Georgia Tech’s four-game winning streak met its end Tuesday night, but only barely.
Down 11 points with less than six minutes to play against No. 11 Louisville, the Yellow Jackets had three 3-point attempts to tie the game in the final minute but were unable to connect, resulting in a 56-53 loss to the Cardinals.
“All in my mind was, we’re that team that’s always down, but we stick with it,” forward Charles Mitchell said. “We just didn’t come out at the end.”
The game was set against the backdrop of the Cardinals playing their final home game in a season that will end Saturday as a result of the school self-imposing a postseason ban due to the early findings of an NCAA investigation into sordid recruiting violations. Further, in a recent interview, Louisville coach Rick Pitino left open the possibility that he may retire at the end of the season.
Not that Tech needed more of a hill to climb.
The Jackets (17-13 overall, 7-10) suffered their first loss after four consecutive wins and five wins in their past six. Louisville (23-7, 12-5) kept alive its bid to win the ACC regular-season championship. Coach Brian Gregory said he evaluated the game in two different ways.
“One is the competitiveness that you play with, and I thought both teams were off the charts on that,” Gregory said. “And then there’s the performance piece, and they were better in the performance piece. How much better? Three points better. That’s disappointing, because we’ve been playing obviously extremely well, and to come into this place and this environment on senior night and to compete the way we did, we’ve obviously shown that we’re a pretty good team.”
Here are five observations from the game:
First-half fortune
The Jackets were fortunate to be down 28-27 at halftime. Louisville had attacked the offensive glass for 12 offensive rebounds to 13 defensive rebounds for Tech, but the Cardinals were able to convert them into only 10 second-chance points due to their errant shooting (11-for-35 from the field, 0-for-9 from 3-point range).
“We were just staring, watching the ball,” Mitchell said.
Louisville’s defensive pressure on the perimeter, led by guard Quentin Snider, put the Jackets on their heels. They didn’t get to the foul line once in the half, the first time that has happened this season.
How the game was lost
The score was tied at 34 with 14:16 to play in the game when Tech center Ben Lammers missed two free throws. On the following possession, Louisville guard Damion Lee hit a 3-pointer, the Cardinals’ first of the game after missing their first 10.
Louisville turned up its defensive heat and the Jackets began to rush possessions. The Cardinals came away with four points on one trip when Tech couldn’t secure a missed free throw, which led to a Snider 3-pointer for a 45-36 lead.
The Cardinals surged to a 13-2 run that opened the lead to 47-36. It gave Louisville enough margin to withstand the Jackets’ final rally.
Stunning comeback
Tech nearly tied the game in the final minute. Guard Adam Smith tried two 3-pointers in one possession and one more in Tech’s final chance with the ball, but was unable to connect. The Jackets were put in that place behind a relentless rebounding effort by forward Charles Mitchell, who had six offensive rebounds in the final eight minutes and also stole an inbounds pass that he turned into a three-point play, helping Tech put together an 15-5 run that drew Tech to 54-53 with 12 seconds left to play.
Mitchell finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds, his 15th double-double of the season.
“I was like, I guess they’re going to have to ride on my back for a second, but I didn’t care,” Mitchell said. “Anything I could do to help my team win, I was willing to do it.”
Smith, perhaps out of rhythm because of the heavy pressure that Louisville applied on the ball on the perimeter, was 3-for-14 from the field and 2-for-10 from 3-point range.
“I’ve got to knock down those shots at the end,” Smith said. “I got some good looks. They just didn’t fall.”
Defensive pressure
Tech was engulfed by Louisville’s ferocious defensive effort, which hurried the Jackets and forced 17 turnovers on 63 possessions. Often rushed on their shots and unable to get the ball into the post, Tech shot 36.7 percent from the field, well below their ACC rate of 44.2 percent.
“I thought we got some good looks there at the end in the last four or five minutes, but what they do is, with their physicality and their pressure, they knock you off your timing just a little bit, so even open shots are a little more difficult than they appear,” Gregory said.
The 17 turnovers tied Tech’s season high, which it set in the 76-71 win over Boston College Saturday.
What’s next
With the loss, Tech’s only route to an NCAA bid may be winning the ACC championship next week in Washington, D.C. According to CBS bracketologist Jerry Palm, the NCAA tournament selection committee has not awarded an at-large bid to a 14-loss team since 2011, which is what Tech would be unless it runs the table in Washington.
At 17-13, the Jackets may need two more wins to get into the NIT. Either would be Tech’s first postseason appearance since the 2009-2010 team went to the NCAA tournament.
“We’re still in the fight,” Mitchell said. “We’ve got to keep fighting until the end, that never-give-up mentality.”
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