Tech Faces Boston College to Start 2025Tech Faces Boston College to Start 2025
Men's Basketball

Tech Faces Boston College to Start 2025

Yellow Jackets and Eagles tip off at 12 p.m. EST Saturday at McCamish Pavilion.

GEORGIA TECH (7-7, 1-2 ACC) vs. BOSTON COLLEGE (9-5, 1-2 ACC)

 

THE FLATS – Georgia Tech starts calendar year 2025 with a two-game winning streak and hosts a Saturday Atlantic Coast Conference matinee against Boston College at 12 p.m. at McCamish Pavilion.

Tech (7-7, 1-2 ACC) picked up its first ACC win Tuesday with an 86-75 homecourt triumph over Notre Dame, which followed a 92-49 romp over Alabama A&M last Saturday. The Yellow Jackets had dropped their first two conference games to North Carolina (68-65 on the road) and No. 5 Duke (82-56 at home). Tech is 7-4 at home this season.

Likewise, Boston College (9-5, 1-2 ACC) earned their first conference win this week, 78-68 decision over Miami Wednesday at home that followed a 72-66 loss at Wake Forest and a 103-77 homecourt defeat to SMU earlier in December. The loss to Wake Forest has been the Eagles’ only true road game to date.

Saturday’s game will be televised live on ESPNU, 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 387 and the SiriusXM app.

 

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Among Duncan Powell’s 21 points against Notre Dame were three 3-point field goals. (photo by Danny Karnik)

 

THE TIP-OFF

  • Tech concludes a five-game homestand vs. Boston College Saturday in which all five of the home games have come during the semester break without students on campus. The Jackets are 3-1 on this homestand after going 4-3 on its season-opening seven-game home stretch.
  • A win Saturday would give Tech its first 2-2 record in the ACC since the 2020-21 season, when the Yellow Jackets started 3-1 and went on to finish 11-6 and win the ACC Tournament.
  • 29 years ago (1995-96 season), Tech completed its non-conference schedule with a 6-7 record, same is its 2024-25 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 14 games (Lance Terry 15.3 ppg, Baye Ndongo 12.6, Javian McCollum 11.7, Naithan George 10.0). Six players are averaging more than 9 points per game.
  • Tech has utilized five different starting lineups through its first 14 games this season. Freshman Jaeden Mustaf and graduate transfer Ryan Mutombo have started the last two games.
  • Sophomores Baye Ndongo and Naithan George are the only Yellow Jackets to have started every game this season; no one else has started more than eight. Ndongo has started 43 consecutive games, George 42, dating back to last season.
  • Tech players have missed a total of 26 games this season because of injury. Kowacie Reeves, Jr., has missed the last 8 games with a foot injury, Luke O’Brien missed the last 3 games, also with a foot injury, and Doryan Onwuchekwa has missed the last 4 for personal reasons.

SERIES NOTES VS. BOSTON COLLEGE

  • Boston College snapped a five-game losing streak in the series with a 95-87 win at McCamish Pavilion on Jan. 6, 2024, the most points the Eagles have scored against Tech in the series.
  • Tech leads the all-time series, 19-13 (one win vacated by the NCAA Committee on Infractions). The one scheduled meeting in 2020-21 in Atlanta was not played due to COVID-19.
  • The teams have played to overtime six times in the series, including three of the last eight meetings and five times since the Eagles joined the ACC.
  • Twenty-five of the games in the series have been decided by less than 10 points, 17 of them by fewer than five points.
  • Tech is 8-3 against the Eagles at home, 4-1 at Alexander Memorial Coliseum, 1-0 at State Farm Arena and 3-2 at McCamish Pavilion.
  • Prior to BC’s entry into the ACC, the teams met four times on neutral floors, including one outside the United States, a 65-62 overtime win for the Yellow Jackets in the 1986 Suntory Ball in Tokyo, Japan.
  • The teams have met twice in NCAA Tournament competition, both of them won by Tech. The Yellow Jackets downed the Eagles, 103-89, in the 1996 Southeast Regional second round in Orlando, and eliminated the Eagles, 57-54 in a 2004 second-round game in Milwaukee.
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Javian McCollum has scored 39 points in Tech’s last two games. (photo by Danny Karnik)

 

TECH BYTES

  • Tech has scored 178 points in its last 2 games and shot 55.3% from the floor, 43.9% (18-41) from three-point range, 73.9% (34-46) from the foul line.
  • The Jackets have shot better than 50 percent in three of their last five games (52.5% vs. UMBC). The last two games have been season highs (54.1% vs. Alabama A&M, 56.5% vs. Notre Dame).
  • Also in the last two games, Tech assisted on 44 of its 63 made field goals (69.8%).
  • Tech posted an KenPom.com offensive efficiency rate of 133.8 against Notre Dame, the ninth-highest mark the Jackets have recorded since the website began tracking in the 1996-97 season.
  • Tech has connected on 72.9% of its free throws and has attempted 9 more than its opponents in ACC games. The Jackets have finished a season with more free throw attempts than their opponents in conference play since 2016-17. That is the only year since the 1989-99 season that Tech has attempted more free throws.
  • Tech’s defense inside the three-point arc has improved more than 100 spots nationally over last year. The current Yellow Jackets yield 45.1% within the arc, ranked No. 34 nationally by KenPom.com, compared to 49.5% n 2023-24 (137th).
  • Offensively, Tech has made major improvements in effective field goal percentage (50.6% ranked No. 180 over 48.7% ranked No. 260), turnover percentage (16.4% ranked 99th over 17.7% ranked No. 223) and free throw rate (32.9% ranked No. 183 over 29.2% ranked No. 282).
  • Tech’s adjusted offensive tempo, according to KenPom.com, also have improved 100 spots nationally (71.0 possessions ranked No 68 over 67.6 possessions ranked No. 168).
  • In NCAA rankings, the Jackets reside among the top 100 in assist/turnover ratio, assists per game, bench points per game, field goal percentage defense and defensive rebounds per game.

PLAYER NOTES

  • Javian McCollum has scored 39 points in his last 2 games after totaling 19 in his first 4 games back from his concussion injury. In those 2 games, McCollum has connected on 12-of-24 from the floor, 5-of-12 from three-point range and 10-of-10 from the foul line. He also has 8 assists and 4 steals.
  • McCollum went over 1,100 career points against Notre Dame (now has 1,109).
  • Duncan Powell has scored in double figures 4 times this season, all vs. Power 4 opponents, 2 vs. ACC teams. He is averaging 12.3 ppg vs. ACC teams, 10.4 vs. P4 teams.
  • Powell has been to the free throw line 42 times this season (66.7%), exceeded only by Baye Ndongo’s 62 attempts). He has more free throw attempts in ACC games (17) than any other Yellow Jacket.
  • Lance Terry surpassed 1,100 career points against Notre Dame (now has 1,106), scoring 14 on just 6 shots from the floor. He made 5-of-6, 2-of-3 from 3-point range and 2-of-4 from the foul line.
  • Terry has hit 13-of-20 from the floor, 7-of-11 from three-point range, in Tech’s last 2 games. He has turned the ball over just once in his last 3 games (96 minutes).
  • Naithan George has dished 6 or more assists in 8 games this season. He ranks No. 2 the ACC in assist average (6.1) and No. 5 in assist/turnover ratio (2.74-1).
  • Baye Ndongo has scored in double digits in 11 of 14 games. He leads the Jackets and ranks No. 4 in the ACC in field goal percentage at 54.8%, and is shooting 60.7% percent in ACC games.

 

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.