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Click here for Jon Teitel’s interview with Dominique Wilkins (named to the 2016 Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame)

6 games were played last night involving Under-The-Radar schools; one more game in the CIT will be played tonight between NJIT and Texas-Arlington. Recaps and the lone preview are listed below:

NIT

There were times when it did feel like a home game for Florida last night; lots of Gator fans happened to be in the District last night to watch the Florida-GW quarterfinal. It was a close game throughout, but Tyler Cavanaugh hit a 3-pointer with under a minute remaining to give the Colonials a 4-point lead; they would hang on to win 82-77. Cavanaugh led the way with 23 points last night; Kevin Larsen also had 19 points and 13 rebounds for GW as well.

Their opponent in the NIT semifinals next week will be San Diego State; the Aztecs defeated Georgia Tech 72-56. The Yellow Jackets trailed by only 4 points at the under-12 mark, but a 6-minute shooting drought was fatal for their chances of winning last night. Trey Kell led San Diego State with 18 points; 12 of which came from 3-point range.

CIT (click on the link for a live stream)

All 3 games in the CIT went down to the wire last night; Ball State had a chance to tie their game against Columbia in the closing seconds, but a pair of missed free throws were fatal for the Cardinals. Columbia ended up winning 69-67 in the friendly confines of New York City.

Sadly, this year’s Team of the People also missed a chance to hit a game-winning 3-point shot against Coastal Carolina with under a second remaining; the Chanticleers wound up winning 60-58. The Lopes actually led for most of the 2nd half, but Coastal was finally able to retake the lead with under a minute remaining in regulation.

However, there was one team that did hit a game-winner in the closing seconds; Mike Best hit a 10-footer with under 4 seconds remaining to give UC-Irvine a 67-66 win on the road at Louisiana-Lafayette last night. The Anteaters didn’t panic despite blowing a 7-point halftime lead; they will move on to the semifinals of the CIT with a 9:00 game Sunday night at Coastal Carolina (can be seen on CBS Sports Network).

As for tonight:

TEXAS-ARLINGTON AT NJIT (7:30 PM) – The only game being played tonight not involving the big boys will be played at NJIT’s Fleischer Center. Arlington got a bye through the second round into tonight’s game; NJIT defeated Boston University in their last game at home earlier this week thanks to a combined 51 points from Damon Lynn and Tim Coleman. Tonight’s winner will travel to Columbia to play in the first CIT semifinal played at 6:00 PM (also live on CBS Sports Network).

CBI

There would not be a 3rd straight comeback win for the Ohio Bobcats; Morehead State saw to that with a 77-72 win on the road in Athens, Ohio. Lyonell Gaines finished with a double-double (14 points, 13 rebounds) to lead the way for the Eagles. Their opponent in the CBI Championship Series will be the Nevada Wolf Pack; Cameron Oliver led Nevada with a game-high 23 points and 11 rebounds. Game 1 of the best-of-3 series will be played on Monday in Morehead, KY at 8:30 PM and will be televised live on ESPNU.

Click here for the weekly HoopsHD report that recaps the first week of the NCAA Tournament

Only 2 games were played last night, but those 2 games determined who would move on to the NIT semfinals to be played in Madison Square Garden next week. The first winner was Valparaiso; they defeated St. Mary’s 60-44 last night. The Gaels had a 31-24 lead late in the first half, but Valpo had a decisive 16-0 run wrapped around the end of the first half and the beginning of the 2nd half to give them a lead they would not relinquish again. The Crusaders only allowed St. Mary’s 13 points in the 2nd half, including a very low FG percentage of just under 21%.

Their opponent in the NIT semifinals will be BYU; the Cougars also trailed for much of the 1st half against Creighton before ultimately mounting a comeback and winning 88-82. Zac Seljaas scored 19 points on 5-for-6 shooting beyond the arc, and Nick Emery helped ice the game for BYU with 4 free throws in the final minute of the game.

NIT

(2) FLORIDA AT (4) GEORGE WASHINGTON (7:00 PM, ESPN2) – The Colonials are coming off of a nice road outing at Monmouth on Monday night – they defeated the Hawks 87-71 to earn one more home game at Foggy Bottom. Their opponent will be the Florida Gators; they have won their first two NIT games on the road by an aggregate 37 points at North Florida and Ohio State. The winner of this game takes on the winner of the Georgia Tech-San Diego State game at Madison Square Garden next week.

(4) GEORGIA TECH AT (2) SAN DIEGO STATE (9:00 PM, ESPN2) – Another team that has had an easy pair of early NIT games are the San Diego State Aztecs; they’ve beaten Fort Wayne and Washington by a combined 39 points at home. Georgia Tech offers a little more stiff tests, but it’s much less likely that they’ll be facing another team with 5 suspended players anytime soon.

