Cal State Northridge hopes so as to add to a historic males’s basketball season when it travels to Northern California to tackle Stanford within the opening spherical of the NIT on Tuesday night time.
The Matadors (22-10) tied a college document for wins — set 24 years in the past — after they beat Hawaii 82-73 within the Massive West Convention regular-season finale on March 8.
Northridge had an opportunity to set the all-time mark within the quarterfinal of the Massive West event however fell 78-72 to UC Santa Barbara final Thursday.
“I am actually pleased with our guys… what they’ve achieved for the college, to this program and to themselves,” Northridge coach Andy Newman gushed after the Santa Barbara loss. “Setting college information says loads; that is big.”
“The hassle, the tenacity, the main target and the sacrifice it takes to do one thing like that’s big.”
Historical past signifies the Matadors might have their fingers full with the Cardinal (20-13), who earned a postseason berth of their first season within the Atlantic Coast Convention. Stanford received the NIT championship in 1991, 2012 and 2015, and has by no means misplaced to Northridge (6-0).
The Cardinal, which completed in seventh place within the ACC earlier than beating California 78-73 and dropping to No. 13 Louisville 75-73 within the ACC event, was chosen as a “host” college for the event’s first two rounds. With a win Tuesday, Stanford would keep house to face both St. Bonaventure or Kent State within the second spherical of the 32-team occasion.
Thanks largely to the play of star heart Maxime Raynaud, who leads Stanford in each scoring (20.1 factors per recreation) and rebounding (10.6), the Cardinal earned a postseason reward after having been nearly universally picked close to the underside of the ACC standings in preseason projections.
“We did not actually pay a lot consideration to it; we simply talked in regards to the course of and simply (doing) your finest on a regular basis,” first-year Stanford coach Kyle Smith famous. “They did a extremely good job of staying current and making an attempt to enhance.”
The tall job of getting to take care of Raynaud is anticipated to fall upon Northridge senior Keonte Jones, who will quit greater than six inches within the matchup. An All-Massive West first-team choice, Jones led the Matadors with 9.2 rebounds per recreation this season.
–Subject Degree Media
