Ed with Niagara at the NIT

Despite the outcome, I thoroughly enjoyed my second NIT experience with Niagara. This one was much more exciting since it was actually played at the Gallagher Center.

I arrived on campus with mom who was also attending the game (my dad would get there later) at about 5:30pm to partake in the pregame festivities. We picked up our tickets from will call and promptly headed over to the free cookout across from the Gallagher Center. After picking up our hotdogs and beverages, we ventured into the newest building on campus, Bisgrove Hall, to experience it for the first time. Since this building took the place of my beloved Quad, it had a lot to prove to me to win me over. And win me over it did! It was an extremely state of the art complex, and exactly what Niagara needs to continue to remain competitive in the coming years.

After leaving the building, we headed over to the live entertainment just as coach Joe Mihalich was preparing to greet the revelers! He thanked us for coming out, and then headed back inside to prepare for the actual game.

At about 6:00pm we headed inside the Gallagher Center. Despite being 1 hour before game time, the general admission seating was filling up fast. Luckily we scored great seats on the aisle at midcourt. As we waited for tip-off, I was able to get my hands on a green Niagara NIT t-shirt, thanks to my connections at Niagara! I was also able to chat with one of my favorite people at Niagara, Fr. Joe Hubbard, the team chaplain, before the game got underway.

The game itself was exciting for the most part. Niagara led at half by 4. At halftime I visited with my mentor, the VP for Student Life Sheila Hausrath, one of the people responsible for getting me into student affairs. While talking with her I also spoke with the VP for Academic Affairs Dr. Bonnie Rose. Now if only I could get that contact at OSU just imagine the quality of faculty programs Siebert would have! After half, Niagara continued it's troubling trend of missing shots and believing it needs to rely on the 3-pointer to win games. While that may be true, no team will ever win if you shoot 7-27 from behind the arc like Niagara did yesterday. If that wasn't bad enough, Niagara shot an abysmal 36.5% from the field overall. They looked about as bad from a shooting perspective as they did in the MAAC championship. It's sad to watch some of the best players on the team, such as Tyrone Lewis (who missed 11-14 3-pointers) and Bilal Benn (4-10 from the field overall, two of those being 3's, and committing 5 turnovers) struggle in the big games. Niagara blew a lead as high as 9, and as high as 7 in the second half, to lose by 6 at home. Disappointment is an understatement. Frustration may be a better word.

Niagara really wanted to be considered an NCAA bubble team. When that didn't happen, they were rewarded with a 3 seed in the NIT. Niagara did not play like a 3 seed last night, and as such, they were ousted from the tournament. They clearly did not look like an NCAA bubble team. Frustrating because the team had been playing so well before imploding in the MAAC championship game when they shot 37 threes and made only a handful, and the shooting woes continued in the NIT. On the bright side, or maybe of concern, Niagara only loses one player next year, Benson Egemonye. I say bright side because the core of the team will be back, and they are good players. I said maybe concern because it is these same players that went cold in the biggest games of the year. Hopefully Niagara will fix what went wrong at the end of season this year and do even better things next season.

But like I said in the beginning, this was a great experience since it was on campus, even if I left campus frustrated and a little bit numb after the frigid temperature inside the Gallagher Center from the Niagara shooters. BRRRR, I thought this was supposed to be March????