USU settles for No. 7 seed in the NIT, game against Illinois State

Utah State men’s basketball will make it’s ninth-straight postseason appearance on Wednesday when it plays at Illinois State in the first round of the National Invitational Tournament (NIT). The game will tip off at 8 p.m., and is televised on ESPNU.

The NIT consist of 32 teams that are split up into four regions with eight teams seeded from one to eight in each region. Utah State is seeded seventh and will face the No. 2 seed Redbirds, located in Normal, Illinois.

Illinois State comes from the Missouri Valley Conference and recorded a 24-9 overall record on the season, including going 13-5 in conference play.

“We know what we’re up against in terms of the caliber of team that we will be playing, I think their RPI is like 33 or 34, that tells you they’re a pretty dang good basketball team,” head coach Stew Morrill said.

This will be the second-straight year that Utah State will play in the NIT and the fourth in the last eight years. Overall, Utah State has played in the NIT nine times and has currently lost seven in a row. The game will mark the second time that these two teams will match up in the NIT as the Aggies suffered a 93-87 overtime loss at home in 1995. Utah State is 3-1 against Illinois State overall and has won two in a row against the Redbirds.

Despite not knowing anything much about Illinois State, senior Jaycee Carroll is excited to play and try and pick up some wins.

“Were going to play a good team , a team that has won a lot of games, and it would be nice to get some wins,” Carroll said, “Coach Morrill says that he has never coached a team that has won an NIT game.”

-sam.bryner@aggiemail.usu.edu