CIT (click on the link for all live streams)

GRAND CANYON AT COASTAL CAROLINA (7:00 PM) – This year’s Team of the People hits the road for the first time this postseason after a pair of home wins against South Carolina State and Jackson State. Coastal Carolina earned their trip to the CIT quarters with wins over Mercer and New Hampshire.

BALL STATE AT COLUMBIA (7:00 PM) – Despite a 3rd place finish in the Ivy League this season, the Lions were awarded a bye through the second round of the CIT after defeating Norfolk State in Round 1 last week. But no deficit has proven to be too large for Ball State; they’ve managed a pair of double-digit comebacks in their first two wins against Tennessee State and Tennessee-Martin. The only bad news for Ball State – there aren’t any teams remaining in the CIT from the Volunteer State.

UC-IRVINE AT LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE (8:00 PM) – Partly because of their stellar record and partly because of the inability of the Vegas 16 to get a complete field this year, the Anteaters also got a bye through the 2nd round of the CIT after defeating North Dakota 89-86 in overtime in their opener. Lafayette had an easy opener against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, but Furman provided a stiffer challenge for the Rajun’ Cajuns in the 2nd round.

CBI (click on the link for both live streams)

MOREHEAD STATE AT OHIO (7:00 PM) – Another team that advanced in the postseason after overcoming a double-digit deficit was the Ohio Bobcats; they were down by 12 against UNC-Greensboro in the 2nd half before mounting a late comeback to advance to the semifinals of the CBI. They’re hosting a Morehead State team that had a 10-point win at home against Duquesne on Monday night. Bobcats beware – the Eagles already have one road win against Siena in the CBI so far and are more than capable of sneaking into Athens and escaping with a W.

VERMONT AT NEVADA (10:00 PM) – Vermont completed their first leg of their West Coast swing (okay, Nevada isn’t on the coast, but they are in the Pacific Time Zone) with an easy 73-54 win at Seattle on Monday night. Nevada had an easier game in the 2nd round versus Eastern Washington than they did with their opener against Montana, but nonetheless will play the role of gracious host for at least one more round.

Another day, another wave of upsets took place in the NIT last night. Sadly, one of the upsets means that we bid adieu to the Monmouth Hawks and the Hawk’s Nest for the 2015-16 season. GW got off to a fast start against the Hawks and held on for an 87-71 victory. Monmouth was able to shrink the deficit to 39-38 in the 2nd half, but GW gave itself some breathing room after a 10-0 run to open up their lead. The Colonials were a red-hot 9-for-19 from beyond the arc; Monmouth only shot 4-of-21.

For the second game in a row, South Carolina had 5 players suspended for this game and it cost them against Georgia Tech. Thanks to Marcus Georges-Hunt’s 14 points and 8 assists, the Yellow Jackets walked out of Columbia with a decisive 83-66 win against the Gamecocks. Their reward is a cross-country trip to San Diego to face San Diego State; they defeated Washington 93-78 last night. The Aztecs were led by Winston Shepard’s double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds.

In the CIT, the original Team of the People moves on once more to the quarterfinal round after defeating Boston U 83-72. Damon Lynn led the Highlanders with 31 points; Tim Coleman also had 20 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists. They will get to host a game at the Fleischer Center for the 3rd straight time when Texas-Arlington visits Newark on Thursday night at 7:30 PM.

The CBI also had 4 quarterfinal games played last night. The first one was a thriller between Ohio and UNC-Greensboro; the Bobcats fell behind by as many as 12 points before clawing their way back to tie the game at 67-67 going into the final minute of the game. Jordan Davis hit a 3-pointer to put OU up for good; they also added a couple of late free throws for a 72-67 win. Ohio will end up hosting Morehead State in the semifinals; Morehead defeated Duquesne at home by an 82-72 margin. The momentum of this game shifted when Brent Arrington hit a halfcourt shot just before halftime to give the Eagles a 43-36 lead at that point.

Vermont has made the most of their cross-country roadtrip so far; they defeated Seattle 73-54 to advance to the CIT semifinals on Wednesday night. Kurt Steidl led the Catamounts with 17 points, including 3-for-4 shooting from beyond the arc. Vermont will stay out west and travel to Reno to face Nevada; the Wolf Pack beat Eastern Washington 85-70 largely due to the efforts of Tyron Criswell (a career-high 32 points) and another career-high 28 points by Cameron Oliver.

There is also one coaching vacancy that will need to be filled for a notable UTR program; Brad Underwood will be leaving Stephen F. Austin’s program to take over as head coach at Oklahoma State. Keep an eye out for our next HoopsHD podcast where we recap the tournament action from the past week plus other notable coaching changes that are being filled. That being said, it’s time to preview tonight’s postseason action:

NIT

(2) ST. MARY”S AT (1) VALPARAISO (7:00 PM, ESPN) – With the defeat of Monmouth last night, we are left with only two under-the-radar teams left in the NIT field, and they are both playing tonight at Valparaiso for the right to advance to the semifinals at Madison Square Garden. The Gaels haven’t shown that they can win notable games away from home outside of their Gonzaga win, and Valparaiso has only lost once at home all year (against Wright State). This will still be a showcase of some of the best UTR players with Valpo’s Keith Carter and Alec Peters and St. Mary’s Joe Rahon.

