The No. 1 seed Colorado Buffaloes continue their pursuit of an NIT title when they face the No. 7 seed Kent St. Golden Flashes. This will be the first game of the quarterfinals, and the winner faces the team to emerge from the No. 1 Alabama-No. 2 Miami (Fl.) game on Tuesday. The Buffs and the Crimson Tide are the only remaining No. 1 seeds remaining in the tournament.
The Buffaloes have had no issues reaching this stage of the NIT, beating Texas Southern and Cal by an average of 15.5 points. Alec Burks and Cory Higgins continue to pace the offense, scoring 27 and 25 points, respectively, against Texas Southern. Against Cal, the Burks and Higgins combined for 47 points, 25 and 22, respectively. But it's not an exclusive two-man show as there have been key contributions off the bench. Freshman Andre Roberson has averaged 10 points and 8 rebounds in NIT play. Levi Knutson, the Sixth Man of the Year in the Big 12, was the third-leading scorer against Cal with 10 points.
Kent State is the lowest-ranked seed still in the tournament, having upset No. 2 seed St. Mary's in the opening round and then defeating No. 6 Fairfield in the second round. In the former game, the Golden Flashes fought back and overcame a 13-point deficit in the second half. Justin Greene leads the team with 15.3 points per game this season, but Michael Porrini (19 points) and Randal Holt (22 points) have led the scoring in the two NIT games.
The game tips off at 7:00 p.m. MT and can be seen on ESPN.