REVIEW: Tech Hoops Returns to the Post-Season

Thank you for the support all season long, Jacket fans.

The work starts now for the 2025-26 season. See you back at McCamish this fall.#StingEm 🐝 pic.twitter.com/HpLvpgihlr

— Georgia Tech Men’s Basketball (@GTMBB) March 19, 2025

THE FLATS – Returning to the post-season for the first time in four years, Georgia Tech received a bid to the National Invitation Tournament after winning 17 games during the regular season.

Tech won six of its last eight regular season games to finish eighth in the Atlantic Coast Conference, earning a first-round bye for the first time since 2021. The Yellow Jackets went 8-5 after the calendar turned to February, including wins over two of the top three teams in the ACC standings, Louisville (77-70) and Clemson (89-86 in 3 overtimes). The Yellow Jackets split their two games in the ACC Tournament, defeating Virginia (66-60) in the second round before falling to No. 1 Duke (78-70) in the quarterfinals.

2024-25 STORYLINES

• Georgia Tech finished the regular season in 8th place in the ACC standings, four slots ahead of the media’s pre-season projections, and has finished ahead of the pre-season projection eight of the last nine years.
• Tech earned a first-round bye in the ACC Tournament for the first time since 2021, when the Yellow Jackets won their fourth ACC championship. It is the Yellow Jackets’ second top-9 seed since the ACC expanded to 15 teams ahead of the 2013-14 season.
• Tech earned its most conference wins since 2020-21 (11-6) and had a .500 or better record in league play for the first time since then.
• Baye Ndongo was named third-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference, while Naithan George earned honorable mention. Duncan Powell was runner-up for the ACC’s Sixth Man Award, and made the ACC all-tournament second team. George was fourth in the voting for the ACC’s Most Improved Player Award.
• Tech finished the regular season 14-5 on its home court after beginning the season 2-3, and 8-2 in ACC games, having clinched its first winning home conference record since the 2020-21 season, when the Jackets were 8-1.
• This Tech team was the seventh in program history to win 14 or more games at home in a regular season, and the first since the 2016-17 season, when the Jackets were 17-4 (including two home games in the NIT).
• Tech won its last 6 ACC games at home, the first time the Jackets have won 6 conference games in a row since late in the 2019-20 season, when they won their final 7 ACC home games.
• Tech was 2-5 vs. top-25 teams in 2024-25 (including a win over Clemson, which was No. 21 in the coaches poll but unranked in AP at the time), and 5-6 under Damon Stoudamire.
• Tech, which stood 2-6 in the ACC at one point, won 8 of its last 13 dating back to its Feb. 1 win over Louisville.
• Tech won its first ACC Tournament game since its run to the 2021 championship.
• Tech’s 17 wins matched the most for the program in a season since 2015-16, when the Yellow Jackets went 21-15 (Tech also won 21 games in 2016-17 though all those wins were vacated by the NCAA). Tech won 17 games in 2019-20 and 2020-21.
• Tech was the only ACC team to defeat both Clemson and Louisville, the teams tied for 2nd place in the standings, during the regular season. The Jackets stopped a 10-game winning streak by Louisville, who then won its next 11 games before falling to Duke in the ACC Championship game. Tech ended a 6-game win streak by Clemson, who responded by defeating Duke and North Carolina and won its next 9 in a row before falling to Louisville in the ACC Tournament semifinals.

Baye Ndongo (11) was voted third-team All-ACC, while Naithan George (1) earned honorable mention honors. (photo by Keith Lucas)

ACC TOURNAMENT RECAP

Georgia Tech won its first ACC Tournament game and advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time in four years before being eliminated by top-seeded Duke in a close game.

Duncan Powell scored 21 points, Baye Ndongo registered his ninth double-double in the last 11 games and Naithan George nearly recorded a triple-double, leading 8th-seeded Georgia Tech to a 66-60 win over No. 9 seed Virginia in the second round. The win was the Yellow Jackets’ first over UVA since Jan. 9, 2016, snapping a nine-year, 13-game losing skid against the Cavaliers.

In the quarterfinals, Tech raced out to a 14-point lead in the first half, but top-seeded and No. 1-ranked Duke rallied to defeat the eighth-seeded Yellow Jackets, 78-70.

The Yellow Jackets dominated the action early in the game, making 10 of their first 21 shots while holding Duke to just six makes on 23 attempts, and Baye Ndongo’s tip-in with 5:02 to go in the first half gave the Jackets a commanding 26-12 lead.

Tech led by five at the half (31-26), but Duke opened the second period with a 12-0 run to take a 38-31 advantage. Duke stretched its lead to as many as 11 points, but the Yellow Jackets hung tough and cut the deficit to six on three occasions in the final 90 seconds before succumbing to the top-ranked Blue Devils.