(4) CREIGHTON AT (2) BYU (9:00 PM, ESPN) – Creighton has been the most dominant team in the first 2 rounds of the NIT; they beat Alabama and Wagner by a combined 51 points. However, both wins were within the cozy confines of Omaha, and now must hit the road to play a BYU team that had a little harder road to get to this point. Will the higher altitude of Provo, Utah pose the same problems for Creighton that it did for their conference mates Seton Hall last weekend?

CIT

No games tonight, but here are the 4 quarterfinal matchups that were released last night:

Grand Canyon at Coastal Carolina (Wednesday, 7:00 PM)
Ball State at Columbia (Wednesday, 7:00 PM)
UC-Irvine at UL-Lafayette (Wednesday, 8:00 PM)
UT-Arlington at NJIT (Thursday, 7:30 PM)

As always, all 4 of the games will be streamed on the above CIT link.

Had Florida been able to play like they did on the road for the past two games, they would have had a better chance at making the NCAA Tournament. Their extended road trip in the NIT will extend itself for one more game thanks to their 74-66 wire-to-wire win at Ohio State yesterday. Dorian Finney-Smith led the Gators with 16 points and 12 rebounds; they will play the winner of tonight’s Monmouth-GW game.

We are assured of at least one Under-The-Radar team advancing to Madison Square Garden; St. Mary’s defeated Georgia 77-65 thanks to Emmett Naar’s 15 point/11 assist output and Dane Pineau’s 12 point/11 rebound outing. The Gaels will travel to Valparaiso for a 7 PM game tomorrow night in a postseason revival of the BracketBusters.

For the second game in a row, 40 minutes was not enough to determine Ball State’s fate. Despite trailing by 11 points in the final 2 minutes of regulation, the Cardinals were able to close out regulation with an 11-0 run to force overtime. 5 players ended up in double figures for Ball State; they will hit the road to play Columbia at 7 PM on Wednesday night in the CIT quarterfinals.

NIT

(4) GEORGE WASHINGTON AT (1) MONMOUTH (7:00 PM, ESPN) – While the Colonials had a tougher road to advance to the 2nd round of the NIT after surviving at home against Hofstra, Monmouth had an easier win at home against Bucknell. GW’s last trip to the Garden State involved a game against Rutgers, but this is a big step up in terms of competition, relatively speaking.

(4) GEORGIA TECH AT (1) SOUTH CAROLINA (9:00 PM, ESPN) – Both Georgia Tech and South Carolina had easy victories last week, but the game was much more tenuous for the Gamecocks with 5 players suspended for that game due to team rules violations. The good news here is that Michael Carrera should again be good to go for Angry Frank’s bunch.

(3) SAN DIEGO STATE at (2) WASHINGTON (11:30 PM, ESPN2) – It’s safe to say that Washington is not going to match the 107 points they scored in their win against Long Beach State in the first round, but the Huskies have shown the ability to knock off a couple of the league’s bigwigs at home this season. The Aztecs had an easy win at home against Fort Wayne last week.

CIT (click on the link for a live stream)

BOSTON UNIVERSITY AT NJIT (7:30 PM) – The original Team of the People rebounded from a devastating home loss to Stetson with a win over Army-West Point; Boston U defeated Fordham on the road to set up this matchup at NJIT’s Fleischer Center. This will be the last of the 2nd-round games in the CIT before the quarterfinal matchups will be announced.

CBI (click on the link for all live streams)

DUQUESNE AT MOREHEAD STATE (7:00 PM) – Duquesne broke all sorts of scoring records last week in their 120-112 win at home against Nebraska-Omaha; tonight they hit the road to visit Morehead State. The Eagles pulled off a tough win at Siena, winning 84-80.

UNC-GREENSBORO AT OHIO (7:00 PM) – Despite overtime, Ohio was able to advance to the quarterfinals of the CBI with a 94-90 win against Albany last week. Greensboro beat Houston Baptist for just their 12th win of the season (they are 12-18 overall), but are unlikely to get lucky #13 at Harvard-On-The-Hocking tonight.

EASTERN WASHINGTON AT NEVADA (10:00 PM) – With Fresno State bowing out of the NCAA Tournament early, it’s up to both San Diego State (mentioned above) and Nevada to carry the torch for the Mountain West conference in the postseason. The Wolf Pack beat Montana 79-75; they will face an EWU team that defeated Pepperdine 79-72.

VERMONT AT SEATTLE (10:00 PM) – Vermont’s reward for defeating Western Carolina in the 1st round will be a cross-country flight to Seattle; the Redhawks advanced to the CIT quarters by defeating Idaho 68-63.