The second round of the NIT tips off Friday, with just one game on the schedule -- but it is an intriguing one.
NIT 2014 schedule and bracket: Robert Morris set to take on Belmont in 2nd-round action
Both teams are fresh off first-round upsets.
9:30 p.m. ET
No. 8 Robert Morris vs. No. 5 Belmont, ESPNU
Robert Morris, best known for defeating Kentucky in the first round of last season’s NIT, is at it again. The Colonials defeated top-seeded St. John’s in the opening round, and are hoping to get farther in the NIT than they did last year, when they lost to Providence in Round 2.
Robert Morris won the regular-season Northeast Conference title by two games, earning an automatic bid to the NIT, but lost in a surprising upset to fifth-seeded Mount St. Mary's in the conference title game. The Mountaineers lost their NCAA Tournament First Four game to Albany Tuesday.
The Colonials are led by senior guard Karvel Anderson, a sharpshooter who is averaging 19.6 points per game. They're ranked 156th in the nation in the KenPom rankings, and will be facing quite a challenge in the 89th-ranked Belmont Bruins.
Belmont won the regular season Ohio Valley championship, but was upset in the conference title game by Eastern Kentucky (which ended up as a 15-seed in the tourney). The Bruins easily dispatched four-seed Green Bay in the opener, traveling to Wisconsin to defeat the Phoenix, 80-65.
Belmont is led by sophomore guard Craig Bradshaw, who averaged 15.5 points per game in the regular season and scored 25 (with six rebounds and three steals) against Green Bay.
An updated bracket can be found here.
See More:
