Things did not start out well for the Wichita State Shockers this season. In fact, coming down the stretch, they were struggling to even get to the .500 mark. But they are on a roll right now, and have a National Invitation Tournament (NIT) championship in their sights. They have made it to the NIT’s version of the “Final Four,” which is being held at Madison Square Garden, and they will engage in one semi-final matchup against the Lipscomb Bisons, to take place at 7 PM ET on Tuesday night on ESPN.
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2019 NIT Tournament Odds – Wichita State Shockers vs. Lipscomb Bisons:
In the 2019 NIT Tournament Odds that have been posted on this NIT semi-final game by the folks at VietBet, it’s all even:
Wichita State Shockers pick
Lipscomb Bisons
Over 150.5 points -110
Under 150.5 points -110
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2019 NIT Tournament Odds – CJ’s Take on Wichita State Shockers vs. Lipscomb Bisons in Final Four Showdown:
Wichita State won the NIT in 2011, and advanced to the Final Four in 2013. Clearly head coach Gregg Marshall, who first made his mark at Winthrop University, knows a thing or two about getting his team into form when the stakes are highest. And this isn’t one of those situations where a team was so upset about not getting invited to the NCAA Tournament that they were suffering from a letdown. These guys never had a chance at an at-large berth, but you could tell, with a win over Temple and a narrow loss to Cincinnati in the American Athletic Conference tournament, that they were getting things together.
Now they have gone on the road to beat Furman, Clemson and Indiana – all of which were higher-seeded teams. As of this moment, they have won nine of their last ten games, covering six in a row and 13 out of 16.
Lipscomb is a program that is not familiar to many fans, and they are probably third in line in their own hometown of Nashville, behind Vanderbilt and Belmont. But they’re unquestionably formidable, and they can shoot the basketball. They also have the most prolific scorer on the court in Garrison Mathews, who had 44 points in the quarterfinal win over North Carolina State. Like Wichita State, the Bisons have gone on the road for all three NIT wins.
These teams are somewhat similar in the respect that they have a dominant scorer. We have already mentioned Mathews, a 6-5 guard who is a 41% shooter form three-point range and hit almost 85% from the free throw line. Wichita State’s go-to guy is Markis McDuffie, who has averaged 19 points a game in the NIT. He generally gets some support from people like Dexter Dennis, but the Shockers are hoping to get something a little better out of Samajae Haynes-Hones, a guard who has shot just 28% in these three NIT games.
WSU wants to win this with defense, of course, but they also want to impose their size on the Bisons. When you can bring people like 6-11 Jaime Echenique and 7-foot Asbjorn Midtgaard onto the floor, you’re presenting some difficulty for smaller opponents. Echenique has had a couple of big games in this tournament, scoring 18 points against Clemson and getting 16 points and ten rebounds against Furman.
Lipscomb ranks 18th in the nation in Effective Field Goal Percentage, and they rank among the top 40 in the country in three-pointers, two-pointers and free throws. So that is pretty comprehensive. Wichita State, by contrast is outside of the top 275 in both triples and twos, but they are a team carrying some positive momentum that goes beyond just the stats. Lipscomb, which has won 28 games, has a lot of experience (2.13 years per man), which could mean a whole lot here.
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