Tech Resumes ACC Play Hosting Notre DameTech Resumes ACC Play Hosting Notre Dame
Men's Basketball

Tech Resumes ACC Play Hosting Notre Dame

Yellow Jackets and Fighting Irish tip off at 2:30 p.m. EST Tuesday at McCamish Pavilion.

GEORGIA TECH (6-7, 0-2 ACC) vs. NOTRE DAME (7-5, 1-0 ACC)

 

THE FLATS – Georgia Tech finishes out calendar year 2024 and resumes its Atlantic Coast Conference schedule with a New Year’s Eve matinee against Notre Dame at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at McCamish Pavilion.

Tech (6-7, 0-2 ACC) completed its non-conference schedule Saturday with a 92-49 rout of Alabama A&M, and looks for its first ACC win after falling at North Carolina (68-65) on Dec. 7 and taking an 82-56 home loss to No. 5 Duke on Dec. 21. The Yellow Jackets are 6-4 at home this season with wins over West Georgia, Texas Southern, Charleston Southern, Central Arkansas and UMBC.

Notre Dame (7-5, 1-0 ACC) defeated Syracuse (69-64) Dec. 7 at home in its only ACC game to date. The Fighting Irish won their first four games of the season, including an 84-63 victory at Georgetown, lost their next five straight, then won their next three, including a 91-62 decision over LeMoyne on Dec. 22 last time out.

Tuesday’s game will be televised live on the ACC Network, with a live online stream available on the ESPN app. Radio coverage is on the Georgia Tech Sports Network by Legends Sports and flagship station 680 the Fan (680 AM/93.7 FM). The Tech broadcast is also available on Sirius XM channel 392 and the SiriusXM app.

 

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Lance Terry (0) remains Tech’s scoring leader at 15.4 points per game. (photo by Danny Karnik)

 

THE TIP-OFF

  • Tech is 14-4 all-time in games played on New Year’s Eve, including a 5-2 mark since the Yellow Jackets joined the ACC in 1979. The last three New Year’s Eve games have been ACC contests – a 74-56 loss to Virginia in 2022, a 70-58 loss at Florida State in 2019, and a 75-63 win over North Carolina in 2016.
  • Tech is in the midst of a five-game homestand that concludes with Boston College Saturday before the Yellow Jackets travel again. All five of the home games have come during the semester break without students on campus.
  • 29 years ago (1995-96 season), Tech completed its non-conference schedule with a 6-7 record, same is its present mark. Led by the guard tandem of Stephon Marbury and Drew Barry, sophomore forwards Matt Harpring and Michael Maddox and junior center Eddie Elisma, the Yellow Jackets went on to post a 13-3 ACC record to win the regular season championship, come within one point of winning the ACC Tournament title, and advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, finishing the season 24-12.
  • Three Tech players are averaging in double-figure points through 13 games (Lance Terry 15.4 ppg, Baye Ndongo 12.8, Javian McCollum 10.7). Six players are averaging more than 9 points per game.
  • Tech has used five different starting lineups in 13 games this season, most of them occurring as a result of injury. Tech players have missed a total of 24 games this season because of injury. Kowacie Reeves, Jr., has missed the last seven games with a foot injury. Luke O’Brien has missed the last two, also with a foot injury, and Doryan Onwuchekwa has missed the last three for personal reasons.
  • As a result, only Baye Ndongo and Naithan George have started all 13 games this season and won the longest consecutive starts streaks for the Yellow Jackets – Ndongo 42, George 41.

SERIES NOTES VS. NOTRE DAME

  • Notre Dame has won 10 of the last 12 meetings and lead the all-time series, 18-13. Georgia Tech’s only wins came by an 82-80 score on Feb. 6, 2021 and a 70-68 decision on Feb. 8, 2023, both at McCamish Pavilion.
  • The Fighting Irish swept the regular-season series for the second time in three years in 2023-24, taking a 75-68 decision in overtime in Atlanta, and a 58-55 nail-biter in South Bend, and also defeated Tech, 84-80, in the ACC Tournament.
  • Since Notre Dame joined the ACC, the teams have split their regular season series five times, and the Fighting Irish have swept the Yellow Jackets four times. Tech has yet to sweep the Irish.
  • Notre Dame is one of two permanent home-and-away opponents for Tech in the ACC. However, the teams did not play in South Bend during the 2020-21 season when the game was canceled due to COVID-19.
  • The Yellow Jackets are 7-16 against Notre Dame since the Fighting Irish joined the ACC. Only two of those games have been decided by double-digits.
  • The teams have played to overtime five times, three of those coming in the last seven meetings.
  • At McCamish Pavilion, Tech is 7-4 against the Irish (minus one 2017 win vacated by the NCAA), and the games have been decided by a total of 35 points. Tech won all three of the teams’ meetings at the Jackets’ former home court in Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
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Jaeden Mustaf (3) has scored in double digits six times in the last 9 games. (photo by Danny Karnik)

 

JACKETS BOUNCE BACK WITH A ROUT

Georgia Tech finished off non-conference play in style, defeating Alabama A&M, 92-49 on Saturday afternoon at McCamish Pavilion. Senior Lance Terry led the Yellow Jackets with a game-high 22 points, his fourth 20-point outburst of the season, in a dominant performance on the home floor as Tech held the Bulldogs to just 20.8 percent shooting from the field while tallying season-bests in steals (12) and assists (27).

