June 11, 2003
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech will open the Pre-Season National Invitation Tournament Nov. 18 with a home game against Louisiana-Lafayette at Alexander Memorial Coliseum at McDonald’s Center, NIT executive director John J. Powers announced Wednesday.
Powers announced the entire 16-team field and bracket for the tournament, which was inaugurated in 1985. First-round games will be held Nov. 17 and 18, with second-round contests Nov. 19-21, all on campus sites. The semi-finals will be held Nov. 26 and the finals Nov. 28, both at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Tech’s game against Louisiana-Lafayette will be nationally televised on ESPN at 7 p.m. The winner advances to a Nov. 20 second-round game against either Hofstra or Marist, whose first-round meeting is also Nov. 18. Other first-round games in Tech’s half of the bracket are Vermont at Nevada and Yale at Connecticut, both on Nov. 17. Should Tech and Connecticut both survive, they would meet in the semi-finals in New York.
The other half of the bracket features Georgia State at Utah and Missouri-Kansas City at Minnesota on Nov. 17, as well as St. Francis (N.Y.) at Massachusetts and Davidson at Texas Tech on Nov. 18.
The tournament features three teams from last year’s NCAA Championship (Connecticut, Utah and Vermont) and five who played in the NIT (Tech, Louisiana-Lafayette, Minnesota, Nevada and Texas Tech).
“We’re looking forward to starting our 2003-04 season in the Pre-Season NIT,” said Tech head coach Paul Hewitt, whose team finished 16-15 last year and advanced to the quarterfinals of the post-season NIT. “This gives us an opportunity to gain valuable experience as we put our most veteran group on the floor since coming to Georgia Tech.”
Tech returns 11 letterwinners and four starters from last year’s team, including two of its top three scorers in junior guard B.J. Elder (15.0 points per game) and senior guard Marvin Lewis (12.2 ppg). The Jackets boast a strong returning backcourt which also includes sophomore point guard Jarrett Jack (9.5 ppg, 6.0 assists per game) and incoming transfer Will Bynum (7.8 ppg at Arizona in 2002-03).
Tech has previously appeared in the Pre-Season NIT in 1987, 1991 and 1995, finishing second in 1991 and third in 1995. The Jackets’ meeting with Louisiana-Lafayette, which finished last season 20-10 and lost to Alabama-Birmingham in the first round of the NIT, will be the first between the two schools in men’s basketball.
The remainder of Tech’s 2003-04 schedule will not be announced until mid-August along with the entire Atlantic Coast Conference slate.
