The Memphis Tigers and the Mississippi State Bulldogs meet in the championship game of the NIT tournament from the Comerica Center on Sunday afternoon.
The Memphis Tigers booked their spot in the title game with a 90-67 win over Colorado State last time out. Landers Nolley II leads the Tigers in scoring with 27 points on 9 of 16 shooting with 7 threes with 5 rebounds while Deandre Williams had 21 points on 9 of 12 shooting with team-highs of 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals. Lester Quinones had 18 points on 7 of 13 shooting with 4 threes to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for Memphis in the victory. D.J. Jeffries also added 9 points with 7 rebounds and 6 assists as well in the victory.
The Mississippi State Bulldogs will be out to lift the trophy after an 84-62 win over Louisiana Tech last time out. Iverson Molinare led the Bulldogs in scoring with 25 points on 7 of 13 shooting with 5 threes while D.J. Stewart Jr. added 23 points on 8 of 16 shooting with 4 threes and a team-high 4 assists with a pair of steals. Derek Fountain added 15 points to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for Mississippi State in the winning effort with 6 rebounds. Abdul Ado and Cameron Matthews each had 7 rebounds apiece to lead Mississippi State.
Mississippi State is 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games overall and 3-9 ATS in their last 12 games following a win while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 games as an underdog. Memphis is 14-2 ATS in their last 16 games overall and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 neutral site games while the under is 7-1-1 in their last 9 Sunday games.
I get the case that could be made for either side here, as Memphis is the better team side by side and Mississippi State’s more battle tested from playing in the SEC. However, I’m going to back the over here. As good as the Tigers are defensively and can suffer from scoring lapses, this just has the feels of a game that finishes up in the 140s. I think both teams will leave it all out on the floor and put on a show with this being their last game of the year, so give me the over here.