CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Ahead of Wednesday’s ACC tournament game, Georgia Tech freshman Jaeden Mustaf said he received a text message from his mother letting him know that in 1989, Mustaf’s father, Jerrod Mustaf, was part of the first No. 8 seed ever to win a game at the ACC tournament.
The elder Mustaf played for Maryland that year and was part of a historic win over top-seed North Carolina State at the Omni in Atlanta. While Jerrod Mustaf, who died in October, didn’t play in that game because of an injury, the Terrapins became the first No. 8 seed (in what was then an eight-team league) to win a game at the ACC tournament).
Jaeden Mustaf helped give Tech, a No. 8 seed this week, a win Wednesday that advanced the Yellow Jackets into Thursday’s quarterfinals against No. 1 Duke. He started for only the eighth time this season and finished with eight points and eight rebounds in 33 minutes in a 66-60 triumph over Virginia.
“I knew I had a job to do, come in and play defense, play my role. Just give it on defense and do the best job I could,” said Mustaf, who played one season for the Carmel Christian School in Matthews, North Carolina, a 10-minute drive south of the Spectrum Center.
Mustaf wasn’t the only Jacket with North Carolina connections to step up Wednesday.
Junior Duncan Powell scored 21 points, 15 of those coming in the second half, and was 9-of-14 from the floor. Powell was born in Conover, North Carolina, about an hour north of Charlotte and began his college career at North Carolina A&T in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Powell, who grew up in Texas, transferred to Tech from Sacramento State. His 21 points Wednesday gave Tech its 28th game this season of having at least one player score 20 points, a program record.
“All glory to God, Jesus King, with that one. I’m blessed to be here,” Powell said. “I’ve got a great coach, great teammates. It’s crazy how life works and how quick things turn around. I say this all the time, a couple years ago I didn’t think I’d play basketball anymore, so to be able to play in Charlotte like an hour away from the school I started at in front of a lot of family is big-time. It means a lot.”
The play of Mustaf and Powell was pivotal for Tech to snap a 13-game losing streak to the Cavaliers. Mustaf didn’t play in the first meeting between the two teams, a 75-61 Virginia victory Feb. 8 in Charlottesville.
Tech coach Damon Stoudamire indicated postgame he knew Wednesday’s battle would go differently because he had Mustaf available allowed him to use Powell in a different way as well.
“I thought Duncan at the 4 was going to be really good for us, and it allowed Mustaf to guard a perimeter,” Stoudamire said. “The last time we played them, we had Duncan playing the perimeter, and that’s tough to chase like that against guys that they have, and especially the way they play.
“I think the biggest key to the game for me is when we played them the last time, I started Duncan at the 3 because I didn’t have enough perimeter bodies. So, I took (Ibrahim) Souare out of the starting lineup and started Jaeden Mustaf, so it helped us stay connected. I think that made a big difference.”
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