The Mississippi State men’s basketball team is a long way from home.
While it may not be quite the stage that MSU women are on, the men’s squad will step onto the court inside of New York City’s Madison Square Garden tonight for their NIT Final four matchup against Penn State.
En route to the NIT final four, the Bulldogs handled Nebraska, beat Baylor on a buzzer beater and took down top-seeded Louisville with ease. They’ll now take on the Nittany Lions, who were able to beat #1 seed (and a bubble team for the NCAA Tournament) Notre Dame to advance to final four. MSU head coach Ben Howland knows that this is unique and special opportunity for his team, but they’ll have to remain focused if they want to move on.
“[We’re] very excited about the opportunity to go to New York. Looking forward to the experience of playing in The Garden for our team and our players. I know how special that is having coached there before. Every great player in the history of the game has played in MSG, Madison Square Garden. So, this will be a great experience for our team and our players. Penn State is very good. We have been watching film on them. They are really talented,” Howland said.
In three NIT games, MSU is shooting 47% from the floor and 44% from 3. If they can keep that type of scoring and efficiency going, they’ll face off against either Western Kentucky or Utah in the finals on Thursday.
On paper, the two teams stack up fairly similar with the Bulldogs averaging 73.8 PPG and Penn State averaging 74.5. The two teams are separated by less than one rebound, assist, block, or steal per game, and the Nittany Lions are only shooting 1% better from the floor. Despite the similarities, Penn State is favored and is being given a 70.5% chance to win, according to ESPN’s Basketball Power Index.
Tip-off tonight is set for 8:30 p.m.
