March 18, 2004
No. 3 Georgia Tech (23-9) vs.
No. 14 Northern Iowa (21-9)
REGIONAL: St. Louis, First round.
TIME: Friday, 3:00 p.m. EST.
SITE: The Bradley Center; Milwaukee.
2004Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Tournament Central
Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt knows balance has been the key to his team’s success this season.
The versatile Yellow Jackets will look to continue employing their various options when they meet Northern Iowa in a first-round matchup.
Georgia Tech has six players averaging between 16.3 and 8.8 points a game. While top scorer B.J. Elder was the high points man in 12 games, five others also held that distinction – each of them at least three times.
“This is an unselfish group of guys,” Hewitt said. “Some of the guys coming off the bench could be playing major minutes somewhere else.”
Sophomore point guard Jarrett Jack leads the Yellow Jackets with 31.2 minutes per game, but seven others average at least 17.7.
Hewitt said the Yellow Jackets have become more balanced this season because they are not relying so heavily on one player, as they did last season with Chris Bosh. The center left for the NBA draft after one season.
“We’ve got a lot of different weapons,” senior forward Clarence Moore said. “If we can get them all playing at the same time, we can be deadly.”
The Yellow Jackets had won four straight before losing to Duke 85-71 in the ACC tournament semifinals Saturday.
Elder led Georgia Tech with 25 points, but the Yellow Jackets were outrebounded 37-31 and allowed the Blue Devils to shoot 51.9 percent from the field.
“They got too many second shots,” Hewitt said. “The reason for that is probably we allowed so many times for them to drive to the middle and we had to start helping that it opened offensive rebounding lanes.
“They beat us off the dribble too many times during that run, got into the paint and forced us to help.”
Northern Iowa has won eight straight and wrapped a tournament bid with a 79-74 double overtime victory over Southwest Missouri State in the championship game of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament March 8.
Sophomore guard Ben Jacobson, who earned tournament MVP honors, tied his career high with 26 points to help the Panthers overcome 37.3 percent shooting from the field.
Northern Iowa coach Greg McDermott said he projected the Panthers as a 13th seed, maybe even as high as 12.
“But playing in Milwaukee, it’s worth dropping a seed so our fans can come see us play close to home and enjoy this with us,” he said
McDermott knows the Yellow Jackets will pose a stern test.
“The ACC is arguably the best conference in the country and they were right in the mix all season,” McDermott said. “We’re going to have our hands full. They’re a very athletic group.”
Northern Iowa has never faced a team from the ACC.
The winner of this game will meet either sixth-seeded Boston College or No. 11 Utah in the second round Sunday.
PROBABLE STARTERS:
Northern Iowa – F David Gruber (11.9 ppg, 6.9 rpg), F Matt Schneiderman (10.9 ppg, 6.5 rpg), G Erik Crawford (10.3 ppg, 5.1 rpg), G Jacobson (14.1 ppg, 3.9 rpg), G Brooks McKowen (7.6 ppg, 2.7 apg).
Georgia Tech – F Anthony McHenry (2.8 ppg, 3.1 rpg), F Elder (16.3 ppg, 2.9 rpg), C Luke Schenscher (8.8 ppg, 6.6 rpg), G Jack (12.7 ppg, 5.8 apg), G Marvin Lewis (11.4 ppg, 2.7 rpg).
HOW THEY GOT HERE:
Northern Iowa – Automatic bid, Missouri Valley Conference champion.
Georgia Tech – At-large berth.
ALL-TIME TOURNAMENT RECORD:
Northern Iowa – 1-1, 1 year.
Georgia Tech – 16-12, 12 years.
