Tim Jankovich was asked if any team on Illinois State?s basketball schedule this season resembled Mississippi.
?Had we had the Lakers on the schedule that would be the closest one that looked like them,? deadpanned the Redbird coach.
That might be coach hyperbole at its finest ahead of Wednesday?s 8:30 p.m. National Invitation Tournament first-round game between ISU and the Rebels. After all, the Redbirds? starting lineup is the same size as Mississippi except for 5-foot-9 point guard Nic Moore.
Yet dealing with Mississippi?s athleticism and length will be the biggest challenge for seventh-seeded ISU when the 20-13 teams square off at Tad Smith Coliseum. The No. 2-seeded Rebels use 6-foot-9 Terrance Henry at small forward and start a pair of 6-4 guards in Jarvis Summers and Nick Williams.
Mississippi thought it had a shot at advancing to the NCAA Tournament thanks to a late five-game winning streak. But a loss to Vanderbilt in the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals Saturday dashed the Rebels? hopes.
This is the fifth NIT appearance in the last six years for Mississippi under coach Andy Kennedy. The Rebels advanced to the semifinals in New York City in 2008 and 2010.
?Obviously we?re a little disappointed that we came up short of our ultimate goal of having an opportunity to participate in the NCAA Tournament, but we?re excited to still be playing basketball,? said Kennedy. ?The NIT experience our guys have been able to get in the Final Four and playing in New York City in legendary Madison Square Garden on a couple occasions is great. I hope our guys embrace this and use this as our next goal.?
The Redbirds are definitely embracing the NIT after losing in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship game to No. 19-ranked Creighton after beating No. 18 Wichita State in the semifinals.
?We know they?re playing really good basketball coming in,? said Kennedy. ?They?re a team that?s proficient from the 3-point line and have a low-post presence in (Jackie) Carmichael. They present a number of challenges.?
Carmichael, who leads the Redbirds in scoring (13.8 points) and rebounding (9.6), is the only ISU player with postseason experience. He was a freshman when the Redbirds lost to eventual champion Dayton, 63-42, in an NIT first-round game two years ago.
?You just go in expecting everything,? said Carmichael. ?Nothing had prepared us to play that type of really fast team. I don?t think you go thinking it?s going to be easy, but you don?t go in nervous because you?re not going to play well.
?So you just go in there approaching it like any other game knowing we can hang with any other team.?
The Redbirds will have nine days between the Valley tourney championship game and the NIT opener. Jankovich likes that he was able to give the players a couple days off last week to recover and refresh their bodies.
Yet whether the Redbirds can regain the sharpness they exhibited in St. Louis or will be rusty remains to be seen.
?You can?t simulate games,? said Jankovich. ?We had a scrimmage (Sunday). That was a weak attempt to try to do that, but there?s nothing like real-game action against another opponent, crowd, pressure. It?s something we have to deal with.?
The ISU-Mississippi winner will play No. 3 Stanford (22-11) in a second-round game, with the day and time to be announced. The Redbirds would be on the road again as the lower-seeded team.
?Had we had the Lakers on the schedule that would be the closest one that looked like them,? deadpanned the Redbird coach.
That might be coach hyperbole at its finest ahead of Wednesday?s 8:30 p.m. National Invitation Tournament first-round game between ISU and the Rebels. After all, the Redbirds? starting lineup is the same size as Mississippi except for 5-foot-9 point guard Nic Moore.
Yet dealing with Mississippi?s athleticism and length will be the biggest challenge for seventh-seeded ISU when the 20-13 teams square off at Tad Smith Coliseum. The No. 2-seeded Rebels use 6-foot-9 Terrance Henry at small forward and start a pair of 6-4 guards in Jarvis Summers and Nick Williams.
Mississippi thought it had a shot at advancing to the NCAA Tournament thanks to a late five-game winning streak. But a loss to Vanderbilt in the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals Saturday dashed the Rebels? hopes.
This is the fifth NIT appearance in the last six years for Mississippi under coach Andy Kennedy. The Rebels advanced to the semifinals in New York City in 2008 and 2010.
?Obviously we?re a little disappointed that we came up short of our ultimate goal of having an opportunity to participate in the NCAA Tournament, but we?re excited to still be playing basketball,? said Kennedy. ?The NIT experience our guys have been able to get in the Final Four and playing in New York City in legendary Madison Square Garden on a couple occasions is great. I hope our guys embrace this and use this as our next goal.?
The Redbirds are definitely embracing the NIT after losing in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship game to No. 19-ranked Creighton after beating No. 18 Wichita State in the semifinals.
?We know they?re playing really good basketball coming in,? said Kennedy. ?They?re a team that?s proficient from the 3-point line and have a low-post presence in (Jackie) Carmichael. They present a number of challenges.?
Carmichael, who leads the Redbirds in scoring (13.8 points) and rebounding (9.6), is the only ISU player with postseason experience. He was a freshman when the Redbirds lost to eventual champion Dayton, 63-42, in an NIT first-round game two years ago.
?You just go in expecting everything,? said Carmichael. ?Nothing had prepared us to play that type of really fast team. I don?t think you go thinking it?s going to be easy, but you don?t go in nervous because you?re not going to play well.
?So you just go in there approaching it like any other game knowing we can hang with any other team.?
The Redbirds will have nine days between the Valley tourney championship game and the NIT opener. Jankovich likes that he was able to give the players a couple days off last week to recover and refresh their bodies.
Yet whether the Redbirds can regain the sharpness they exhibited in St. Louis or will be rusty remains to be seen.
?You can?t simulate games,? said Jankovich. ?We had a scrimmage (Sunday). That was a weak attempt to try to do that, but there?s nothing like real-game action against another opponent, crowd, pressure. It?s something we have to deal with.?
The ISU-Mississippi winner will play No. 3 Stanford (22-11) in a second-round game, with the day and time to be announced. The Redbirds would be on the road again as the lower-seeded team.