Senior Javian McCollum tied his season-high with 18 points, all in the first half and his most since the fourth game of the season. Redshirt freshman Ibrahim Souare delivered a career-high eight points and six rebounds, while freshman Jaeden Mustaf posted 13 points, seven boards and six assists, and sophomore Naithan George dished a game-high nine assists.

TECH BYTES

  • Tech has scored 90-plus points three times this season (95 vs. North Florida, 91 vs. Charleston Southern). The last time the Jackets scored 90 or more three times was the 2022-23 season.
  • Tech’s 43-point margin of victory was its largest under Damon Stoudamire, eclipsing the 24-point victory over Charleston Southern (91-67) on Nov. 27 of this season. It was the largest for Tech since a 50-point win over Clayton State on Jan. 23, 2022. It was Tech’s largest over a Division I opponent since beating Centenary, 86-41, on Dec. 22, 2007.
  • Tech posted an KenPom.com efficiency margin of 54.1 points per 100 possessions against Alabama A&M (115.7 offensive efficiency/61.6 defensive efficiency), its largest margin since the same Centenary game in 2007, in which the margin was 67.3 (128.6/61.3).
  • Only one Tech opponent has ever shot less than the 20.8 percent (15-of-72) Alabama A&M posted against the Yellow Jackets Saturday. Kentucky connected on 16.3 percent of its shots (13-of-80) against the Jackets on Jan. 2, 1960. Rice previously held the second-lowest figure at 22.9 percent (11-of-48) on Nov. 22, 2012.
  • Tech’s 27 assists (on 33 made field goals) were a high for the Jackets under Stoudamire, beating the 25 Tech accumulated against Penn State in December of last season. It also was the most since Tech posted 28 vs. Kennesaw State in 2018.
  • Eleven players saw the court for the Jackets against Alabama A&M and all of them scored, including walk-ons Marcos San Miguel and Emmer Nichols.
  • Lance Terry has scored 20-or-more points in four games this season, 10 times in his career. He tallied 22 against Alabama A&M.
  • Terry has started Tech’s last 8 games, averaged 35 minutes and 17.1 points over that stretch.
  • Javian McCollum reached double digits in points for the first time since before his concussion. He now has 50 for his career, five this season. McCollum had scored 10-plus points in each of Tech’s first four games before suffering the injury Nov. 23 vs. Cincinnati.
  • Since his return to the court, McCollum had scored a total of 19 points in 4 games. He had 18 in the first half of Saturday’s game vs. Alabama A&M.
  • Naithan George has dished 7 or more assists in 7 games this season.
  • Ibrahim Souare set season highs for points (8) and rebounds (6) vs. Alabama A&M.
  • Baye Ndongo has scored in double digits in 10 of 13 games. He leads the Jackets in field goal percentage at 53.3%. Ndongo ranks 11th in rebound average (7.1 rpg).
  • Freshman guard Jaeden Mustaf has scored in double digits in 6 his last 8 games after tallying 13 vs. Alabama A&M with a season-high 7 rebounds and 6 assists. He has averaged 12.5 points per game over that stretch.
  • George has 55 assists and 18 turnovers in Tech’s last 8 games, and a 3.06 assist/turnover ratio for the season, which ranks 6th in the ACC. He is No. 2 in the ACC in assist average (6.1 per game).
  • Freshman Darrion Sutton has played 11-plus minutes in each of Tech’s last 3 games (3 pts, 4 reb vs. Alabama A&M). He missed 8 games with an injury before returning to the court against Northwestern Dec. 15.
  • Ndongo has three double-doubles this season, nine for his career.
  • Tech has two 1,000-point career scorers on its team – Terry with 1,092, and McCollum with 1,086.
  • Terry has the most career starts in college among Tech’s players (66). McCollum is next with 62.

 

Full Steam Ahead

Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.

ABOUT GEORGIA TECH MEN’S BASKETBALL

Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team is in its second season under head coach Damon Stoudamire. Tech has been a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference since 1979, won four ACC Championships (1985, 1990, 1993, 2021), played in the NCAA Tournament 17 times and played in two Final Fours (1990, 2004). Connect with Georgia Tech Men’s Basketball on social media by liking their Facebook Page, or following on Twitter (@GTMBB) and Instagram. For more information on Tech basketball, visit Ramblinwreck.com.