The 77th annual National Invitation Tournament (NIT) tips off tonight and the ESPN family of networks will have exclusive coverage of the entire tournament.
Every game of the annual NIT will be carried across the ESPN family of networks and online on ESPN3 via WatchESPN. Round One tips off tonight at 7pm with games on ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU. The Mountaineers of West Virginia will take on the Georgetown Hoyas on ESPN, while the Florida State Seminoles will face Florida Gulf Coast on ESPN2. The third of the 7pm games sees Robert Morris on the road against St. John’s on ESPNU. St. John’s is making a record 30th appearance in this year’s NIT and is one of six teams in this year’s tournament that also made an appearance in the 2013 NIT. The other five teams on that list are: Florida State, Indiana State, Louisiana Tech, Robert Morris, and Southern Miss.
Illinois and Boston University lead off coverage of Day Two at 7pm on ESPN2 with Iona and Louisiana Tech following at 7:30pm on ESPN3 at 7:30pm ET. Florida Gulf Coast reached the NCAA Tournament’s “Sweet Sixteen” round in 2013. This year marks the first time that the school will play in the NIT. It is one of three schools that will make its first ever appearance in the NIT this year. The other two schools making their first appearance in the NIT this year are High Point and Utah Valley.
Round Two of the NIT is March 20th – 24th. Quarterfinals are scheduled for March 25th – 26th. Semifinals are April 1st and the NIT Championship follows April 3rd.
The complete NIT First Round coverage schedule is listed below.
2014 NIT First Round Schedule:
Date | Time (ET) | Game | Network |
Tue, March 18 | 7 p.m. | NIT First Round: West Virginia at Georgetown Mike Patrick & Dan Dakich |
ESPN |
7 p.m. | NIT First Round: Florida Gulf Coast at Florida State Mark Jones & Darrin Horn |
ESPN2 | |
7 p.m. | NIT First Round: Robert Morris at St. John’s Dave Pasch & Tim Welsh |
ESPNU | |
8:15 p.m. | NIT First Round: High Point at Minnesota Clay Matvick & Mark Wise |
ESPN3 | |
8:15 p.m. | NIT First Round: Belmont at Green Bay Jim Barbar & Sean Harrington |
ESPN3 | |
9 p.m. | NIT First Round: Indiana State at Arkansas Brad Nessler & Jimmy Dykes |
ESPN | |
9 p.m. | NIT First Round: Davidson at Missouri Bob Wischusen & Malcolm Huckaby |
ESPN2 | |
9 p.m. | NIT First Round: Georgia State at Clemson Tom Hart & Bob Valvano |
ESPNU | |
11 p.m. | NIT First Round: Utah at St. Mary’s Dave Flemming & Sean Farnham |
ESPN2 | |
Wed, March 19 | 7 p.m. | NIT First Round: Illinois at Boston University Sean McDonough & Tim Welsh |
ESPN2 |
7:30 p.m. | NIT First Round: Iona at Louisiana Tech Brett Dolan & Daymeon Fishback |
ESPN3 | |
8 p.m. | NIT First Round: Vermont at Georgia Joe Davis & Dino Gaudio |
ESPNU | |
8:30 p.m. | NIT First Round: Toledo at Southern Miss Roy Philpott & Joe Dean |
ESPN3 | |
9 p.m. | NIT First Round: UC Irvine at SMU John Saunders & Fran Fraschilla |
ESPN2 | |
10 p.m. | NIT First Round: LSU at San Francisco Roxy Bernstein & Bill Walton |
ESPNU | |
10:30 p.m. | NIT First Round: Utah Valley at California Trey Bender & Jon Crispin |
ESPN3 |
More information on the ESPN family of networks’ coverage of the NIT is available online at http://www.facebook.com/ESPNCollegeBasketball and http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball. To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it. Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.