The second round of the 2015 NIT concludes Monday with three games, securing the final spots in the tournament quarterfinals to be played beginning Friday. With the NCAA Tournament on recess until Thursday, Monday's slate of NIT games can, if nothing else, help fight the shakes until later in the week.
NIT bracket and schedule 2015: Texas A&M, Tulsa headline Monday’s NIT action
The NCAA Tournament isn’t back until Thursday, and a few teams that nearly made the field of 68 are on display Monday.
The No. 2 Texas A&M Aggies -- which lost four of their last five games and a chance an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament -- hosts the No. 3 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. The Aggies coughed up an 18-point lead in the first half of their first-round game against the Montana Grizzlies, and Montana even took a two-point lead in the second half. But Texas A&M rallied behind 25 points from junior forward Jalen Jones and won, 81-64.
Louisiana Tech has won nine of its last 11 games, advancing in its NIT opener with an 89-79 win over Central Michigan.
The No. 1 Old Dominion Monarchs host the No. 4 Illinois State Redbirds at 8 p.m. on ESPNU in a rematch of a Nov. 23 Illinois State win in the Paradise Jam tournament. The Redbirds held Old Dominion to 34 percent from the field and 2-of-17 from beyond the arc.
The night's NIT action concludes with a 9 p.m. tip between the No. 2 Tulsa Golden Hurricane and No. 3 Murray State Racers on ESPN. The Racers went undefeated in Ohio Valley Conference play but lost on a last-second shot in the tournament championship game to Belmont, and an impressive run through a small conference was not enough for an NCAA Tournament bid.
Tulsa -- under first-year head coach Frank Haith -- went 14-4 in the American Athletic Conference but lost, 47-42, to Connecticut in the conference tournament semifinals.
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