Georgia Tech guard Lance Terry finishing final season strong

“I really wanted to play last year. I couldn’t. That decision was tough,” Terry said. “I was trying to come back for the longest time. But, finally, talking it up with everybody, coming back (for 2024-25) was the best decision, and I’m happy with how everything has turned out so far.”

Terry is having his best scoring season of his college career, a career which spanned three seasons at Gardner-Webb before his transfer to Tech before the 2022-23 season. He’s scoring 14.8 points per game over 25 outings, has reached double figures 19 times and scored at least 20 points eight times.

But his final go-round in white and gold has been anything but smooth. The right-handed Terry injured his shooting wrist ahead of Tech’s home game with Clemson on Jan. 14 (the Yellow Jackets lost 70-59).

A College Park product and Heritage School (Newnan) graduate, Terry has tried to play through the pain and discomfort since. Against Louisville on Feb. 1, Terry scored 23 points, was 9-of-20 from the field and sank four 3-point shots — no one watching would surmise there was any wrist issue at all.

On Feb. 8 at Virginia, however, Terry was scoreless in a 75-61 loss. He was fouled going up for a dunk in that game, a play which aggravated the already tender wrist. He could barely get the ensuing free throws to go the length of the lane to the rim.

“This guy right here, he brings more to the table than just scoring,” Tech coach Damon Stoudamire said after Terry scored 20 in a win at Pittsburgh on Tuesday. “Obviously he’s our leading scorer, and he does a lot of things, but the fact that he’s playing and he’s not 100%? That says a lot about who he is. And we know that, so I’m gonna acknowledge that every single time.

“You got a lot kids today, they have a broken fingernail, and they sit out. This guy hasn’t done that. I’m thankful to have guys like him on my squad.”

Terry, who also missed the Jan. 22 game because of illness, has scored 665 of his 1,263 career points in a Tech uniform. He graduated from the institute in 2024 with a degree in history, technology and society and is working toward a certificate in business.

But first he’s focused on leading the Jackets into Saturday’s game with North Carolina State. That matchup, a 3 p.m. tipoff, provides Tech the opportunity to win its sixth game in eight outings and to keep its slim hopes alive to finish as high as sixth in the ACC standings.

The Wolfpack (11-17, 4-13 ACC) are one of three teams buried at the bottom of the league standings (Tech faces another such team Tuesday when it hosts Miami). State is but a shell of the team that wowed college basketball fans in 2024 with an unlikely run through the ACC basketball tournament with five wins in five days, then made a memorable run to the Final Four, where it lost to Purdue in Glendale, Arizona.

This year’s N.C. State squad is among the ACC’s worst in 3-point shooting, rebounding margin, scoring, assists, free-throw shooting and shooting percentage.

After Saturday’s affair, Tech plays host to Miami at 7 p.m. Tuesday for its home finale, also the finale for Terry.

“I feel excited, nervous at the same time,” Terry said. “It’s felt like my last home game three years in a row now. But I’m excited to go out there and just fight.”