Kansas to face Marquette in NIT Season Tip-Off in Brooklyn

By Matt Tait Aug 10, 2018

Nick Krug

Kansas center Udoka Azubuike (35) reaches to high five the students as he leaves the court following the Jayhawks' 77-69 win over the Mountaineers, Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018 at Allen Fieldhouse.

It’ll be Kansas versus Marquette on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, with the winner playing the winner of the Louisville-Tennessee the Friday after.

A Kansas official confirmed the pairings of this year’s NIT Season Tip-Off event at Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., to the Journal-World on Thursday night.

Neither game is pencilled into the bracket on the NIT Season Tip-Off website nor on KU’s schedule, but the official said the tip times will be scheduled for 6 and 8 p.m., with KU likely playing the second game on both nights.

Kansas is 6-1 all-time against Marquette, with the most recent victory coming via a 94-61 pounding of Dwyane Wade and Marquette at the 2003 Final Four and the lone loss coming in Greensboro, N.C., at the 1974 Final Four.

Marquette, now led by head coach and former Duke point guard Steve Wojciechowski, reached the quarterfinals of the 2018 postseason NIT after posting a 21-14 overall mark and tying for sixth in the Big East Conference with a 9-9 league record.

Wojciechowski has led Marquette to back-to-back postseason appearances in 2016-17 and 2017-18 during his first four seasons, including an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2017.

The Jayhawks own a 6-5, all-time edge over Louisville and are 2-1 all-time against Tennessee.

Old AAU basketball teammate Stephen Vinson one of many in PGA gallery watching Gary Woodland

Show/Post Comments

Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.