Georgia Tech head coach Damon Stoudamire said before the season that he believes his team has more depth and more versatility as he heads into his second year at the helm.
That combo was on full display on Tuesday night as the Jackets used a balanced and varied effort to open the 2024-25 campaign with an emphatic 85-62 win over West Georgia at McCamish Pavilion.
Georgia Tech (1-0) used 11 different players with 10 of those scoring at least one bucket and several others contributing in other stat categories in the season-opening victory. Stoudamire said it was a great way to show a little preview of the kind of team he expects to have this season.
"We've got a team with a lot of guys that can make plays," said Stoudamire. "I think the biggest thing and what everybody will see about this group is as the year goes on, we're deep. We've got a lot of guys that I can put out there. There's probably eight guys that I really trust right now with a couple other guys that has the potential to put their mark on the team. I'm happy with it. I'm happy I got the chance to get guys in and see what they could do. Overall for Game 1, I thought it was a pretty good effort by the fellas."
After West Georgia (0-2) battled to within four early as Georgia Tech led 11-7 just over five minutes, the Jackets seemed to shift into a different gear from there, really taking control of the game. They were able to reel off a 7-0 run to go up 18-7.
After the score was 27-18 in favor of Georgia Tech with around seven minutes left in the first half, the Jackets never led again by any less than double digits. They eventually led 50-29 at the half and continued to stretch out the margin early in the second half, leading by as many as 30 at one point.
Leading the scoring for Georgia Tech in the opening win was Javian McCollum as the transfer from Oklahoma had 18 points. Kowacie Reeves added 15 points, and Baye Ndongo was the third scorer in double figures with 10 points.
"From this morning when I woke up, I was just excited to get out here with this group of guys on the court," said McCollum. "I mean we've got a great group of guys that care about each other and care for winning. It shows in practice that we compete and we want to be the best team possible. Just being out there with those guys and just getting the win and just being able to gel it's the best feeling ever."
Lance Terry and Duncan Powell each scored nine points for the Jackets as Terry was making his return after missing last season with an injury. Transfer from Colorado Luke O'Brien fell just shy of a double-double in his Georgia Tech debut with eight points and 10 rebounds.
"It was a good first win," said Stoudamire. "I thought especially in the first half I thought we played well, I thought we moved the well. Had a lot of great defensive possessions. The second half I thought we kind of played the clock a little bit, but overall, I was really happy with the things we did. Defensively, I was happy. I wish we could've turned them over a little more, but we didn't. But we did some really good things defensively, and I think that was the emphasis for us this summer and early part of fall. We really shared the ball well. Twenty assists is a lot. I don't know how many times, if any, that we had 20 assists last year."
Georgia Tech won the battle on the boards by a substantial margin with a 49-25 edge in the rebounding department. The Jackets also had 20 assists on 33 made baskets and shot 48.5 percent from the field, including knocking down seven 3s.
West Georgia was led by Shelton Williams-Dryden with 13 points while teammate Kolten Griffin was also in double figures with 11. Rickey Ballard added eight points off the bench.
Georgia Tech will be back on its home court to continue its season-opening seven-game homestand on Sunday when the Jackets host the North Florida Ospreys at 1 p.m.