Georgia Tech left New York two weeks ago with a whimper, losers to Pittsburgh in the first round of the ACC Tournament. The Yellow Jackets appeared a team that had run its course, its defense still fierce but its offense unraveling and its legs out of bounce.
Tuesday night, the Jackets were a different and better version of themselves, making clutch baskets, running effective offense, jumping on loose balls and seizing upon the opportunity to finish a most unlikely season back in New York.
Tech held off Ole Miss, 74-66, winning its NIT quarterfinal matchup with the Rebels and earning a return trip to New York for the NIT semifinals at Madison Square Garden.
“We couldn’t get (the team’s seniors) to the NCAA Tournament, so I’m just glad that they’re going to be able to experience this before they head off,” said Tech freshman guard Josh Okogie, who scored a game-high 26 points to go with seven rebounds.
Now 20-15, Tech has defied all expectations for a team projected to finish 14th in the ACC and seen as a candidate to win no more than two or three games in the conference. Further, beating Ole Miss (22-14) in its home arena the win ended an eight-game losing streak away from McCamish Pavilion.
“We played real tough this game,” forward Quinton Stephens said. “We made some plays that we didn’t usually make when we had away games. I think that was the big difference.”
The Jackets will play in the NIT semis next Tuesday against the winner of Wednesday’s quarterfinal between Cal State Bakersfield and Texas-Arlington.
Five observations from the game
Answering back
As the Rebels began to solve the Jackets, Tech continued to find baskets to hold them off. When a layup by guard Terence Davis cut the lead to six at the 15:38 mark, Stephens hit a 3-pointer from the corner to return the lead to nine, triggering an 11-3 run. Seven minutes later, after forward Sebastian Saiz scored (two of his team-high 19), the Jackets answered with one of their best possessions of the half, moving the ball quickly to set up a layup by Okogie for a 58-50 lead.
Finally, when the Rebels knocked the lead back to four for a third time at the 1:40 mark on a dunk by Davis that caused the arena to erupt, guard Tadric Jackson found Okogie on a textbook backdoor cut. Okogie was fouled and made both free throws (he was 9-for-10 from the line) with 1:22 remaining to start to close the door on Ole Miss.
“I thought they took the fight to us,” Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said, “and they made the plays they needed to make to advance.”
Limiting free throws
Ole Miss made frequent trips to the free-throw line a staple of its success this season. The Rebels came into the game scoring 25.2 percent of their points from the free-throw line, the fourth-highest rate in the country, according to KenPom. Excelling at defending without fouling, Tech was a keen matchup for the Rebels, and won that facet of the game handily.
Ole Miss shot a season-low eight free throws (making six), 18 attempts below its season average. The Rebels helped, frequently settling for the 3-point tries that had served them so well in their win over Syracuse on Saturday, when they made 15 of 32.
But Ole Miss was 6-for-28 behind the arc Tuesday night, and in dipping so often from the 3-point well reduced its opportunities to drive to the basket and potentially draw fouls. Kennedy referred to its 3-point launching as “fool’s gold.”
“We just stayed in the gaps,” Okogie said. “We limited the amount of times they were able to get to the hoop, and we tried to limit the amount of touches their big man (Saiz) could get, and Ben did a great job of walling up, not fouling.”
Lammers delivers again
The ACC’s defensive player of the year was a dominant force in the lane once again. Center Ben Lammers blocked eight shots and came up with four steals, using his length and anticipating passes. Needing to stay out of foul trouble against a team that specializes in drawing fouls, Lammers was called for just one foul and played the full 40 minutes for the fifth time this season.
He was deadly on the offensive end, finding the range on his jump shot and putting down dunks and layups on feeds from teammates. He was 9-for-11 from the field, and seven of his nine baskets were assisted. The eight blocks are one shy of his career high and tied for fourth most by a Tech player in a game.
Lammers now has 117 blocks this season, the second most in school history for behind Alvin Jones (141 in the 1997-98 season).
Efficient again on offense
While the Jackets endured a rough patch in the second half, often appearing taken out of their game by Ole Miss’ 1-3-1 zone (an alignment the Jackets have used frequently with considerable success), they finished the game shooting 51.9 percent from the field.
In their three NIT games, Tech has cleared 70 in each, the first time this season that the Jackets have put together three 70-plus games in a row.
“I think we’re just playing free,” Stephens said. “We’re in rhythm now. We’re playing our best basketball. We know what works for us.”
Strong start by Heath
Guard Josh Heath was again a quiet X-factor. He made an instant difference, scoring on a tough layup on the opening possession, then relieving Ole Miss forward Justas Furmanavicius of the ball on the Rebels’ first possession, leading to him getting fouled going to the basket in transition. He made both free throws to put Tech up 4-0. Tech used the momentum to push the lead to as many as 13 in the first 10 minutes, taking the near-sellout crowd out of the game. The Jackets led the entire way.
Heath finished with five points, seven assists against three turnovers, six rebounds and two steals.
“On defense, what really got us going was Josh Heath’s defensive intensity,” Okogie said.
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