The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets basketball team sits at 8-10 this season, and while most fans seen the team as a middle-of-the-pack team in a struggling ACC conference, the team now sits in 14th place in the conference of 18 teams. While the offensive woes continue for the team in ACC play, there is a bigger reason that the team has had the performance that they have this season: injuries.
The Yellow Jackets have been one of the team’s struck the most by injuries not only in the ACC, but in the entire country this season. There are only two players on the team that have played in all 18 games this season for the Yellow Jackets: Baye Ndongo and Naithan George. The rest of the players on the team, at some point this season, have missed playing time. Two of the team’s opening day starters, Luke O’Brien and Kowacie Reeves, have missed a combined 19 games this season. Add in key contributor Javian McCollum missing four games due to a concussion, and the team has really had to ask players to step up in bigger roles this season.
In the absence of some of the Yellow Jackets top players, Lance Terry has been a bright spot, leading the team with 15.4 points per game, but Terry missed last night’s loss against the Clemson Tigers with a hand injury.
The Yellow Jackets have used six different starting lineups this season, including freshmen Ibrahim Soare, Jaden Mustaf, and Doryan Onwuchekwa, who has missed the last eight games due to personal reasons, all being plugged into the starting lineup at some point this season. Reeves, O’Brien, Terry, and Onwuchekwa remain questionable, with no timetable yet on any returns.