NEW YORK – Wrapping it all up from the NIT. Notes, quotes, numbers….
Championship: Texas 81, Lipscomb 66
All-Tournament Team:
Dylan Osetkowski, Texas
Garrison Matthews, Lipscomb
Rob Marberry, Lipscomb
Markis McDuffie, Wichita State
Most Outstanding Player – Kerwin Roach II, Texas
The all-tournament team earns their selection based on their body of work through the tournament. Looking at a one game MOP for the final, one would be hard pressed to find a better candidate than Courtney Ramey.
The Texas freshman guard was assigned to defend Lipscomb’s stellar senior Garrison Matthews. Texas coach Shaka Smart wanted Ramey to play Matthews straight up man-to-man with no traps or double teams. Matthews entered the contest on a roll, having scored 44 in the quarterfinal win at NC State and 34 against Wichita State in the semis.
In the championship Ramey provided the essential lockdown defense on Lipscomb’s star. Matthews shot 0 for 4 in the first half, managing just three points from the charity stripe. For the game, his numbers were a relatively quiet 15 points on 2 of 10 from the floor and four turnovers.
To Ramey, getting the defensive assignment was no surprise. “I am used to drawing the opposition’s best offensive player,” Ramey said following the final. “It’s what I’ve been doing all year.” With a quick turnaround between the semifinal and final, Smart and Ramey studied some tape of Matthews. “He (Matthews) has a quick release and like to come off screens,” Ramey observed. “I just wanted to beat him to the spot.” Which he did, and the result saw the Bison’s main offensive threat struggle through a rough offensive outing.
Afterward Ramey was also asked about playing in Madison Square Garden. “Well,” he paused, “It was alright because I really didn’t shoot well tonight (1-7 for 3 points), but that’s okay because the important thing is we won.”
In Casey Alexander’s opinion, the biggest disappointment is it’s over. “I told them the message is the absolute saddest thing is it’s over,” the Lipscomb mentor said after the championship game. “We had an expectation to win the game. We’re disappointed we didn’t play better, but the the only thing to be sad about is this team does not have any more days together.”
As the season progressed there was speculation Shaka Smart’s seat might have been warming up in Austin. The Longhorns struggled for consistency, dropped their last three games (five of their last seven) to wrap up the regular season at 16-16. They accepted a NIT bid and seized the opportunity. Texas knocked off South Dakota State, Xavier and Colorado to punch their ticket to New York. At the Garden, Texas defeated a TCU team that swept them in regular season in the semis. The championship game saw them take down a hot Lipscomb team for the championship.
The administration at Texas is pleased, as expected, with the Longhorns capturing the NIT. Down the road the powers that be are counting on competing for the championship that is decided on the final Saturday and Monday.
“It’s great to win a championship,” Smart said following the final. “There are 32 really good teams in the NIT. So to be the last team standing and win a championship is big.” The Texas mentor feels the present is to enjoy the accomplishment. Then get back to work. “The meaning of winning tonight will be determined the next several months,” Smart observed. “There are teams that have won here and used this as a springboard to a more successful season the following year. There’s teams that haven’t. Our guys have experienced here what goes into winning, what goes into winning a championship.”
Rob Marberry actually led Lipscomb with 17 points. Matthews added 15 as noted. No one else hit double figures as lack of consistent scoring support doomed the Bison.
Dylan Osetkowski paced Texas, who had four hitting double figures, with 19. The 6’9” senior had the versatility to pace all rebounders with 11 boards while stepping outside to drain three three-pointers.
The axiom is that it’s not who starts but who finishes the game. Kerwin Roach II, the tournament MOP, came off the bench for a 27-minute outing, scoring 16 points while distributing a game-high nine assists against just three turnovers.
The numbers from the final:
Possessions: 74 (a definitely fast tempo)
Offensive efficiency: Texas 111, Lipscomb 89
Texas knocked down eight three-pointers the second half to negate any Lipscomb run. The story though, was defense. Not just that of Ramey, as noted before, but the entire Texas team. The Bison came in with a 112 offensive efficiency. As the numbers bear it out, Shaka Smart’s Longhorns kept them far below their season norm. A significant number in assessing this contest.
Texas’ other NIT title came in 1978, where the Longhorns defeated NC State in the championship. They were coached by Abe Lemons – one famous for his humor and one liners. Make no mistake, Lemons could coach and knew his way around the court. Well, the title was punctuated by another tale in Lemons’ lore. The seconds were winding down in this one-sided affair when Lemons got up and lit a cigar (you could smoke in the Garden those days). The buzzer sounded, Lemons went over, cigar and all, to exchange pleasantries with NC State coach Norman Sloan. Times certainly have changed over those four decades.
On the baseline: The Lipscomb cheer squad, a vast majority making their first venture to the “city that never sleeps”, enjoyed the experience on and off the Garden floor. “Our kids were all over, Central Park, Times Square, Madison Avenue, you name it,” said cheer coach Sherie Eubanks. At first they did not know what to make of so many people photographing them but soon adjusted. “I told them,” assistant cheer coach Anthony Strode humorously noted, “ladies you are experiencing the paparazzi. Enjoy.” They did.
