Bulldogs draw Ohio St. in NIT quarterfinals

ATHENS — There are just 28 Division I men’s teams still playing basketball, and Georgia is one of them.

That’s enough to have the Bulldogs excited, though they’re playing in the National Invitation Tournament rather than the NCAA Tournament. That journey continues for coach Mike White’s squad as it traveled from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, site of Sunday’s 72-66 win over Wake Forest, to Columbus, Ohio, where the Bulldogs will face Ohio State (22-13) in the NIT quarterfinals at 7 p.m. today (ESPN). The winner will advance to the NIT Final Four in Indianapolis. The Ohio State-Georgia winner will face Wednesday’s Seton Hall-UNLV winner. Indiana State-Cincinnati and Virginia Commonwealth-Utah are the other matchups.

For Georgia, this is an unexpected deep run in its first postseason tournament of any kind since 2017. The Bulldogs (19-13) made the field only after Ole Miss declined one of the SEC’s two slots in the second-tier postseason tournament. LSU accepted the other one but lost to defending NIT champion North Texas in the first round.

Georgia wants more. “These kids continue to compete in an attempt to lengthen their season,” White said during the postgame press conference at Wake Forest. “They love playing with one another; they care about one another.”

Georgia put together an incredible performance against the Demon Deacons (20-13), especially considering the extenuating circumstances. The Bulldogs had to play without two starters and three players overall. Notably missing was center Russel Tchewa, who sat out with an undisclosed illness. Meanwhile, Jabri Abdur-Rahim was unable to play for the sixth straight game because of a sprained ankle and RJ Sunahara also sat out with an undisclosed injury.

The resulting front-court mismatch was evident as Wake’s 6-11 center Andrew Carr dominated inside with 31 points and 11 rebounds. But the Bulldogs matched their season high with 14 3-pointers, including five by graduate guard Noah Thomasson and four by freshman Dylan James. Also, Georgia got three 3s from senior guard Justin Hill, who scored 21 points off a bench that outscored the Deacons’ reserves 23-2.

Georgia and Ohio State have met just once, in 1977, in the schools’ long basketball histories. The Bulldogs defeated the Buckeyes 84-80 in overtime.

White is 2-0 against the Buckeyes, with both wins coming while he coached at Florida.

The Buckeyes finished ninth in the 14-team Big Ten with a 9-11 record this year before falling to Illinois 77-74 in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament. The Buckeyes defeated Cornell 88-83 and Virginia Tech 81-83 to reach the NIT quarterfinals.

Georgia football fans will recognize the name of the Buckeyes’ leading scorer, Bruce Thornton. He is the son of the former Georgia running back and defensive back of the same name. His mother, the former Tiaunna Briggans, also is a UGA alum and played for the basketball team from 1997-2001.

Their son grew up in Fairburn and graduated from Alpharetta’s Milton High School before signing with Ohio State in 2022. Thornton averages 15.8 points per game and is No. 2 in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio at plus-3.85.