NEW YORK – A few observations on the NIT semifinals at Madison Square Garden, held Tuesday night. Advancing and set to meet for the championship were Lipscomb and Texas.
Scores:
Liscomb 71, Wichita State 64
Texas 58, TCU 44
TCU could not have picked a worse time to have an offensive meltdown. Jamie Dixon’s group shot 28 percent for the game, including 19 percent from three-point land. They had the looks yet consistently misfired. One Lipscomb assistant doing some advanced scouting for the finals noted, “I’ve watched and broken down a number of TCU tapes and this is the worst I’ve seen them shoot in any game.” As noted previously, the absolute worst time for that to happen.
Wichita State seemed to be in the driver’s seat. The Shockers had a 50-43 lead with twelve minutes to play. Lipscomb then went on a 28-14 run over those last dozen minutes to close out a 71-64 victory. “We went stone cold (the last 12 minutes),” lamented Shocker coach Gregg Marshall. “We got so-so looks but couldn’t make it. You got to credit Lipscomb. That’s a gritty club with five seniors in their top nine.” Yes, senior leadership and experience. Something that is invaluable at tournament time.
Lipscomb coach Casey Alexander began his opening statement, following the semis, simply saying, “that was fun.” The Bison were a group that just seemed to enjoy and soak in all the Garden atmosphere afforded. No jitters or nerves. Just a team competing and having a great time doing it. “It was awesome having all those people (Lipscomb fans) here,” said senior guard Garrison Matthews. “We had like a sea of purple come in all at once and I was pretty shocked about it.” Garrison and his teammates did not disappoint.
Speaking of Matthews, the Lipscomb standout went for 34 points in the semifinal victory. Matthews shot 9 of 22 (5 of 15 from three), 11 of 12 from the line and committed one turnover in 38 minutes. Matthews, at 6’5”, runs the floor very well. He moves well without the ball and has a quick release to complement his range. To top it off, Matthews is unselfish. Several times he had a good look and found a teammate with a closer shot.
TCU won the NIT in 2017. Texas won it, if memory serves me, in 1978. The Longhorns were coached by the colorful Abe Lemons and defeated NC State (coached by Norm Sloan) for the championship. I say memory because yours truly covered that contest.
Texas coach Shaka Smart went to an NIT final as an assistant when Smart assisted Oliver Purnell on the Clemson staff. The Tigers dropped the 2007 championship game to West Virginia with John Beilein on the sidelines.
Frustration showed on a few Wichita State players in the stretch run and was expressed by negative body language. Marshall addressed the issue on the spot and talked to his team about it following the game. He’s won over 500 games in his illustrious coaching career and never wavered from doing the right thing and holding his kids accountable.
We mentioned TCU’s offensive struggles, but let’s give Texas their share of the credit. They held TCU to 17 first-half points. That 31-17 deficit proved too much to come back from. In the second half, any time TCU would hint at making a serious run, Texas would get a key basket, usually from Matt Coleman III, to stop the bleeding. Smart’s group did a nice job of using clock without getting too conservative in the stretch.
Havoc days in the Lone Star state are not like those at VCU. During his tenure in the Atlantic 10, Smart had VCU pressuring virtually the whole game. Not here. “He picks his spots,” one Texas assistant said while scouting. “He (Smart) will use the press more as an element of surprise. Given our and other (Big 12) conference personnel it would not be wise to pressure a full forty minutes.”
Lipscomb vs. Texas will be interesting. And fun.
