Tulsa, Murray State to do battle in NIT on Monday after being snubbed by NCAA Tournament
While the NCAA Tournament field has been whittled to 16, two teams snubbed on Selection Sunday continue to try to turn their March sadness into an NIT championship.
On Monday night, No. 2-seed University of Tulsa hosts third-seeded Murray State in an ESPN-televised matchup that is perhaps as enticing as any game that has been played in the NCAA Tournament.
?After a week of the NCAA Tournament and NIT first rounds, several teams don?t have to unlace their sneakers for the last time this year,? Hurricane coach Frank Haith said. ?We feel very good about the opportunity to continue to compete for a championship.?
Murray State missed out on going dancing despite winning 25 games in a row, the nation?s second-longest winning streak this season, and being undefeated in the Ohio Valley Conference before losing by one point to Belmont in the conference tournament game.
?There are a lot of good basketball teams out there,? coach Steve Prohm said. ?We?re one of them. Regardless of what we did in November (a 3-4 record), we?re a really good team. We?ve got one of the top 10 winningest teams this season in the country at 28-5.?
The Racers dropped their season opener to Houston, a team Tulsa beat three times in the American Athletic Conference, and stumbled a few times during the nonconference portion of the schedule much like the Hurricane, which struggled early before winning 12 games in a row.
?I?m sure they?re going to be ready to play,? Haith said. ?They played great in their first game against UTEP, and I think there?s no question they would like to play in New York (in the finals) to solidify their saying, ?We belong in the NCAA (Tournament).? ?
Murray State?s top scorer is sophomore point guard Cameron Payne, who averages 20.1 points per game and has scored more than 30 points three times this season.
?He?s as good of a point guard as we will have played this year,? said Haith, whose team also faced UConn?s Ryan Boatright and SMU?s Nic Moore.
?That should be motivating for our guys to compete against guys that are being talked about like that. If you?re a competitor, you want to compete against the best. They?re going up against one of the better point guards in the country.?
Eight NBA scouts are scheduled to attend Monday?s game, likely to see Payne play. One told Forbes.com, which labeled Payne the best player not in the NCAA Tournament: ?It beats going to see him at Murray. That?s a tough place to get to.?
Although Payne may be the main attraction, Tulsa?s guards aren?t so bad, either. James Woodard and Shaquille Harrison combine to average 28 points, and Marquel Curtis and Rashad Ray also are key contributors.
?They?ve got really good guards,? Prohm said. ?Their backcourt is really good, a first-team all-league guy (Woodard) and a second-team all-league guy (Harrison). ? We?re going to have to do a good job especially on those two guards.?
The Racers bring an 11-game road winning streak to the Reynolds Center, having not dropped a road game since falling 89-62 at Xavier on Nov. 24.
?We?re very confident going up there,? Prohm said. ?We know it?s going to be a tough challenge, but it?s great for our program and great for our league, Monday night on ESPN in a showcase game. We?ve got to go try to get it done.?
While the NCAA Tournament field has been whittled to 16, two teams snubbed on Selection Sunday continue to try to turn their March sadness into an NIT championship.
On Monday night, No. 2-seed University of Tulsa hosts third-seeded Murray State in an ESPN-televised matchup that is perhaps as enticing as any game that has been played in the NCAA Tournament.
?After a week of the NCAA Tournament and NIT first rounds, several teams don?t have to unlace their sneakers for the last time this year,? Hurricane coach Frank Haith said. ?We feel very good about the opportunity to continue to compete for a championship.?
Murray State missed out on going dancing despite winning 25 games in a row, the nation?s second-longest winning streak this season, and being undefeated in the Ohio Valley Conference before losing by one point to Belmont in the conference tournament game.
?There are a lot of good basketball teams out there,? coach Steve Prohm said. ?We?re one of them. Regardless of what we did in November (a 3-4 record), we?re a really good team. We?ve got one of the top 10 winningest teams this season in the country at 28-5.?
The Racers dropped their season opener to Houston, a team Tulsa beat three times in the American Athletic Conference, and stumbled a few times during the nonconference portion of the schedule much like the Hurricane, which struggled early before winning 12 games in a row.
?I?m sure they?re going to be ready to play,? Haith said. ?They played great in their first game against UTEP, and I think there?s no question they would like to play in New York (in the finals) to solidify their saying, ?We belong in the NCAA (Tournament).? ?
Murray State?s top scorer is sophomore point guard Cameron Payne, who averages 20.1 points per game and has scored more than 30 points three times this season.
?He?s as good of a point guard as we will have played this year,? said Haith, whose team also faced UConn?s Ryan Boatright and SMU?s Nic Moore.
?That should be motivating for our guys to compete against guys that are being talked about like that. If you?re a competitor, you want to compete against the best. They?re going up against one of the better point guards in the country.?
Eight NBA scouts are scheduled to attend Monday?s game, likely to see Payne play. One told Forbes.com, which labeled Payne the best player not in the NCAA Tournament: ?It beats going to see him at Murray. That?s a tough place to get to.?
Although Payne may be the main attraction, Tulsa?s guards aren?t so bad, either. James Woodard and Shaquille Harrison combine to average 28 points, and Marquel Curtis and Rashad Ray also are key contributors.
?They?ve got really good guards,? Prohm said. ?Their backcourt is really good, a first-team all-league guy (Woodard) and a second-team all-league guy (Harrison). ? We?re going to have to do a good job especially on those two guards.?
The Racers bring an 11-game road winning streak to the Reynolds Center, having not dropped a road game since falling 89-62 at Xavier on Nov. 24.
?We?re very confident going up there,? Prohm said. ?We know it?s going to be a tough challenge, but it?s great for our program and great for our league, Monday night on ESPN in a showcase game. We?ve got to go try to get it done.?
