Nine games into the 2024 men’s basketball season, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets sit at 4-5 this season, coming off consecutive losses against the Oklahoma Sooners and the North Carolina Tar Heels. The other three losses come from the No.22 Cincinnati Bearcats, in-state rival Georgia Bulldogs, and an unexpected loss to the North Florida Ospreys. In those 5 games, the Yellow Jackets have been outscored by 38 points, and average margin of loss by 7.6 points.
As a team, the offense has spread the ball around and a multitude of Yellow Jackets have scored in double digits this season, showing some depth with the emergence of freshman guard Jaeden Mustaf. However, the team lacks a primary scorer, as Lance Terry leads the team with 15.4 points per game. That means that the Yellow Jackets don’t have a single player in the top 222 in the nation.
The team has to get better at creating shots and efficiently making those shots, as they rank No. 285 in the nation in field goal percentage. The tempo of the team is quicker than anyone in the ACC, as they attempt the most shots in the conference, but they must bring up their field goal percentage to make those shots matter.
The last area that the team has to work on this season is knocking down free throws when they have the chance at the line. While the team is ranked No. 9 in the conference in free throw attempts, they rank No. 17 out of 18 teams in free throw percentage, making just 69 percent of their free throws.
The next month for the Yellow Jackets is going to be crucial as they begin conference play, and they only play two teams in the next calendar month that are in the AP Top 25. Can the Yellow Jackets get back on pace for a spot in the NCAA Tournament? This next month could just decide how the season goes for the Yellow Jackets.