(St. Louis, MO) – A pair of number two seeds in the National Invitation Tournament are just to the east and west of the Gateway City. Missouri and Illinois are both heading to post season play in the NIT and both are second seeds in their respective brackets.
Mizzou (22-11) hosts Davidson (26-8) and Illinois (19-14) travels to Boston (24-10). Being second seeds the Tigers and Illini earned home games in this opening round, but State Farm Center is being renovated so John Groce’s team is hitting the road.
It is the sixth straight season Missouri is playing post-season basketball. They haven’t been in the NIT since 2005 and carry a 1 and 7 NIT record into the game. Third year Head Coach Frank Haith has guided the Tigers into post-season play every year in Columbia and owns a 70 and 27 record with the Tigers. Last year the Tigers were second round losers in the NCAA Tournament.
John Groce
The Illini seem to be playing their best basketball right now. They’ve won five of their last seven games and Illinois is playing post-season basketball for the 13th time in the last 15 years. The Orange & Blue own a 7 and 4 in NIT. Illinois was in the NCAA’s last year losing in the third round.
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