Long Beach State University Athletics
49ers face Washington State in NIT in Pullman Wednesday
3/13/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 13, 2011
The Long Beach State 49ers will travel to Pullman, Wash., to face the Washington State Cougars in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
The 49ers enter the tournament as the No. 7 seed in the Boston College Region, while Washington State is the No. 2 seed. The winner of the first-round game will play the winner of Tuesday's game between No. 3 seed Oklahoma State and No. 6 seed Harvard. Boston College is the top seed in the 49ers' bracket and will play No. 8 seed McNeese State on Tuesday, while No. 4 seed Northwestern and No. 5 seed Milwaukee play on Tuesday in the other game. The NIT semifinals and finals are on March 29 and March 31 in Madison Square Garden in New York City.
LBSU finished the season 22-11 and won the Big West Conference regular season title giving the 49ers an automatic bid into the NIT. The 49ers lost to UC Santa Barbara Saturday in the championship game of the Big West Tournament. Junior point guard Casper Ware leads the 49ers in points (17.0 ppg), assists (146) and steals (56), while Long Beach State's other four starters--Larry Anderson (14.5 ppg), T.J Robinson (13.5 ppg), Greg Plater (11.8 ppg) and Eugene Phelps (10.0 ppg)--all average in double figures. Ware was named the Big West Conference Player of the Year as well as the league's defensive player of the year. He also was named first-team All-Region 9 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and All-District IX by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). Anderson was named first-team All-Big West Conference and second-team All-District 9 by the NABC, while Robinson (second-team All-Big West), Plater (honorable mention All-Big West) and Phelps (honorable mention All-Big West) all earned postseason honors.
Long Beach State will be making its sixth all-time appearance in the NIT Tournament, and its first since 2000. The 49ers are 2-5 all-time in NIT games. Their first appearance was in 1980 when they beat Pepperdine 104-87 in the first round and then lost to UNLV 90-81 in the second round. The 49ers lost to Stanford 80-77 in 1988. Long Beach State beat Arizona State 86-71 in the first round in 1990 before losing to Hawaii 84-79 in the second round. LBSU got beat by TCU 73-61 in the first round in 1992 and lost to California 70-66 in the first round in 2000.
Long Beach State coach Dan Monson will be taking his sixth team to the NIT. Monson made his first appearance as a head coach at Gonzaga in 1998 when the Bulldogs advanced to the second round. Monson took Minnesota to the NIT four times. The Gophers played in the NIT in 2001 (second round), 2002 (second round), 2003 (semifinals), and 2006 (second round).
Long Beach State and Washington State have played twice before with both teams winning a game. The Cougars handed the 49ers a 79-69 loss on Dec. 1, 1962, while LBSU knocked off WSU 58-55 on Dec. 19, 1975.
