(St. Louis, MO) – Belmont and Illinois State get their postseason started tonight in National Invitation Tournament action. The seventh seeded Bruins (22-6) travel to Georgia to take on J.J. Frazier and the Bulldogs. Top seeded Illinois State (27-6) hosts UC Irvine at Redbird Arena.
Belmont, of the Ohio Valley Conference, and Georgia (19-14) of the Southeastern Conference, are facing one another in the opening round of the NIT for the second straight season. The Bulldogs triumphed last year. They hosted 2016’s game too.
The Missouri Valley Conference’s Redbirds are returning to postseason after a one year absence, and they are a ten point favorite between teams that won or shared their conference titles, their coaches received ‘Coach of the Year’ awards and their lead guards, Luke Nelson of UCI, and Paris Lee of ILS were named their respective league’s ‘Player of the Year’.
Belmont is a seven point underdog, tips at 6:00 pm and can be seen on ESPN3. Illinois State is a ten point favorite, starts at 8:30 pm and will be broadcast on ESPNU (Both times CT). OVC member UT Martin begins play in Thursday’s opening round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.
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