Before a sellout crowd at McCamish Pavilion, Georgia Tech chalked up another eyebrow-raising result with a stout defensive performance, a backup jumping into the breach and a mad dash to the basket to beat the buzzer.
Guard Josh Okogie’s layup as time expired delivered the Yellow Jackets a 62-60 win over No. 14 Notre Dame, the final act in a game of momentum shifts, high effort and unselfish play. Tech (13-8, 5-4 ACC) has now defeated three Top 25 teams, the most by any Jackets team since the 2003-04 team beat nine (five in the regular season) on its way to the national championship game.
“I said this before the game, we were going to have to earn the win,” coach Josh Pastner said. “We weren’t going to be given the win. We had to earn it, and we did.”
Tech played in front of only its second home sellout crowd of the season, an audience that included several former players and coaches, including greats such as Bobby Cremins, Roger Kaiser, Dennis Scott and Jarrett Jack.
Said Cremins of the resurgence of the Jackets, who at season’s outset were considered one of the weakest power-conference teams in the country, “It’s incredible what’s happened.”
Here are five observations from the game:
When the game was won
Ahead 60-55 with 5:15 to play, Tech failed to score for the next five possessions, during which time the Fighting Irish tied the score at 60-60. The fifth empty possession came with 35.8 seconds left to play, when Okogie missed two free throws.
However, after Notre Dame guard Matt Farrell missed a drive contested by guard Josh Heath, guard Tadric Jackson grabbed the rebound with 5.8 seconds left, dribbled upcourt and passed ahead to Okogie on the right wing. Okogie beat Notre Dame’s T.J. Gibbs to the basket, laying it in as time expired.
After the rebound, “I looked up at the clock and saw that I had time,” Jackson said. “I saw, like, four seconds on the clock. The last thing I remember, I saw Josh ‘O’ just sprinting so hard. I had no choice but to give it to him.”
Okogie, a 77 percent free-throw shooter going into the game, said he was frustrated by the missed free throws, but knew he couldn’t cause him to “lose sight of the job at hand, which was to play ‘D’ and get a stop.” The way that he ran out in transition after Farrell’s shot, Pastner said, “it was like Usain Bolt.”
Jackson delivers
Jackson’s rebound and assist finished a standout afternoon. He scored a career-high 25 points, well above his 10.1 points-per-game average. Jackson scored on perimeter jumpers, on contorted drives and on post-ups. Jackson filled the gap left by Okogie, who is Tech’s leading scorer, but was limited to 18 minutes by foul trouble and scored eight points, his first single-digit scoring effort in nine ACC games.
Jackson’s previous high was his 24-point game in Tech’s road win over VCU in December, the first game that gave notice of the Jackets’ potential.
“If it’s your night, it’s your night,” Jackson said. “Josh Okogie had a great night last game (35 points against No. 6 Florida State) and he was off this game and I was on. So it’s like you pick each other up.”
Help from point guards
While Jackson’s 25 and center Ben Lammers’ 11th double-double (15 points, 10 rebounds to go with three blocks, three assists and several altered shots), guards Corey Heyward and Josh Heath played essential supporting roles.
Rather than mixing defenses as it has often done, Tech went with a man-to-man defense for much of the game. Heyward was assigned to guard Steve Vasturia, who carried a 14.9 scoring average into the game and scored five points in 39 minutes. Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said it was probably “the poorest Steve has played in two years.”
Reading the Irish offense and sneaking in on help defense, Heath had a career-high five steals, each killed possession proving crucial. Playing with obvious confidence, he had nine points to go with eight assists against three turnovers.
First-half comeback
Notre Dame took a 19-9 lead in the first nine minutes of the game, running its fluid offense for open looks and making its first three 3-point attempts. The Jackets began to take action, coming up with steals and contesting shots. Forward Quinton Stephens made one of the plays of the game, rejecting a layup attempt at the rim for one of his three blocks. The Jackets took their first lead at 26-25 at the 4:54 mark and grew it to eight before the end of the half.
“To be down what we were down and then fight back, to be able to get the lead against that type of team in the first half, it says a lot about our guys,” Pastner said.
Tournament team?
The Jackets’ RPI on Saturday evening was 61, according to warrennolan.com, normally a little high for the NCAA tournament selection committee. A weak non-conference schedule and a couple of bad losses are to blame. However, Tech is 5-5 against teams in the RPI top 50.
“Georgia Tech is a very good team,” Brey said. “I believe they’re going to be an NCAA tournament team.”
About the Author
