While games in the NCAA Tournament were completely unpredictable yesterday, there was actually one buzzer-beater that happened in the NIT. Quindary Weatherspoon hit a 3 at the buzzer to give Mississippi State a 78-77 victory at Baylor. Terry Maston had 26 points off the bench for Baylor, but it will be Mississippi State that advances to the NIT quarterfinals. Marquette also gave the Big East their lone victory yesterday with a thrilling 101-92 victory at home against Oregon – they will host Penn State for the right to advance to Madison Square Garden next week. Louisville outscored Middle Tennessee 26-10 in the 2nd quarter to lead to an 84-68 victory for the Cards. With the Middle Tennessee season now over, Kermit Davis’s tenure at MTSU is now officially complete.
One game was played in the CIT yesterday – Northern Colorado edged Drake 81-72 at home to move to the quarterfinal round. Andre Spight had 21 points to lead the Bears; they also had a double-double from Jordan Davis (12 points, 11 rebounds).
(3) STANFORD AT (2) OKLAHOMA STATE (7:00 PM, ESPNU). While the Cowboys had a fairly easy win at home against Florida Gulf Coast last week, Stanford had a closer game against BYU before ultimately ending up victorious.
(3) LOUISIANA STATE AT (2) UTAH (9:00 PM, ESPNU). While Larry Krystowiak did not see the end of Utah’s game in person after getting ejected, the Utes did end up getting a workmanlike victory against UC-Davis in their opener. LSU is coming off of an emotional victory themselves against in-state foe Louisiana in their opener last week.
(5) WASHINGTON AT (1) SAINT MARY’S (11:00 PM, ESPNU). Washington was the only lower-seeded team to win in the first round of the NIT, but that was also because their first-round opponent Boise State had to play on the road because of NCAA Tournament games being played at Taco Bell Arena. The Gaels had no difficulty beating Southeastern Louisian and now get to play host to a Pac-12 team outside of the Bay Area for a change.
(4) WESTERN KE NTUCKY AT (1) USC (11:30 PM, ESPN2). While USC will be without the services of Chimezie Metu during the NIT (bear in mind it’s Metu’s decision to sit out to avoid any potential injury), they needed 2 overtimes to beat UNC-Asheville in their first game last week. The Hilltoppers are coming off of a home win against Boston College and are more than capable of pulling off a road (albeit not hostile) victory tonight.
-JACKSONVILLE STATE AT CENTRAL ARKANSAS (6:30 PM). Both teams were victorious on the road in their opening games of this tournament; coincidentally, both teams needed overtime to pick up wins at Seattle (for CAU) and at Canisius (for Jacksonville State).
-NEW ORLEANS AT CAMPBELL (7:00 PM). While Campbell was able to get a fairly comfortable win at home over the Miami RedHawks in their opener, New Orleans squeezed by Texas-Rio Grande Valley by 3 points in their opener at home.
-MERCER AT NORTH TEXAS (8:00 PM). North Texas’s 13-point win at South Dakota was quite the surprise last week – they will be playing host to a Mercer team that also won in a hostile environment with their 5-point win at Grand Canyon in their CBI opener.
-UTAH VALLEY AT SAN FRANCISCO (10:00 PM). While the Dons had a tough opener against Colgate at home, Utah Valley had little trouble in defeating Eastern Washington at home last week. Please note that only the first two rounds of this tournament are bracketed at this point; semifinal matchups will be determined after all the games go final tonight.
-EASTERN MICHIGAN AT SAM HOUSTON STATE (7:30 PM, CBS Digital Network). This is the final 2nd-round matchup of this tournament – Eastern Michigan defeated Niagara 83-65 in their opener last Friday. Sam Houston State is the last team that has yet to play a game in this tournament – the winner tonight will play at either UT-San Antonio or at Liberty in the CIT quarterfinals. Central Michigan will also await their next opponent depending on what happens tonight.