The first round of the NIT is over and the quarterfinals are set. Saturday’s first-round games concluded with No. 1 seed Memphis holding off No. 4 seed Dayton 71-60 and No. 4 seed Mississippi State upsetting No. 1 seed Saint Louis 74-68. Those results mean that just two of the four No. 1 seeds in the 16-team tournament escaped the first round.
All four quarterfinal games will be played Thursday night, starting with No. 2 Richmond taking on Mississippi State. The Bulldogs may have had visions of making the NCAA Tournament when the season began, but they can at least take solace in knowing they lasted longer in the NIT than arch rival Ole Miss.
The Rebels were the other No. 1 seed that did not escape the first round as they suffered a 70-61 loss to No. 4 seed Louisiana Tech.
A handful of teams opted out of consideration, but the NIT still managed to assemble a solid 16-team field. The top four seeds — Colorado State, Memphis, Saint Louis and Ole Miss — were all teams with compelling cases for at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament that were left out of the field of 68. The NIT is usually a 32-team tournament that includes on-campus games before the last four teams head to Madison Square Garden in New York to decide the champion. But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the field was cut in half and the tournament is taking place entirely in the suburbs of Dallas, Texas.
Here is the full bracket.
2021 NIT schedule
All times ET | All games in Dallas area
Quarterfinals
Thursday
- No. 2 Richmond vs. No. 4 Mississippi State, 6 p.m.
- No. 1 Colorado State vs. No. 3 NC State, 7 p.m.
- No. 1 Memphis vs. No. 2 Boise State, 9 p.m.
- No. 3 Western Kentucky vs. No. 4 Louisiana Tech, 10 p.m.
Semifinals: March 27
Third-place game: March 28
Championship: March 28
First round
Wednesday
Thursday
- No. 3 NC State 75, No. 2 Davidson, 61
- No. 2 Boise State 85, No. 3 SMU 84
Friday
Saturday