Despite missing out on an NCAA tournament selection, Mississippi State’s basketball season is not over just yet. The Bulldogs (18-12) learned Sunday night that they were selected to play in the National Invitational Tournament and will host Mississippi Valley State (18-14) Tuesday night in the opening round at Humphrey Coliseum.
MSU was selected as one of the NIT’s four No. 1 seeds along with West Virginia (22-9), Air Force (23-8) and Clemson (21-10).
As a top seed, the Bulldogs will have home-court advantage in the tournament until the Semifinal round, should they make it that far.
The semifinals and finals of the NIT will be played at Madison Square Garden in New York City March 27-29.
A win Tuesday night would pit the Bulldogs against the winner of Wednesday’s Bradley (21-12) vs. Providence (18-12) game later this week.
Southeastern Conference foes Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia were also selected for the tournament. Combined with the five schools selected for the NCAA tournament earlier in the day, the league will send nine of its 12 institutions to post-season tournaments.