ATLANTA- Georgia Tech and Notre Dame have played a lot of close games over the last 12 meetings between the teams with the Irish winning 10 of 12 including both last year, but on New Year’s Eve the Jackets came out on top 86-75 beating Notre Dame for the first time in nearly two years. Tech improved to 7-7 on the season and picked up the first ACC win, moving to 1-2 in league play while Notre Dame fell to 7-6 and 1-1 in the ACC with the loss.

Senior Javian McCollum was big for the Jackets off the bench with 21 points in 34 minutes and six assists. McCollum was also 5-5 at the line for the Jackets as a calming influence coming off an ankle injury.

Tech’s other leading scorer was Duncan Powell who also added 21 points and a block off the bench in 27 minutes playing big minutes in place of Baye Ndongo who was in foul trouble for all of the second half.

"I’m really pleased with the guys' performance tonight. Sometimes you talk about the effort, but tonight was the performance," Tech head coach Damon Stoudamire said. They gave the effort, but the performance was huge. I’ll start with Duncan Powell. I’m proud of him, he is like a poster child for where we are today in collegiate sports. He played early, then didn’t get off the bench and kept doing the things he needed to do. I’m proud of him, his points and presence on the court were huge. It was more than 21 points, he as a balance to him and he doesn’t get too high or too low. Javian came off the bench and had a really big game. I was happy for him, he ignites us and when you get that off the bench it does a lot for us."

Powell jumped into playing the five in the small ball lineup for the Jackets in the second half while Ndongo, Ryan Mutombo, and Ibrahim Souare were out of the game.

“I was playing the five-man a lot in the second half and that was pretty exhausting and it showed a lot of maturity of how we can play with a small group like that,” Powell said.

Freshman guard Jaeden Mustaf didn’t put up a ton on the stat sheet but was big in the final two minutes with a key rebound and timeout falling out of bounds on a hustle play and three free throws on four attempts.

“He has been really good, I’m tough on him, but the biggest thing with Jaeden is each game is different and as the season goes on he can play a bigger role for us. I envisioned him being able to guard Tae Davis eventually once he learns how to use his body and he adds a lot of things guards can’t do and he can set screens and get rebounds like he did at the end of the game. I’ve challenged him and he has responded and for the most part, he has been a day one freshman, not a lot of guys can do that. He went through a lot with his pop's passing and getting to know him has been a joy," Stoudamire said of Mustaf.

Tech built a big lead in the first half going up 43-24 on the Irish. Tech was 4-9 from three in the first half. McCollum had 10 points off the bench, Naithan George had nine and Ndongo had eight points and five rebounds.

The Irish made a strong comeback in the second half following two quick fouls on Ndongo that gave him four less than a minute into the second half. The Irish outscored Tech 35-24 during the stretch Ndongo was on the bench from 19:05 to just under seven minutes left in the half. The Irish used an 11-0 run to cut the lead to three before Tech was able to pull away.

"Credit to Georgia Tech, I thought Damon had his guys ready to go and they competed well. Damon is one of the coaches I really respect across the country and we are competitors and our teams are going to fight hard. We have good talent, but not the best talent in the league. Both being new coaches in this league we are fighting to get our guys to compete and when we get our players then we can start to takeoff. He is doing a better job than I am, I didn’t have our guys ready to go tonight and he did," Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsberry said after the game.

Notre Dame had two separate runs that ended up going 24-3 against the Jackets in the second half. Powell said the team didn't wither when the Irish made their runs and he actually enjoyed how competitive the game got late in the second half.

“Coach Dame’s main thing is not to think. I like it when they come back a little bit and it makes it more competitive like that. I can bring my intensity to the table and I really enjoy that,” Powell said.

Ndongo ended up with 10 points and six rebounds in just 20 minutes of time.

Lance Terry added 14 points and a key steal and layup to break up an Irish run in the second half. Point guard Naithan George added six assists and 11 points.

For the Irish, Tae Davis led the way with 27 points including 9-10 from the line and seven rebounds for Notre Dame. Guard Matt Allocco had 15 points and seven assists.

Georgia Tech jumped out to a 7-1 lead forcing a Notre Dame timeout just 3:15 into the game. Notre Dame used a 10-4 run to take the lead briefly. The Jackets used a 12-2 run to go up 23-14 thanks to some strong defensive stops that allowed Tech to run. McCollum added a three and Ndongo a layup to to push it to 17-2, 28-14. Tech held a 34-22 lead at the final media timeout with 1:45 left in the half. Duncan Powell hit a corner three with seconds left in the half to put Tech up 43-24 at the break. The Irish shot just 28.1 percent in the first half compared to Tech’s 60.7 percent.

"Defensively in the first half that was the best defense we played and the best first half we played on both sides of the ball. We were connected and intentional and I was really proud of the fellas. We’ve got to keep getting better. From within, our locker room we’ve all been disappointed in a lot of things an injury here and there, I’m not into that, you got what you got and you’ve got to figure it out. When we got to the break we would have some practice time to help us based on the injuries we had, we would have to play big and play small too. The practice time has helped and we were able to rep and practice things and guys got back to the individual work and we’ve bled into our guys and got some payback. As their coach, I’m not happy, I see these things coming and you have to see a bigger picture than the kids do. It was a breakthrough, Notre Dame is a tricky team, they are unconventional and with Markus Burton out they don’t have a guy who breaks you down, so they wait for you to have a mistake on defense. We held Shrewsberry to zero points in the first half. Big picture I was really proud of them," Stoudamire said.

Ndongo committed two quick fouls in the first minute of the second half giving him four and sending him to the bench. Tech still led by 14, but Stoudamire used a timeout after Notre Dame scored a couple of baskets back to back. McCollum hit a three to extend the lead back to 17 and George added another to push the lead back to 19. The Irish used an 11-0 run triggered by Braeden Shrewsberry to cut the Tech lead to 8, 55-47 leading to another Stoudamire timeout. The Irish continued hot shooting to cut the lead to five, 67-62 by the third media timeout with just under eight minutes to play. The Irish cut the lead to three 69-66 with 5:53 left on an Allocco jumper. Tech hit three straight baskets to go back up 11 late. Ndongo fouled out with 1:58 left and Tech was up 81-71. The Jackets held on to win by 11, 86-75 despite Notre Dame shooting 60 percent in the second half.

Tech hosts Boston College (8-5, 0-2) on Saturday at noon while Notre Dame hosts North Carolina at noon.