Past history has shown teams that were seemingly snubbed by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee often lay an egg in the first round of the NIT. A few years ago, a Notre Dame team that thought they should have made the tournament stubbed their toes at home losing to Holy Cross in the first round of the NIT. Last year, Maryland's Gary Williams squawked about not making the NCAA tournament stating "We'll play Missouri State three times at a neutral site any day". Then Maryland, the #1 seed in the NIT East region went out and lost to Manhattan at home.
Tonight, a third victim was claimed, as Drexel playing at home in the DAC (which included a lot of NCAA Snub themed signs), squandered an early 15-4 lead and lost to NC State 73-66. Again, it was an all too often common theme this year in college basketball as It was free throw shooting that killed the Dragons. Despite scoring a game high 24 points on 10 of 12 shooting from the field, Frank Elegar missed eight of twelve from the free throw line. This included two missed free throws with 2:30 left with the score tied at 54. NC State pulled ahead on a Ben McCauley free throw and never trailed the rest of the way.
NC State shot 50 percent from the field for the game. Drexel made seven of their first nine shots, but shot only 15 of 44 the rest of the way as the Dragons lost at home for the fourth time this season (the other three in conference during the season - Hofstra, ODU, and VCU). Drexel may have blown a second chance to have another home game as Marist is currently stunning Oklahoma State 50-35 on the Cowboys home court with 14 minutes left in the game.
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