Santa Clara hosts WAC power in opening round of NIT; here’s how to watch
The Santa Clara men’s basketball team will host No. 2 seed Sam Houston State in the first round of the 32-team National Invitation Tournament on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
The winner will play either No. 2 North Texas (26-7) or unseeded Alcorn State (18-13) in the second round on Saturday or Sunday.
Santa Clara (23-9), which is making its second straight appearance in the NIT, finished the regular season on a seven-game win streak and entered the West Coast Conference tournament as the No. 3 seed. The Broncos, though, lost 93-87 in double overtime to San Francisco in the conference quarterfinals, eliminating any chance they had of earning a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
“We are incredibly excited to get an opportunity to continue our season in the NIT for the second-straight year,” Broncos coach Herb Sendek said in a statement. “Our players and staff have worked tremendously hard all season long, and I’m so pleased that their hard work has paid off with yet another postseason appearance.
“We are very eager to take on a very talented Sam Houston State team and look forward to a great match up.”
Santa Clara is led by Brandin Podziemski, who was named the WCC Co-Player and Newcomer of the Year and was a first-team all-conference selection. Podziemski is averaging 19.9 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game, and led the WCC with 13 double-doubles.
Sophomore guard Carlos Stewart was also named first-team all-WCC and forward Keshawn Justice, now a grad school student earned a second-team nod.
This is Santa Clara’s sixth appearance in the NIT. The Broncos also participated in the event in 1984, 1985, 1988, and 1989. This is also the first time since 1995 and 1996 that SCU has made back-to-back postseason appearances, in the NCAA Tournament or NIT.
Sam Houston State (25-7) enjoyed its best regular season in program history and advanced to the semifinals of the WAC Tournament before it lost to eventual champion Grand Canyon.
Senior guard Qua Grant, the WAC’s Player of the Year, leads the Bearkats with an average of 14.0 points per game.
The NIT’s top seeds are Oklahoma State (18-15), Rutgers (19-14), Oregon (19-14) and Clemson (23-10).