The book of the 2024-25 Georgia Tech season isn’t closed just quite yet.
Tech learned late Sunday night that it was one of 32 teams chosen to play in the National Invitation Tournament. The Jackets were given a No. 4 seed and awarded a home game against Jacksonville State at 7 p.m. Tuesday at McCamish Pavilion.
“For me, and for us as a program, this is something that we can build on. That’s how we look at it,” Tech’s second-year coach Damon Stoudamire said Monday. “That’s why, for me, the extra practice time, the extra games, they’re important. This is a segue into what’s to come and how we gotta keep building and just flow right into next year. I’m looking at this as a big moment.
“These guys have taken a jump. They’ve taken steps. We won 17 games, we won 10 conference games, we had some big wins again. They’ve taken steps, but we’ve never had postseason. Yes, goal is NCAA, ACC championships and all this good stuff, but you gotta crawl before you can walk. So this is a big step for some of these guys.”
Stoudamire’s team (17-16) bowed out of the ACC tournament Thursday against Duke, a team which earned one of the four No. 1 seeds for the NCAA Tournament. Tech led Duke 26-12 in the first half in Charlotte, North Carolina, before a dry spell to begin the second half spelled the Jackets’ demise in a 78-70 loss.
That defeat was a tough pill to swallow at the time but didn’t necessarily damper what has been a step in the right direction for Stoudamire’s program. Tech can finish no worse than .500 overall and goes into the NIT having won eight of 12 since the start of February.
Tech’s postseason roster includes six key players — junior Duncan Powell, sophomores Nait George and Baye Ndongo and freshmen Ibrahim Soare, Jaeden Mustaf and Darrion Sutton — who could return next season, making Tuesday’s game and beyond an opportunity for Tech to strengthen its foundation.
“We honestly really wanna do it for (the seniors), just to have fun again,” Ndongo said. “I love this group, so having a chance to play again is just a blessing. The season was done for us. Having a second chance is just, like, you gotta be ready for everything. We wanna take (Jacksonville State) serious and just win it. That’s the goal right now.”
Jacksonville State made the NIT field after finishing third in Conference USA and then losing 79-67 to Liberty in the CUSA title game Saturday. The Gamecocks (22-12) had an NCAA NET ranking of 122, had two losses to Quadrant 4 opponents and only played two Quad 1 opponents — losing to both Missouri and Liberty.
Coached by Ray Harper (in his ninth season with the program), Jacksonville State is led by senior guard Jaron Pierre Jr. who scores 21.5 points per game. Junior guard Jamar Franklin averaging 10.4 points per contest and senior forward Michael Houge and junior center Mason Nicholson each pull down 7.5 boards per game.
Jacksonville State led CUSA in free-throw shooting (75.9) and fewest turnovers per game (10).
“They really play hard. They have a guy that really score the ball,” Stoudamire said of Tech’s opponent. “We know things about them, obviously, but at the end of the day it’s gonna be our energy, our effort and what we put out there.”
If Tech can win Tuesday’s affair, the Jackets would play at California Irvine (28-6) or host Northern Colorado (25-9) on Saturday or Sunday in the second round. Northern Colorado plays at UC Irvine at 10 p.m. Wednesday.
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