March 26, 2003
Seeking to reach the final four of the Owens Corning National Invitation Tournament for the first time since 1971, Georgia Tech faces Texas Tech Wednesday in a quarterfinal matchup at 9 p.m. EST at United Spirit Arena in Lubbock, Texas.
The game will be nationally televised on ESPN2. Local radio coverage in the Atlanta area is available on the Georgia Tech-ISP Radio Network on WTSH-FM (107.1), on WQXI-AM 790 The Zone, which will join the Tech game in progress following the Atlanta Thrashers hockey game, or on the Internet at Tech’s official website, www.ramblinwreck.com.
The winner of Wednesday’s game between Georgia Tech (16-14) and Texas Tech (20-12) will advance to Madison Square Garden to face either UAB or St. John’s on April 1. UAB plays at St. John’s Thursday.
The Yellow Jackets reached the quarterfinals with a dramatic 79-78 win at Iowa Monday night, as B.J. Elder scored the winning basket with less than a second left. The Jackets defeated Ohio State, 72-58, in the first round. Texas Tech has not played since defeating San Diego State in the second round last Friday night. The Red Raiders eliminated UNLV in the first round.
The two “Techs” are meeting for the first time in nearly 40 years and have split four previous meetings. Texas Tech won the last meeting, 95-90, on Dec. 30, 1964. Georgia Tech’s last victory over the Red Raiders was a 63-60 win at Texas Tech on Dec. 22, 1959 in the Yellow Jackets only previous trip to Lubbock.
After losing its first 10 road games of the season, Georgia Tech has now won its last two games on opponents’ home floors.
Georgia Tech has three players ranked among the ACC’s top 17 in scoring, led by Chris Bosh, a second-team all-ACC performer and the 2003 ACC Rookie of the Year, who ranks eighth in the ACC in scoring at 15.5 points per game, leads the ACC in field goal percentage (56.0) and blocked shots (2.13 per game) and is second in rebounding (8.9). Bosh, who has 12 double-doubles this season, has averaged 16.5 points and shot 58.9 percent from the floor in Tech’s last six games.
Elder, a 6-4 sophomore, and 6-4 junior Marvin Lewis form one of the league’s top three-point shooting tandems. Elder, who has scored in double figures in five straight games before Monday, ranks 10th in the conference at 14.7 points a game overall, seventh in overall field goal percentage at 45.8 percent, and seventh in the league in three-point percentage (39.0). Lewis ranks 17th in the ACC overall at 12.4 points per game and is eighth in three-point percentage (37.5), but has struggled in his last four games (5-25 from three).
Point guard Jarrett Jack, a 6-3 freshman, is Tech’s fourth-leading scorer at 9.4 points along with 6.1 assists (fourth in the ACC). He has dished out 18 assists against just three turnovers in two NIT games while making 50 percent of his shots.
Head coach Paul Hewitt inserted 6-9 freshman Theodis Tarver in the starting lineup two games ago, and the move has paid dividends. Tarver has averaged 8.5 points and 3.5 rebounds while hitting all seven of his field goal attempts in Tech’s two NIT wins. For the season, he has averaged 5.6 points and 3.2 rebounds.
Georgia Tech’s primary reserves include 6-8 sophomore Ed Nelson, the ACC’s seventh-leading rebounder at 6.7 per game along with 8.3 points a game; Isma’il Muhammad, a 6-6 sophomore forward averaging 5.9 points and 3.9 rebounds; and Anthony McHenry, a 6-7 sophomore averaging 2.0 points and 1.4 rebounds. Luke Schenscher, Tech’s 7-foot center, averages 3.8 points and 3.1 rebounds per game, while hitting 47.2 percent of his shots, but has played very few minutes in the last three games and did not play against Ohio State. Tech’s bench has averaged 21.2 points in the last five games and 23 points in the NIT.
TECH IN THE NIT
*This is Georgia Tech’s seventh appearance in the National Invitation Tournament, and the Yellow Jackets have an 8-6 overall record. The Yellow Jackets defeated Ohio State at home last Wednesday, 72-58, in the first round, before knocking off Iowa, 79-78, on the road on Monday.
*Tech’s last appearance occurred in 1999, a 67-64 loss at Oregon in the first round.
*Tech has also appeared in the NIT in 1970, 1971, 1984, 1994 and 1998. The Jackets reached the finals of the 1971 tournament at Madison Square Garden, losing 84-64 to North Carolina in the championship game. Tech’s deepest advance into the NIT since then was the quarterfinals in 1998, when the Yellow Jackets played three home games, defeating Seton Hall and Georgetown before falling to Penn State.
