Georgia Tech Visits New York City For The Holidays

Over the broad expanse of the program’s history, the Georgia Tech name has been fairly well-known in New York City. It’s where the Jackets have come several times to find point guard talent. Kenny Anderson, Stephon Marbury and Jose Alvarado come to mind.

On this cool, overcast Saturday, nine days before Christmas, Tech came here to compete. They took on Penn State at Madison Square Garden. It was technically a neutral site, though Happy Valley, the Nittany Lions’ home, is a mere three hour drive from Manhattan and the crowd support on this day suggested that many of the Nittany Lion faithful had made the trip.

When it was all over, Damon Stoudamire’s Tech team claimed a one point overtime victory. Penn State fans thought that Tech’s win was a direct result of some early gift- giving by the official who whistled a foul on a messy play where Tech scrummed for an offensive rebound. Miles Kelly flung the ball toward the basket with 2 seconds left and Tech down by one. The whistle came and Kelly went to the free throw line. Historical note– Al Ciraldo, Tech’s iconic sports announcer from decades back, often referred to the free throw line as “the charity stripe”.Penn State fans would certainly agree with that nickname on this day.

That said, there is a talent in receiving gifts– you don’t question, you don’t hesitate, you just collect your bounty graciously, thank the giver and move ahead. And that’s what Miles Kelly did, by calmly hitting both ends of the one plus one free throw opportunity, amidst a loud cascade of boos from the crowd who definitely had that ” Hey, where’s my wallet?” feelng that you sometimes get when visiting the big city.

Penn State could do nothing productive with the 2 seconds left and the game ended with a one point Yellow Jacket victory.

Post-game, Stoudamire was circumspect in his remarks, speaking not of pick-and-roll plays or match up zones, but rather of team connectivity and accountability.  He was pleased to cite his team’s togetherness that he said was the key to their path to the overtime win after wilting under the late game Penn State full court press in regulation.

Stoudamire’s assessment certainly rang true. Tech had started slowly but then grew a slim late first half lead to go up 39-37 at the half.. From there, as Stoudamire later said, it seemed Tech had control of the game…until they didn’t. Their second half lead grew to 10 points in a slow but steady fashion. And they still led by 10 with five minutes left. Then came a flurry of opportunities for the Nittany Lions, born of better rebounding plus that tenacious defense, that fueled an eight point run. The Tech lead slowly bled down to nada at the buzzer .

In overtime, Tafara Gapare led Tech with five points and Kelly put those two winning free throws up at the 2 second mark, exemplifying Stoudamire’s analysis. Kelly has been Tech’s most consistent scorer this season, though he had a rough day at the Garden, going 3 of 13 from the field.

But Kelly produced when he had to and his team benefited . By contrast, Penn State’s senior guard Ace Baldwin, who played very well overall, missed the front end of a one-and-one with under a minute left in regulation, a missed opportunity for Penn State to possibly win without overtime.

That moment was not mentioned by Penn State coach Mike Rhoades, who was asked about the late foul call that sent Kelly to.the line for Tech. ” He blew it”, said Rhoades, of the official who made the call. ” To me, it’s inexcusable. ……but we’re not going to make excuses”. That’s a mini- master class in coach-speak by Rhoades, who was rightfully proud of his team’s late- game comeback.

As a group , Penn State’s guards had a fine day all around. Clary, Baldwin and North Carolina transfer Puff Johnson combined for 56 points, though Johnson did struggle from the outside. The most glaring stat overall though was Tech’s huge advantage in rebounding , 54 to 32, including 20 on the offensive boards. A whopping 19 of those Tech boards came courtesy of Baye Ndongo. His front court partner Gapare also had a stellar game with 20 points and 6 rebounds.

Post- game, Stoudamire went out of his way to praise Gapare’s play along with his work ethic, saying that in practices, ” he does the work when nobody’s looking”. Stoudamire went on to say that Gapare can not only score but also “..can guard all five positions “. He seemed to predict continued good things from Gapare, saying that ” anyone could see this coming” from recent practices.

For the Jackets, the win took them to a 6-3 overall record. They head now to Hawaii for a holiday tournament and they next play at McCamish on January 6 vs. Boston College. Prior to that home date, they start back with ACC play against FSU in Tallahassee on January 3.

This close win made Tech’s trip to New York a happy one. Playing at storied Madison Square Garden is a dream for many young players and the fans’ high energy is part of the reason why. The Garden did its part on this day, with fans of the game engaged and involved. And who knows? Maybe the next Jose Alvarado was in the stands and learned a bit about the Ramblin Wreck.

Patrick Conarro

RamblinSports.com

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