Six Big Takeaways From Georgia Tech's Disappointing NIT Tournament Loss to Jacksonville State

Georgia Tech finished the 2024-2025 regular season at .500 after a disappointing home loss to one of the best teams in the Conference USA. The metrics had the Yellow Jackets as a favorite at home, but the Gamecocks came ready to play in McCamish Pavilion and gave Georgia Tech the work. Jacksonville State had three scorers in double figures and got a good lift from their bench who contributed 16 points in a big win on the road. Georgia Tech struggled shooting the basketball only making 35% of its field goals on Tuesday night.

Let's get into some of the big takeaways from last night's game.

1. Jaron Pierre Proves Why He Could Be An NBA Prospect- The fourth-leading scorer in the country was unguardable on Tuesday night. Pierre finished with a game-high 30 points on efficient 61% shooting from the field. The Yellow Jackets had no answers for him throughout the game and when it looked like they were making a run to close the deficit, Pierre came up with a big-time shot to quell the momentum every time. In the first half, he had 15 points and five rebounds. I think what was most impressive is that he caught fire from beyond the arc in the second half despite only shooting 1-5 from three-point range in the first half. Pierre got into a rhythm as he continued to put pressure on the Yellow Jackets defense converting on the inside and nailing mid-range jumpers. When he wasn’t scoring, Pierre did a good job setting up his teammates and finishing with seven assists.

2. Jacksonville State shot the lights out- The Gamecocks were efficient from the field shooting 52%. They also dominated the paint and outscored the Yellow Jackets 26-14. They really separated themselves from beyond the arc despite only hitting two more three-pointers. Their wave of threes happened in the second half where they were able to separate themselves from the Yellow Jackets and build an insurmountable lead. Jacksonville State shot 6-10 from beyond the arc and was led by Pierre who hit four of them in the second half. The Gamecocks finished 15-30 from beyond the arc in a great night from the field against the Yellow Jackets.

3. Georgia Tech's lackadaisical effort- It didn’t seem like the Yellow Jackets were that enthused to be in the National Invitational Tournament (NIT). Now I don’t believe that is a reflection of head coach Damon Stoudamire because he was coaching hard and holding his team accountable, but it seemed like the team was out of sorts and didn’t have the effort we are accustomed to seeing. A stat they’ve dominated opponents in this season has been rebounding which is a good sign of effort and want to. In this game, Jacksonville State finished with a +11 advantage on the glass. The Gamecocks were also active on the offensive glass grabbing nine rebounds that resulted in eight points. We’ve seen this Yellow Jackets team hang with the top teams in the ACC and win in hostile environments, but Tuesday looked like a different team.

4. Georgia Tech big man Baye Ndongo had a rough night- Ndongo was nearly scoreless going into halftime before hitting a layup to close out the half to finish with two points and was 1-5 from the field. In the second half, it was more of the same as Ndongo went 1-4. He was getting good looks at the rim but couldn’t convert the usual looks that he does. He finished 2-9 with five rebounds. Ndongo is also usually very dominant on the glass-grabbing offensive rebounds and securing the defensive glass with his energy and effort. Tuesday night was a different story as the Jacksonville State frontcourt players limited his ability to dominate and make an impact in the game.

5. Duncan Powell ends the season on a high note- A player the Yellow Jackets should try and get back next season is Powell. He scored 24 points against Duke and 21 points against Virginia to earn all-tournament second-team honors. He put together another strong performance on Tuesday night and finished tied for the team-high with 15 points. His hot three-point shooting streak down the stretch was also good to see as he hit 10 three-pointers in his final two games of the season. Powell gives the Yellow Jackets an edge and an energy that guys feed on.

6. You can’t let one night taint an improved season from the Yellow Jackets- Did we get the best Yellow Jackets team on Tuesday night? No, we didn’t. However, this was an improved team from a year ago that improved their win total by three games for the 2023-2024 season. They also defeated Louisville and Clemson, both teams that are in the NCAA tournament and were ranked in the AP Poll throughout the year. You saw the emergence and improvement of Nait George who won ACC Player of the Week Honors earlier this season. Baye Ndongo dominated ACC play averaging a double-double against the conference and earning third-team All-ACC honors. Duncan Powell was a great veteran for the Yellow Jackets, who always played hard and made plays in every game. Lance Terry led Georgia Tech in scoring after coming off a serious injury that made him miss the season before. The young players showed upside in Darrion Sutton and Jaeden Mustaf through the year. Georgia Tech has nice core pieces to build around heading into the future and a really good 2025 class coming in. They have potential but will need to correct some things if they want to achieve their goal of winning an ACC championship and making the NCAA tournament.

Additional Links

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