LSU men’s hoops makes NIT

The LSU Tigers received the news they were hoping for shortly after 7:30 p.m. Sunday when their name came up for a spot in the 2014 post-season National Invitation Tournament.
The Tigers are slated to play the San Francisco Dons at 9 p.m. in San Francisco Wednesday in a game televised by ESPNU. This will be the first meeting between the teams in men’s basketball.
LSU is 19-13 and 9-9 in the SEC, while San Francisco enters the NIT 21-11 and 13-5 in the conference. San Francisco is the fourth seed and LSU the fifth seed in what was called Southern Methodist quadrant, as it is the No. 1 seed. The winner of this game will meet the winner of the SMU-UC Irvine game.
This will be LSU’s seventh trip to the NIT and the 27th postseason appearance since 1953. LSU last went to the NIT in 2012, losing in the first round to Oregon in Eugene.
LSU is coming off a 1-1 split in the Southeastern Conference Tournament, winning against Alabama (68-56) in the second round before losing to Kentucky (85-67) in the quarterfinals.
The game will be played in Memorial Gymnasium on campus, a facility that seats around 4,500 fans.
LSU’s best showing in the postseason NIT was in 1970 when Pete Maravich was a senior and the 16-team event was played at Madison Square Garden in New York City. LSU won two games before losing in the semifinals.
The Dons are making their 23rd overall postseason appearance and sixth showing in the NIT. San Francisco won the 1949 NIT title with a 48-47 victory against Loyola-Chicago and also made NIT appearances in 1950, 1966, 1976 and 2004.