For the first time in two days, Georgetown guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera actually missed a big shot. As a result, the Wisconsin Badgers will be playing in the championship game of Battle 4 Atlantis.
Wisconsin rallied from nine points down in the second half and then held off a furious comeback attempt by Georgetown in the final two minutes, enabling the Badgers to prevail, 68-65.
Smith-Rivera – who made the game-tying shot in regulation and the game-winning shot in overtime against Florida in Wednesday’s opening round – had a good look at a 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have forced overtime against Wisconsin, but the ball rimmed out.
Wisconsin (5-0) will play Oklahoma in Friday’s tournament championship game. The Sooners advanced with a 59-46 victory over Butler.
Georgetown (4-1) held a 53-44 lead with less than 12 minutes remaining, thanks in large part to Smith-Rivera. He made a 3-pointer just 14 seconds into the game, setting the tone for an 11-for-18 shooting performance (5-of-6 from 3-point range).
“There’s not much he can’t do on the court,” Georgetown coach John Thompson III said of Smith-Rivera, who finished with 29 points. “He goes out with an ‘X’ on his back, and he’s still able to get his points and at the same time share the game with his teammates.”
“He got confident early,” Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. “He got a couple of those jumpers to go down, and they were nothing but net. He felt comfortable.”
He was probably the only player who felt comfortable in what turned out to be an extremely physical game, as evident by the fact both teams made more than 48 percent of their shots, yet combined for 29 turnovers and only 16 assists.
“We have some black-and-blue marks. I have bruises, and I was watching,” Ryan said. “Both teams were probing so hard to get a good look. We just happened to get a couple more good looks than them.”
Many of those looks came in the final 12 minutes, as Wisconsin went on a 22-6 run to turn that 53-44 deficit into a 66-59 lead with only 1:53 to play.
“We played hard for 36 minutes,” Smith-Rivera said. “Down the stretch, we had a lot of loose-ball rebounds that we didn’t come up with, and that pretty much cost us the game.”
But the Hoyas had one more push in them. Smith-Rivera (who else) sank a 3-pointer, and then Paul White was fouled while attempting a trey and made all three foul shots. And just like that, the Hoyas had closed to within a single point at 66-65.
A tap-in by Nigel Hayes gave Wisconsin a 68-65 lead, and this time Smith-Rivera was unable to come through with a game-tying buzzer-beater.
“You can’t get too high or too low in a game like this. It’s just possession after possession,” Ryan said. “Our guys stayed right on task, and when they had their chance to get back in the game, they took care of business.”
