday, which was played in front of a very small crowd) is Alabama A&M (4-8 overall), whose second-leading scorer Chad Moodie, is a Georgia native (Grayson High School). The AAMU Bulldogs are returning to Georgia. Their previous visit was to Athens during a 48-point loss to Georgia on Nov. 19.The Yellow Jackets will resume ACC play with games against Notre Dame on New Year’s Eve and Boston College on Jan. 2, 2025. Stoudamire believes he can see passion in his team from time to time. “I’m looking guys in the eyes each and every day,” he said. “You want to know who is in the foxhole with you. We have to roll up our sleeves and prepare.”The post ‘We have to roll up our sleeves’: Georgia Tech plays next three at home, hosts HBCU on Saturday appeared first on The Atlanta Voice.