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Georgia Tech Basketball: Jackets get NIT bid as No. 6 seed

By Blake Silvers

Feb 19, 2017; Atlanta, GA, USA; Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets head coach Josh Pastner celebrates with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets mascot Buzz after their game against the Syracuse Orange at McCamish Pavilion. The Yellow Jackets won 71-65. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 19, 2017; Atlanta, GA, USA; Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets head coach Josh Pastner celebrates with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets mascot Buzz after their game against the Syracuse Orange at McCamish Pavilion. The Yellow Jackets won 71-65. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports /
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Considered by many to be a solid NCAA tournament bubble team down the stretch, the Yellow Jackets faltered late, but got an NIT bid as consolation.

Georgia Tech (17-14, 8-10 ACC) learned Sunday night that the team had earned the No. 6 seed in the 32-team National Invitation Tournament field, and will host No. 3 seed Indiana (18-15, 7-11 Big Ten) Tuesday night at 9 p.m.

Tickets for the game at McCamish Pavilion went on sale almost immediately after NIT seeding was announced. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN.

Exceeding expectations, Georgia Tech had wins over three top-15 teams in North Carolina, Florida State and Notre Dame, and managed eight Atlantic Coast Conference wins.

This is the ninth appearance in the NIT for the Yellow Jackets, and Georgia Tech’s 25th overall postseason berth.

For their efforts on the year, Tech head coach Josh Pastner was named ACC Coach of the Year, Ben Lammers won ACC Defender of the Year honors and Josh Okogie was named a member of the ACC All-Freshman team.

Coach Pastner spoke about Georgia Tech’s NIT berth in a release from the school:

"“To get a post-season bid in this first year of a major rebuild is a great accomplishment for this program. The way we overachieved and played this season, our players deserve this, and it gives us something to fight for. I thought we deserved the right based on our numbers and our wins, but we’re fortunate to get in, and we don’t take it for granted.“It’s a real honor to have an opportunity to play Indiana, one of the blue bloods of college basketball, and have them come to our building. This will be a great opportunity for our fans to see a great program in our gym. We’re getting to play Tuesday night on ESPN, a prime time game, which is great exposure for our program. It’s great for our program to play in this tournament and for what we’re trying to build here.”"

Other team’s in Georgia Tech’s NIT bracket include Syracuse, UNC Greensboro, Monmouth, Ole Miss, rival Georgia, and Belmont.

Georgia Tech is 10-8 through their first eight NIT berths, and is 4-1 in home games in the tournament all-time. The school’s last NIT appearance was under coach Brian Gregory last season, when the Jackets reached the quarterfinal round.

Next: Tech's Season a Big Success Even Without NCAA Bid

The first rounds of the NIT will be held at home venues of participating schools March 14 through March 22. The tournament semifinals and finals will be held in New York City at Madison Square Garden on March 28 and 30.