It’s not the NCAA tournament, but it is postseason basketball. That’s sufficient for Georgia Tech guard Marcus Georges-Hunt, who is clearly enjoying the Yellow Jackets’ run through the NIT.
After two wins, he and his team have the opportunity to make the experience even richer. If Tech defeats San Diego State in its own arena in Wednesday night’s quarterfinal matchup, the Yellow Jackets will advance to the NIT semifinals in New York’s Madison Square Garden. It would be just the second time that a Tech team has reached that stage.
The possibility has Georges-Hunt’s attention.
“I’ve never played in Madison Square Garden,” he said. “I just know hearing rumors, it’s a great place and it’s so legendary. And being able to get a chance to play in there, I would be so thankful to get that opportunity and take advantage of it.”
In its second-round win over South Carolina Monday night, Tech clearly took more care of the game, playing with more energy and aggressiveness in subduing the Gamecocks by an 83-66 score. The Jackets’ superiority on the glass was evidence of their investment. South Carolina came into the game with a plus-6.8 rebounding margin, but were outrebounded 39-21.
It was the Gamecocks’ largest negative margin of the season and their lowest rebound total of the season, far below their season average of 40.9 rebounds per game. It was also a reflection of Tech’s shooting accuracy not providing many opportunities for rebounds.
Said coach Brian Gregory, “I couldn’t be prouder of our guys in terms of their mental approach and their commitment to being prepared to play in this game and to understand the physicalness that you’re going to have to play with and the toughness that you’re going to have to play with.”
There is no sense that the Jackets are a group too cool for the NIT. For most players, it’s their first postseason experience. Following the win over South Carolina, players sat stoically at their lockers when Gregory walked in clapping his hands before realizing they were pulling the cold shoulder prank played in major league dugouts when rookies hit their first home run.
After Gregory called them on it, specifically eyeballing forward Charles Mitchell, the team mobbed him before he went around the room doling out fives.
The winning – eight victories in the past 10 games – has been particularly rewarding given the aggravating 2014-15 season and then the 2-8 start in ACC play this season. The NIT success – wins by double-digit margins over Houston and South Carolina – has been a reward for the Jackets’ continued resolve. Independently of each other, forward Nick Jacobs and Georges-Hunt credited the team’s recent success to its practices, where a team’s competitive will is revealed perhaps more accurately than on the court.
“I can’t stress that enough, how glad I am to be a part of a team like that,” Jacobs said.
San Diego State stands to pose a significantly greater challenge than did South Carolina. The Aztecs are ranked third nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency in the Pomeroy ratings. The Jackets will play having flown cross country Tuesday to play San Diego State, which beat Washington at home on Monday night in its second-round game. The Jackets and Aztecs may play before a full house Wednesday night, a more formidable setting than the meager showing at South Carolina’s Colonial Life Arena.
However full or empty, Madison Square Garden, arguably the game’s greatest stage, would likely look even grander still to these Jackets, who despite the turbulence of the season can earn the school’s first-ever NIT championship.
“That’s a motivation to go out and win the next game,” guard Adam Smith said. “It’d be amazing. To win that championship would be even more amazing, and bring home that NIT title.”
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