Collegiate Times

NIT center

After defeating Quinnipiac in its first round game of the National Invitation Tournament Wednesday, the Virginia Tech men’s basketball team will face the University of Connecticut in the second round of play Monday at Cassell Coliseum.

Monday’s game will be Tech’s second opportunity to prove it was worthy of a bid in the NCAA Tournament.

After the Hokies took Quinnipiac out of the game early and dominated for the duration of the game, it was clear they weren’t going to lie down and take an NIT bid for granted.

“I feel like we’ve got something to prove,” said junior guard Dorenzo Hudson. “I feel like we should have been in the (NCAA) Tournament. It hurt us more this year, because we were expecting to be in there. We thought we had a locked spot.”

Hudson’s teammate, junior guard Malcolm Delaney, echoed those sentiments.

“We know where we should be playing right now,” Delaney said. “But we’re still playing basketball, and there’s a lot of teams not playing basketball. ... We’re trying to win a championship.”

The first-seeded Hokies enter Monday’s contest hoping to advance past the second round of the NIT for the first time since 2008.

Last year, the Hokies fell to Baylor in the second round of the tournament after barely beating Duquesne in the first round. In 2008, the Hokies defeated University of Alabama at Birmingham to advance to the third round of play, eventually falling to Mississippi 81-72.

This year, Tech’s second-round opponent is a strong Connecticut team that almost made the NCAA Tournament itself.

The fourth-seeded Huskies enter Monday’s matchup coming off their only win in five games — a first round, 59-57 victory over fifth-seeded Northeastern University.

While that isn’t the most impressive of recent resumes, fans must not forget that this is the same Connecticut team that just weeks ago, was poised to make a run at the NCAA tournament.

After winning games at Villanova, now a two-seed in the NCAA Tournament, and at Rutgers, the Huskies defeated West Virginia, now a three-seed in the NCAA Tournament on Feb. 22 for their third straight win and appeared ready to make a strong run at the big dance.

Four straight losses to close the season, however, including an embarrassing 73-51 loss to St. John’s in the first round of the Big East Tournament, erased any chances the Huskies may have had at getting a Tournament bid.

Nevertheless, the Huskies are an experienced and talented bunch.

Connecticut’s attack is led by senior guard Jerome Dyson, who averages 17.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game and anchored by an impressive down-low presence in senior forward Stanley Robinson, who averages 14.7 points and 7.9 rebounds.

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A version of this article appeared in the Mar 19 issue of the Collegiate Times.