Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats Earn NIT Bid, Open at Rhode Island Wednesday
3/14/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 14, 2010
EVANSTON, Ill. - For the first time in school history, Northwestern has earned postseason appearances in consecutive seasons. The Wildcats picked up a No. 7 seed in the National Invitation Tournament and will play at second-seeded Rhode Island Wednesday evening. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. Central with ESPNU providing live television coverage.
The winner of the match will face the winner of the game between third-seeded Wichita State and sixth-seeded Nevada on a date to be determined.
"We're real excited," Northwestern head coach Bill Carmody said. "This is the first time in our history that we've been to back-to-back postseason tournaments. Since the NCAA has taken over the NIT, the field has increasingly gotten better. I was looking at the bracket and there are no bad teams. They're all good teams. You have 96 teams still playing out of 347 and we're one of them. We're excited about doing it, especially for this team, this year. We have one senior, Jeremy (Nash), and then you have a lot of freshmen, sophomores and juniors. So it's a young team and the more games you can play, the better."
It is the fifth NIT appearance for the Wildcats. Northwestern (20-13, 7-11 Big Ten) also participated in the tournament in 1983, 1994, 1999 and 2009.
It will be the second all-time meeting between the Wildcats and the Rams. Rhode Island won the only previous matchup 91-87 Dec. 28, 1966, incidentally at Madison Square Garden in New York, the current host of NIT semifinals and championship game.
Rhode Island brings a 23-9 record into Wednesday's matchup. A member of the Atlantic 10 Conference, the Rams tied for fifth place with a 9-7 record and fell to eventual tournament champion Temple 57-44 in the semifinal round.
Senior guard Keith Cothran leads URI with an average of 14.6 points per game, while senior forward Lamonte Ulmer contributes 11.8 points and a team-high 7.3 rebounds per contest.
Tickets are on sale to the general public at Ticketmaster.com beginning at 9 a.m. Central time Monday.
Additionally, fans can now put down deposits for season tickets for what should prove to be an exciting 2010-11 season. For more information, click here.
