New Mexico State was part of a 16 team Preseason NIT back in 1994.
First Round
New Mexico State started the 1994 Preseason NIT on the road @ University of Southern California. NMSU left California with a 97-84 win at LA Sports Arena. Then#18th ranked Alabama came into the Pan American Center for the 2nd round of the Preseason NIT. NMSU won 86-69. NMSU then traveled to Madison Square Garden for the Semi-Final vs Memphis. NMSU won 81-78 to advance to the 1994 Preseason NIT Championship game. NMSU played Ohio and ended up losing 84-80 in OT.
NMSU was ranked as high as 19th in the nation in the AP Poll in 1994/1995. NMSU ended up in the 32 Team Postseason NIT after finishing the regular season 22-9. Their NIT invite was an at-large bid.
Colorado came into the Pan American Center for the first round of the Postseason NIT. In front of a big crowd NMSU won the opener 97-83. NMSU second round opponent was UTEP who had split with NMSU during the regular season. NMSU traveled up I-10 to the Don Haskins Center and left El Paso with a 92-89 OT victory.
NMSU had to travel to Virginia Tech for the Quarterfinals of the Postseason NIT. Down 39-20 at halftime, NMSU rallied back to tie the game in the final seconds before Virginia Tech hit a 3 at the buzzer to win the game 64-61, and yes Virginia Tech rushed the floor after beating the Mighty Aggies of New Mexico State. Virginia Tech went on to win the 1995 Postseason NIT.
This was the start of NMSU's impeding 5 year probation. NMSU only had 7 scholarship players left for that NIT run.
At the start of the season with a full roster, NMSU made it all the way to the Pre-season NIT Championship game beating USC (97-84), Alabama (86-69), Memphis (81-78), along the way before finally losing to U. Ohio with Gary Trent "The Shaq of the MAC" (80-84 in OT). Trent's son will play for Duke next season.
In the Post-season NIT, NMSU beat Colorado and UTEP before losing that game to Virginia Tech. It was a great "almost" comeback.
(This post was last modified: 07-11-2017 12:06 AM by NMSUPistolPete.)
(07-11-2017 12:27 AM)SeattleVandals Wrote: Why do we need a thread about NIT appearances?
It was a special season for New Mexico State. This board is about WAC basketball. New Mexico State is the king of the WAC. I'm just talking NMSU basketball. I should probably start talking Aggie football. Hmm....