2019 NIT Season Tip-Off Bracket and Schedule Revealed
BROOKLYN (July 11, 2019) – The NIT Season Tip-Off will return to Barclays Center for a fifth-straight season this Thanksgiving Week, with games on Wednesday, Nov. 27 and Friday, Nov. 29, featuring an elite group of teams from America’s top conferences.
On Wednesday, the SEC’s Ole Miss Rebels meet the Penn State Nittany Lions of the Big Ten at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN2, followed by a matchup between the Oklahoma State Cowboys of the Big 12 Conference and the Syracuse Orange of the ACC, also on ESPN2.
The Friday third-place game will air at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2, ESPNU or ESPNEWS, and the championship follows at 9 p.m. ET, on ESPN2 or ESPNU.
Tickets for the NIT Season Tip-Off at Barclays Center will go on sale on Monday, Aug. 12 at 10 a.m. ET and can be purchased online at www.barclayscenter.com, or www.ticketmaster.com. Tickets are also available at the American Express Box Office at Barclays Center. Group Tickets are available by calling 855-GROUP-BK.
- Syracuse earned its 40th NCAA Tournament invitation this past March, guided by Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim, now in his 44th season at his alma mater. The veteran court boss has guided Syracuse to 34 NCAA Tournament visits, including five Final Fours and the NCAA National Championship in 2003. Boeheim is the second-winningest coach in Division I history and ranks fourth in NCAA Tournament victories.
- Ole Miss is set to begin its second season under 2019 SEC Coach of the Year Kermit Davis, who led the Rebels to 20 victories in 2018-19 and the program’s first NCAA berth since 2015. Ole Miss is no stranger to Brooklyn, having captured the Barclays Center Classic with wins over Georgia Tech and Penn State during the 2013-14 season.
- Oklahoma State is led by Brooklyn native Mike Boynton, who has wasted little time igniting the Cowboy fanbase. Under Boynton, OSU has taken down seven top-25 opponents – four over top-10 teams – and produced a trip to the NIT quarterfinals in 2018. Boynton and the Cowboys recently signed the nation’s No. 13-ranked recruiting class and are looking to get the program back into the Final Four for the seventh time in program history.
- Coach Patrick Chambers guided Penn State to a 7-3 record in the final 10 games of the 2019 Big Ten regular season, which included victories over No. 7 Michigan and No. 17 Maryland. In his eight years as head coach, Chambers ranks in Penn State’s top five for wins and has the most wins over ranked teams of any Nittany Lion basketball coach. Chambers led Penn State to the Postseason NIT Championship in 2018.
This fall marks the fifth-straight year at Barclays Center for the NIT Season Tip-Off, which has been played in New York City every November since 1985. The outstanding 2018 field featured four 2019 NCAA Tournament teams in NCAA Sweet 16 participant Tennessee, NIT Season Tip-Off Champion Kansas (NCAA Second Round, Midwest), Marquette (First Round, West) and Louisville (First Round, East).
In addition to the matchups at Barclays Center, the NIT Season Tip-Off will include a quartet of games at HP Field House at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando. On Monday, Nov. 25, Ivy League co-champion Yale will square off against the MAC’s Western Michigan, followed by 2019 Patriot League co-champion Bucknell against Seattle U of the WAC. On Tuesday, Nov. 26, all four teams will play again, with the winners from the previous day vying for the Orlando Subregional championship. All four games will be broadcast on ESPNU.
The eight participants will each play a pair of games at campus sites prior to the bracketed portions.
- Friday, Nov. 15: Western Michigan at Ole Miss
- Saturday, Nov. 16: Seattle U at Syracuse
- Sunday, Nov. 17: Yale at Oklahoma State
- Tuesday, Nov. 19: Seattle U at Ole Miss, Bucknell at Penn State
- Friday, Nov. 22: Western Michigan at Oklahoma State
- Saturday, Nov. 23: Yale at Penn State, Bucknell at Syracuse
The NIT Season Tip-Off is one of 11 college basketball events owned and operated by ESPN Events, a division of ESPN.