Georgia Tech Guard Javian McCollum Is Available to Play Tonight vs Jacksonville State

McCollum has not played since February 4th, but he is available tonight for the Yellow Jackets in their NIT matchup vs Jacksonville State

Feb 1, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets guard Javian McCollum (2) celebrates in the final seconds of a victory over the Louisville Cardinals at McCamish Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Georgia Tech is opening up NIT play tonight hosting Jacksonville State in the opening round. Before tip-off tonight, the Yellow Jackets received some good and some bad news when it comes to injuries. Senior guard Javian McCollum, who has not played since a win over Clemson on February 4th, is available to play tonight. However, center Ibrahim Souare is not going to be available tonight for Georgia Tech.

Georgia Tech guard Javian McCollum is available tonight for the Yellow Jackets against Jacksonville State in the first round of the NIT at McCamish Pavilion.

Senior has not played since Feb. 4 at Clemson.

Freshman center Ibrahim Souare will not be available.

— Chad Bishop (@MrChadBishop) March 18, 2025

Jacksonville State (22-12, 12-6 C-USA ACC) tied for second place in the C-USA regular season, a game behind Liberty, and advanced to the finals of the conference tournament, where they fell to the Flames, 79-67.

The winner of the Tech-JSU game will advance to face the winner of a Wednesday game between the No. 1 seed, UC Irvine (28-6) and Northern Colorado (25-9) either Saturday or Sunday in the second round.

Georgia Tech and Jacksonville State are meeting for the first time

Tech has played in the NIT nine times previously, reaching the championship game in 1971 and 2017, where the Yellow Jackets lost to North Carolina and TCU, respectively. The Yellow Jackets are 14-9 all-time in the post-season tournament.

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.

Baye Ndongo was named third-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference, while Naithan George earned an 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

Georgia Tech’s 17 wins match 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.

Additional Links

How to Watch and Listen: Georgia Tech Basketball vs Jacksonville State NIT First-Round

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