When Georgia Tech played at North Carolina on Dec. 7, Jaeden Mustaf had a large contingent of friends and family there to support him in his ACC debut. Before tipoff at the Dean Smith Center, Mustaf even spoke with one of his cousins, who told the Tech freshman they had never seen Mustaf’s father, Jerrod Mustaf, play a college game, but felt fortunate to be able to watch the young Yellow Jacket take the floor.
It was an emotional moment, Mustaf said, and a remembrance that his father’s legacy is ever-present. Jerrod Mustaf, 55, died Oct. 28, a little more than a week before the start of Tech’s season.
“Since I’ve been little, basketball’s been my safe space, the place I come when I can calm down and just, you know, be in my own zone,” Mustaf said this week ahead of Tech’s trip to Milwaukee to play Northwestern at 4 p.m. Sunday. “I think right now my mind has always been on, every since everything happened, just trying to do whatever I can to help the team win. Focus on that. Outside of basketball just worry about everything else. I have a great support system.”
Mustaf’s father starred at Maryland and was the 17th overall pick of the 1990 NBA draft. Maryland is where Mustaf started his prep career before moving to Charlotte, North Carolina, and then to Atlanta so he could develop his game at Overtime Elite.
Signing with Tech in November 2023 made Mustaf one of Tech’s highest-rated recruits in recent history.
“The biggest thing about (Mustaf) is he has to understand that he has stepped into college and he’s on another level now,” Tech coach Damon Stoudamire said Monday on his coach’s show. “The things that he does well is he’s a strong guard, he can get to the rim, but until he’s known to the refs, for instance, and they don’t know how to ref him. He has to adjust. Teams are gonna go under him and force him to shoot jump shots, things of that nature. He has to adjust to that — and we have to help him in terms of the screen, rescreen and different things.
“To me, the biggest thing that he has to do is he has to get after it on the defensive end. That’s where we gotta keep speeding him up. We gotta speed up his decision-making. He’s had some big moments for us early on. The Oklahoma game was one of ‘em. I thought he played really well.”
Mustaf has played in seven games this season, missing two games at the outset because of a left thumb injury. He’s averaging 9.0 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists, but his minutes have steadily increased with Tech guards Kowacie Reeves and Javian McCollum out with injuries.
In a three-game stretch against Charleston Southern Central Arkansas and Oklahoma, respectively, Mustaf averaged 16.7 points and shot 48.4% from the floor. The trip to UNC, however, wasn’t as successful, as he was held to six points on 2-of-7 shooting.
“Just lets me know how much shape you gotta be in to play at this level, especially as the competition goes up,” Mustaf said after playing a career-high 31-1/2 minutes that day. “Playing a lot of minutes, you gotta be able to stay focused, mentally, physically. Just trying to make sure I stay in shape and do everything I can well on the floor.”
Tech (4-5) will need Mustaf to continue to improve, not only Sunday against a 7-3 Northwestern team, but throughout the rest of this month and the remainder of the season. The 6-foot-5, 210-pound guard appears ready to heed that call, speaking with the media Thursday only after he stayed long after practice to work on his midrange jumper.
“I give Jaeden a lot of credit. He’s been through the injury and the untimely passing of his father. He’s been through a lot,” Stoudamire added. “He’s a really mature kid. For him to handle everything he has handled has been tremendous. Basketball, he’s gonna get better. He just has to figure that out, and every game you see him getting better.
“He has a great family, great family support. With everything that he’s been through, the injuries, basketball-wise, his father, what a high-character kid in the way he’s handled it and the maturity he’s shown through all the trying times.”
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