MSU faces Louisville with a trip to NIT semis on line

The Bulldogs are getting closer to the Big Apple.

Only one team now stands in the way.

Mississippi State (24-11) squares off with Louisville (2213) on the road at 8 p.m. tonight in the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament. The winner of tonight's tilt will punch their ticket to New York and Madison Square Garden for the NIT's final rounds.

“The goal for every team in this tournament is to try to get to Madison Square Garden,” Mississippi State head coach Ben Howland said last week. “I've coached in the Garden before and been blessed to do that and that's a great experience. Every great player in the history of the game has played in Madison Square Garden.”

State has been to New York for the NIT semifinals only once before in school history. That came back during the 2007 event when the Bulldogs fell one win short of the championship game. Now, 11 years later, MSU has a chance to get back to the City that Never Sleeps.

Mississippi State has gotten to this point in the NIT after a home win over Nebraska last Wednesday, then a thrilling, onepoint win on the road over Baylor Sunday that featured a Quinndary Weatherspoon buzzer-beating 3-pointer as time expired.

The next test for the Bulldogs will now be the Cardinals, who got to this round of the tournament by defeating both Northern Kentucky and Middle Tennessee. Louisville will be a big-time challenge for MSU says Howland.

“They're very good,” Howland said. “(Deng) Adel is a really

| Page 12