TECH BYTES

• Tech set an all-time record for most 20-point games in one season, recording 29 in 2024-25 (9 by Lance Terry, 7 by Duncan Powell, 5 by Naithan George, 4 by Baye Ndongo, 4 by Javian McCollum). It beat the 27 recorded by the 2020-21 team which had ACC Player of the Year Moses Wright (10), Jose Alvarado (8), Michael Devoe (8) and Jordan Usher (1).
• Dating back to Tech’s triple-overtime win at Clemson on Feb. 4, 11 players played every minute of the game, 5 of those in the ACC Tournament.
• Tech utilized 10 different starting lineups in 2024-25, mostly as a result of injury. Twelve different players have started a game for Tech this season, 11 different players have started an ACC game.
• Tech played with 8 scholarship players in each of its last 11 games after Javian McCollum was injured Feb. 4 at Clemson, and its playing rotation was 6 or 7 for most of its last 16 games dating back to Jan. 14 vs. Clemson, when Lance Terry missed the first of his 3 games. The Jackets beat Louisville with only 6 players, and defeated Virginia in its first ACC Tournament game with 7. Tech’s bench played a total of less than 19 minutes against the Cavaliers, and 18 against Duke.
• Sophomores Baye Ndongo and Naithan George were the only Yellow Jackets to have appeared in every game in 2024-25. George, Ndongo and Lance Terry were the only players have started more than 14 games. Those three, plus Duncan Powell and Ibrahim Souare, were the only Tech players to see action in 30 or more games.
• Ndongo has started 63 consecutive games, George 62, dating back to the 2023-24 season.
• Tech rotation players missed a total of 78 games this season because of injury or illness. Kowacie Reeves, Jr., missed the last 28 games (foot injury), while Luke O’Brien missed the last 23 games (toe) and 24 altogether. Jaeden Mustaf had missed 6 straight (foot) before returning vs. Stanford, and Lance Terry missed 3 of the last 16 (hand/illness). Javian McCollum missed 4 games earlier in December with a concussion, and missed another 10 to a head injury before returning for Tech’s NIT game. Reeves did not play in an ACC game this season, while O’Brien played in only one.

Lance Terry finished a brilliant two seasons with the Yellow Jackets, leading Tech in scoring avergae and 3-point shooting. (photo by Danny Karnik)

PLAYER NOTES

• Baye Ndongo posted 9 double-doubles in Tech’s last 13 games and had 3 games in which he scored 20 points with 10 rebounds.
• Ndongo finished the regular season averaging a double-double in ACC games (14.4 ppg, 10.2 rpg), joining Eddie Lampkin of Syracuse as the only players to do so. Ndongo was the first Tech player to average a double-double in ACC games since Alvin Jones in 2000-21 and only the third Yellow Jacket to do so (Malcolm Mackey did it in 1990-91 and 1992-93).
• Only Maxime Reynaud of Stanford (13) and Eddie Lampkin, Jr. (11) had as many or more double-doubles against ACC teams this season than did Ndongo (11).
• Naithan George posted four double-doubles in points and assists and one in points and rebounds (13/10 vs. Virginia in the ACC Tournament), and had five games of 10 or more assists.
• George led the ACC in assist average in all games (6.5) and in ACC games only (6.5), the first Tech player since Drew Barry in 1995-96 to lead the conference.
• George led the ACC in minutes per game in conference games (37.8), and ranks No. 2 in all games (35.6). He played the full 40 minutes against Stanford, Pittsburgh and Virginia, and all 55 minutes of Tech’s 3-overtime win at Clemson. He also played all but 3 seconds in Tech’s overtime win vs. California.
• George ranked No. 58 nationally in KenPom.com’s measurement of usage (he played 87.5% of available minutes) for the full season, and was the court for 92.2% of Tech’s possessions in ACC games (No. 1).
• Duncan Powell scored 20 or more points 7 times over his last 16 games dating back to Jan. 18 at Florida State. He was the runner-up for the ACC’s Sixth Man of the Year award.
• Powell scored in double digits in 14 of those 16 games. He tallied 21 vs. Virginia and 24 vs. Duke in the ACC Tournament, earning him a spot on the ACC all-tournament second team.
• Powell made 6 3-point field goals in a game, most for any Yellow Jacket this year, twice in 2024-25 – against Duke in the ACC Tournament and at Pitt on Feb. 25.
• Terry reached double figures in all but 8 games he has played this season and remains the Yellow Jackets’ leading scorer overall (14.5 ppg) in ACC games (14.6).
• Terry scored 20-plus points in 9 games in 2024-25, 6 times in ACC games.
• Terry missed 3 games in Tech’s last 16 while playing through a wrist injury, but rebounded to average 15.5 over 6 games since missing the Stanford game. That included a stretch of 15 at Boston College, 20 at Pittsburgh, 15 vs. NC State and a career-high 31 vs. Miami.
• Freshman Jaeden Mustaf returned to action against Stanford after missing 6 games with a foot injury, averaging 7.0 points while averaging 25 minutes in Tech’s last 11 games. Mustaf had 2 double-figure games in that stretch (13 vs. NC State, 12 at Wake Forest), and has twice grabbed a season-high in rebounds (8 vs. Boston College and Virginia).
• Ibrahim Souare started Tech’s final 14 regular season games after injuries ravaged the Jackets’ rotation. The redshirt freshman averaged 24.1 minutes, averaging 3.9 points (57.1% FG) with 5.0 rebounds and 9 blocked shots in that stretch.
• Freshman Darrion Sutton averaged better than 15 minutes over Tech’s last 11 games after totaling 54 minutes over Tech’s first 23 games (of which Sutton appeared in seven). He made his first collegiate start against Stanford, and made two key free throws in the final minute of play.
• Senior guard Javian McCollum missed 10 games in February and March games with a head injury after colliding with teammate Ndongo going for a loose ball in Tech’s 2/4 game at Clemson game. He returned for Tech’s finale in the NIT, playing 22 minutes and scoring 5 points with 7 assists. McCollum had averaged 15.1 points over his 10 games prior to Clemson, scoring 20 in four of those games.
• In ACC games, McCollum averaged 12.9 points and 3.7 assists, hitting 43% from the floor, 34.5% from three-point range, 85.7% from the foul line. He also had just 18 turnovers and a team-high 17 steals.

Duncan Powell (31) was the runner-up for ACC Sixth Man of the Year Award. (photo by Keith Lucas)

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.