Year 2 of the Damon Stoudamire coaching era at Georgia Tech will begin Wednesday night in Atlanta when the Yellow Jackets host first-year Division I program West Georgia.
Georgia Tech is coming off last year’s 14-18 overall record and 7-13 mark in Atlantic Coast Conference play. Although the Yellow Jackets fell to UMass-Lowell, 24-loss Louisville, and were beaten three times by 20-loss Notre Dame, Stoudamire returns several key contributors from a team that also beat North Carolina and Duke.
Three of Georgia Tech’s top scorers come back from a season ago in Baye Ndongo (12.4 points per game), Kowacie Reeves (9.8) and Naithan George (9.8).
In the transfer portal, the Yellow Jackets added Javian McCollum, who averaged 13.3 points in 30 starts at Oklahoma last season, and Duncan Powell, who brings his 12.1 ppg mark from Sacramento State.
Georgia Tech was projected to finish 12th in the ACC preseason poll, but Stoudamire said his group has stepped its game up a notch from last season.
“I think this roster is more versatile,” Stoudamire said. “We’ve got longer guys, we’ve got length, and we’ve got depth, which is something we didn’t have a lot of last year. We were relying on guys even though they were tired, which is tough, because there was only so much we could do. … I think we might have had some of the best wins in the (ACC), but then we turned around and we were inconsistent against teams like us. … Last year the only thing we showed was that we were consistently inconsistent.”
The Yellow Jackets’ opponent on Wednesday — West Georgia, of the Atlantic Sun Conference — dropped its season opener Monday at Mississippi State, 95-60. West Georgia was led by Tamaury Releford’s 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting from the field.
Guided by seventh-year coach Dave Moore, the Wolves are preparing for their second straight power-conference opponent.
“If one day this program is going to get to the NCAA Tournament, these are the types of teams we’re going to see,” Moore said. “It’s the highest level of college basketball, and our guys get a chance to put it on tape. What an opportunity for guys that 12 months ago were playing in the Division II Tournament.”