NEW YORK, April 1 (UPI) -- The National Invitation Tournament moves into the semifinal round Tuesday night, with two games played at Madison Square Garden.
One of the four, St. John's, has a clear-cut homecourt advantage. The Redmen play a number of their home games at the Garden each year, including the one against their Big East Conference foes.
Their foe Tuesday night will be Texas Tech, whose coach, Bob Knight, makes his first appearance at the Garden in over six years.
He last coached in New York City with Indiana in the 1996 Preseason NIT, when his team beat Evansville and Duke to claim the title. The matchup with Duke was best known for the fact that Knight brushed off a pregame handshake from Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski, his former assistant at Army.
This is Knight's sixth trip to the NIT semifinals. He took Army to the semifinals twice and Indiana three times.
Texas Tech (21-12) failed to make the NCAA Tournament despite playing one of the toughest schedules in the country. Knight offered to give up his salary as a result. The Red Raiders have taken advantage of three home games in the NIT to reach the semis.
In the other contest, another Big East team, Georgetown, will tangle with Minnesota.
Georgetown (18-14) won three straight road games to get to New York, the only team that was forced to do that. The Hoyas posted a 79-74 victory at North Carolina last Wednesday for their sixth straight road triumph.
Minnesota (18-12) lost four straight games entering the NIT, but has played better in this tournament. The Golden Gophers, who won a pair of road games to get this far, posted a 63-58 overtime victory at Temple last Wednesday.
The Gophers are 22-8 all-time in NIT play, and captured the 1993 title with a 62-61 win over the Hoyas.
The title game will be played Thursday night.
