2017 NIT First Round: No. 3 Indiana Hoosiers at No. 6 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
By Jordan Maly
No. 3 seed Indiana will take on No. 6 seed Georgia Tech in the opening round of the NIT in Atlanta. Indiana turned down the opportunity to host the first round game.
Well, this was not exactly the tournament Indiana expected to play in at the start of the season. Nonetheless, the Hoosiers received a bid to play in the 2017 NIT as a No. 3 seed. The Hoosiers come into post-season play 18-15 with a 7-11 record in the conference.
Many tag the tournament as the “Not Important Tournament” or some version to explain that college basketball fans are uninterested. So much so that Indiana declined to host the first round matchup in fear that Assembly Hall in March would be half empty (more on that later).
So it leaves the Hoosiers hitting the road to play the first round game in Atlanta to visit Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets come into the NIT with a 17-15 record finishing 11th in the ACC. Georgia Tech is no stranger to big-time wins this year.
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They own three wins against top-25 teams this season including then-No. 9 North Carolina, then-No. 6 Florida State and then-No. 14 Notre Dame. Georgia Tech also has wins over NIT No. 1 seed Syracuse in February. The end of the Yellow Jackets season did not fare well, as they finished the season losing four of the last five games including a first round loss to Pittsburgh in the ACC Tournament.
The Hoosiers can similarly match that resume with wins early in November against then-No. 3 Kansas and then-No. 3 North Carolina. Both of those teams now No. 1 seeds and clear favorites in the NCAA Tournament. Indiana has won three of their last five games including an impressive second-round win against NIT No. 1 seed Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament.
Georgia Tech by the Numbers…
| Player | G ▼ | MP | FG | FGA | FG% | 2P | 2PA | 2P% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ben Lammers | 32 | 35.2 | 5.9 | 11.5 | .514 | 5.9 | 11.4 | .514 | 0.0 | 0.1 | .500 | .755 | 9.3 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 3.3 | 1.8 | 14.3 |
| Quinton Stephens | 32 | 33.0 | 3.3 | 9.2 | .354 | 1.8 | 4.2 | .415 | 1.5 | 5.0 | .302 | .701 | 7.6 | 2.1 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 2.0 | 9.9 |
| Josh Heath | 28 | 30.6 | 2.3 | 5.4 | .427 | 1.9 | 3.9 | .482 | 0.4 | 1.4 | .275 | .718 | 2.5 | 4.3 | 1.2 | 0.1 | 2.5 | 6.0 |
| Josh Okogie | 32 | 30.1 | 5.0 | 11.2 | .451 | 4.3 | 9.3 | .465 | 0.7 | 1.9 | .383 | .745 | 5.1 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 2.2 | 15.5 |
| Tadric Jackson | 31 | 23.4 | 4.6 | 10.4 | .445 | 3.5 | 7.0 | .500 | 1.1 | 3.3 | .330 | .534 | 2.3 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 11.8 |
| Justin Moore | 29 | 20.4 | 1.8 | 4.2 | .431 | 1.7 | 3.9 | .442 | 0.1 | 0.3 | .300 | .465 | 1.9 | 2.7 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.6 | 4.4 |
| Corey Heyward | 32 | 16.3 | 0.6 | 1.9 | .295 | 0.3 | 1.2 | .297 | 0.2 | 0.8 | .292 | .643 | 1.9 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 1.9 |
Provided by CBB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Georgia Tech has two players in particular that could cause the Hoosiers a handful of problems. One of those players being junior center Ben Lammers who is averaging nearly a double-double in points and rebounds (14.3 PPG, 9.3 RPG), who has proved to be one of the best low post defenders in the ACC this year. Lammers led the ACC in blocks per game (3.3), third in rebounds (9.3), and fifth in field goal percentage (51.4%).
Indiana’s trio of big men has struggled at times with high performing opponents of the same position. It will be interesting to see if Tom Crean decides to test Lammers early by forcing the ball to Thomas Bryant or De’Ron Davis down low. The Hoosiers will have to prove they can compete against elite level defensive players. Lammers was named to 2017 Second Team All-ACC, First Team All-Defense and ACC Defensive Player of the Year.
The focus defensively for Bryant, Davis and Morgan will be eliminating the post presence of Lammers. Force shots outside and make Georgia Tech, who finished dead last in the ACC in three-point field goal percentage (32.8%), beat you.
Georgia Tech has another powerful scoring threat in freshman guard Josh Okogie. Okogie was a three-star recruit out of high school and No. 182 in 247Sports Top 200 recruits for 2016. Okogie finished the regular season averaging 15.5 PPG and was named to 2017 ACC All-Freshman team, and third in ACC Freshman of the Year voting.
This is a Georgia Tech team that looks to be less than a year away from returning to the NCAA Tournament. Head coach John Pastner was named the ACC Head Coach of the Year in his first season with the Yellow Jackets.
Final Thoughts…
Indiana is 2-8 in true road games this year, the only two wins coming against Penn State and Ohio State. The fact that Athletic Director Fred Glass decided not have the Hoosiers host the first round matchup could speak volumes to the changes on the horizon. His explanation provided by Terry Hutchens for declining the first round game was the fact that students would be on break and Bloomington would be a ghost town.
"“I think reasonable people can disagree about that, but it was a decision we made two weeks ago and it was based on the fact that not only would our students not be there, which was the prime reason, but the fact that Bloomington kind of becomes a ghost town when everybody is on spring break. I don’t know if people in Indianapolis or other places really understand how much the town clears out. It makes it more difficult with the students because we have the largest student section in the country in basketball at 7,800 seats so it definitely undercuts the experience, and for better or worse that’s what we concluded.’’"
What he failed to realize was almost all the other schools who were set to host first round NIT matchups were also on break. While Indiana’s Assembly Hall does thrive in the presence of its student section, Indiana basketball fans span far and wide across the state and the Midwest.
Many have questioned that Indiana does not want to be embarrassed by a half empty Assembly Hall on national television Tuesday night. Knowing that the Hoosiers have not been successful on the road this season, it seems image sets precedent over the success of the season. Being told that in some form that ‘Indiana basketball fans wouldn’t show up’ should infuriate every fan planning to attend a unique opportunity in Bloomington.