A season that started slow with losses to Western Kentucky, VCU, Auburn and Tulsa ended with the Tigers claiming their 2nd NIT championship following a dominant 77-64 win over Mississippi State. After jumping out to a 13-0 lead and holding State scoreless for the first 4:38 the Tigers found themselves tied at 33 after a poor close to the first half for the 2nd straight day.
Led by Boogie Ellis and DJ Jeffries the Tiger took control early in the 2nd half to claim the championship. A decisive 11-3 run midway through the 2nd half was sparked by sitting starting center Moussa Cisse, moving DJ to the center and pulling Mississippi State shot blocking specialist Abdul Ado away from the basket. With DeAndre Williams playing with 3 fouls most of the 2nd half, the playmaking duties were mostly handled by Ellis, Landers Nolley and Lester Quinones.
Lester Quinones continued his dominant play with 8 points and 16 rebounds. Additionally Quinones was challenged with being the primary guard for Mississippi State star guard DJ Stewart. Stewart entered the championship game averaging 18 points in the tournament. On Sunday Stewart was held to 4 points on 1-10 shooting, while being hounded by Lester and the rest of the Tigers. The length and physicality the Tigers displayed shut down most of the what Mississippi State wanted to do for large sections of the game.
Landers Nolley, NIT tournament MVP, finished with 10 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists including timely 3 point shooting in the 2nd half. The difference maker, however, was DJ Jeffries, who took over the point-forward role midway through the 2nd half. Coming off high ball screens with Ado out at the top of the key, DJ's ballhandling skills allowed him to create mismatches and get easy layups. Finishing with 15 points, 5 rebounds and 5 blocks Jeffries seemed to grow up during the post season.
The Tigers closed the season on a 14-4 run with no losses by more than 3 points, which was a half court prayer to Houston on the last game of the regular season. The Tigers reached the 20 win plateau despite have 2 long stretches with games cancelled due to Covid 19. While every team that wins the NIT would likely state they should have been in the NCAA, it would be hard to argue that this years Tigers team wasn't one of the top 20-30 teams in the country by March 1. With every player on the roster eligible to return, it would not be unreasonable for Tiger fans to believe this could be spring board to a really big year in 2022.
