For the second round in a row, Wichita State found itself on the road in South Carolina – this time the Shockers came up victorious at Clemson with a 63-55 victory against the Tigers. Jaime Echenique led the Shockers with 18 points; Markis McDuffie also added 16 points. They will move on the NIT quarterfinals with only a game at Indiana standing in the way on Tuesday for what would be Wichita State’s 2nd trip to the NIT Final Four at Madison Square Garden under Gregg Marshall.
The second game between Xavier and Texas was exciting, but at the same time a microcosm of how both teams ended up in the NIT to begin with. Kerwin Roach II committed a foul with 2.6 remaining in regulation, but Xavier was only able to hit one of two free throws and ended up extending the game to overtime instead. Texas got ahead by as much as five points in the ensuing overtime, but Xavier ended up missing a pair of potential game-tying shots in the closing seconds (one of which was after a held-ball call) and Texas will play one more game at home this season against either Colorado or Norfolk State on Wednesday.
NC State had another close game at home, but were able to run out the final 2.7 seconds of the clock after Harvard cut NC State’s lead to a single point late in the game. CJ Bryce led the Wolfpack with 16 points and 7 rebounds; they will host road warrior Lipscomb in the NIT Quarterfinal round on Wednesday.
The finale of the night saw TCU beat Nebraska fairly comfortably by an 88-72 margin. Desmond Bane scored 30 points for the Horned Frogs; they will host Creighton on Tuesday for the right to advance to the NIT Final Four at Madison Square Garden.
In the CIT, Robert Morris had all the momentum in the 1st half and hit a 3-point shot to take a 13-point lead at halftime against Presbyterian. The 2nd half was a completely different story – Presby outscored the Colonials by 20 to come from behind to win 77-70. Both Francois Lewis and Adam Flagler scored 19 points apiece for the Blue Hose to lead the comeback.
There was one more vacancy that was added to the 2019 Coaching Carousel – Wyking Jones was dismissed from California after two subpar seasons in Berkeley. Avery Johnson’s dismissal from Alabama also became a formality yesterday as well.
(8) NORFOLK STATE AT (4) COLORADO (9:00 PM, ESPN2) – This is the last of the eight quarterfinal games for the NIT – the Norfolk State Spartans pulled off the biggest stunner of the tournament so far with an overtime win against Alabama last Wednesday night. They will now go on the road to take on a Colorado team that was victorious against Dayton in their opener. Tonight’s winner will travel to Texas on Wednesday night.
COASTAL CAROLINA AT WEST VIRGINIA (7:00 PM) – Coastal Carolina was victorious in their home opener against Howard in the first round, but must now hit the road to take on a West Virginia team that is quietly improving in March. They had a notable win against Texas Tech in the Big 12 Tournament and also beat Grand Canyon in their CBI opener.
UTAH VALLEY AT SOUTH FLORIDA (7:00 PM) – While Utah Valley had a relatively comfortable win at home against Cal State-Northridge in their opener, South Florida came back from a 22-point hole in the first half of their game to beat Stony Brook in overtime last week.
LONGWOOD AT DEPAUL (8:00 PM) – For the second game in a row, DePaul will be playing in their cozy on-campus gym (McGrath-Phillips Arena) due to a booking conflict with Wintrust Arena. They beat Central Michigan in their opener; Longwood also won their opener at home against Southern Miss.
BROWN AT LOYOLA MARYMOUNT (10:00 PM) – While Brown was beating UAB at home to advance to the second round, Loyola Marymount got a road win in the closing seconds against Cal Baptist. This time around, the Lions will host a CBI game for the first time this year.
TEXAS SOUTHERN AT TEXAS-RIO GRANDE VALLEY (8:00 PM, WatchCIT.com) – Fresh off of their first-ever postseason victory against Grambling, the Vaqueros of UTRGV will host another team out of the SWAC. Texas Southern will be a bigger challenge for them than Grambling, however – the Tigers are coming off of an overtime road win at New Orleans.
CAL STATE-BAKERSFIELD AT SOUTHERN UTAH (8:30 PM, WatchCIT.com) – The Thunderbirds got a thrilling overtime victory in their opener against a Drake team that won a share of the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title. Cal State-Bakersfield won the Riley Wallace Classic in Round 1 against in-state foe Cal State-Fullerton.