NIT 2015: Schedule, Live Stream and Bracket Predictions for Tuesday's 1st Round

If you're craving some college basketball on Tuesday and not particularly persuaded by the NCAA tournament play-in games—or simply have free time to burn beyond those two contests—the first round of the 2015 National Invitational Tournament has you covered.

The NIT is a consolation prize for some and a way to prove certain committee members and doubters wrong for others. It's in some ways a postseason basketball undercard, but there is plenty of intrigue with which to draw fans in on the first day of tournament play alone.

Some may wish to see how Murray State, winners of 25 straight games at one point this season, respond after losing an automatic NCAA tournament bid to Belmont in their conference championship game in heartbreaking fashion.

For those looking for a true underdog, they may be checking out UC Davis, the best three-point shooting team in Division I (45 percent from downtown), who can upset Stanford. There is also the prospect of watching the dangerous Illinois squad play on Tuesday.

Here's a look at the opening slate of first-round games, followed by a preview of the top game to catch on Tuesday.

Date	Matchup	Time (ET)	TV	Live Stream	Prediction
Tues., March 17	No. 5 George Washington vs. No. 4 Pittsburgh	7 p.m.	ESPN	ESPN3/WatchESPN	Pittsburgh
Tues., March 17	No. 7 N.C. Central vs. No. 2 Miami	7 p.m.	ESPN2	ESPN3/WatchESPN	Miami
Tues., March 17	No. 6 Iona vs. No. 3 Rhode Island	7 p.m.	ESPNU	ESPN3/WatchESPN	Rhode Island
Tues., March 17	No. 6 Central Michigan vs. No. 3 Louisiana Tech	7:30 p.m.	N/A	ESPN3/WatchESPN	Central Michigan
Tues., March 17	No. 7 William & Mary vs. No. 2 Tulsa	8:15 p.m.	N/A	ESPN3/WatchESPN	Tulsa
Tues., March 17	No. 6 UTEP vs. No. 3 Murray State	9 p.m.	ESPN2	ESPN3/WatchESPN	Murray State
Tues., March 17	No. 7 Montana vs. No. 2 Texas A&M	9 p.m.	ESPNU	ESPN3/WatchESPN	Texas A&M
Tues., March 17	No. 6 Alabama vs. No. 3 Illinois	9 p.m.	ESPN	ESPN3/WatchESPN	Illinois
Tues., March 17	No. 7 UC Davis vs. No. 2 Stanford	11 p.m.	ESPN2	ESPN3/WatchESPN	UC-Davis

Note: Live streams can be found at WatchESPN. A complete NIT tournament bracket can be found at NCAA.com.

Matchup to Watch

No. 6 UTEP vs. No. 3 Murray State

Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

You know who really doesn't want to see Murray State in the NIT? Dick Vitale, that's who. The longtime college basketball commentator was shocked to learn the Racers would not be in the NCAA tournament, per SportsCenter: 

The Racers were one Taylor Barnette three-pointer from making the NCAA tournament as winners of the Ohio Valley Conference tourney, but alas, the shot fell through the net, Belmont won, and the Big Dance committee couldn't find a spot in the field for Murray State.

The Racers have been paced all season long by sophomore guard Cameron Payne. Equally comfortable as a distributor or the main source of offense, Payne has been on a tear as of late, scoring 20 or more points in each of his last eight games.

Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

He's the type of player who can will a team to victory when the chips are down.

Murray State, which has also garnered important contributions from the likes of senior forward Jarvis Williams (15.5 PPG, 8.3 RPG) and junior forward Jeffery Moss (40.7 percent from downtown) will have to fight through the dense fog of psychological devastation in order to beat a strong UTEP squad on Tuesday evening who could be one of its toughest opponents yet.

The Racers hardly played any top-tier opponents on the season. Xavier may have been their most illustrious opponent; Payne and company lost to the Musketeers 89-62 back on Nov. 24.

Of course, that result was part of a 2-4 start and took place before the 25-game win streak put them on the national radar.

The Miners are led by sophomore forward Vince Hunter, who has averaged 15.0 points on 53 percent shooting and 9.2 rebounds per game this season. The efforts of Hunter and his teammates made UTEP a force in Conference USA play this season, but a loss to Middle Tennessee in the conference tournament semis killed its NCAA dreams.

Victor Calzada/Associated Press

Dreams or no dreams, the Miners will have plenty to handle on Tuesday against their upstart foes. UTEP coach Tim Floyd is well aware of the challenge his squad faces in its first-round matchup, per Bill Knight of the El Paso Times:

"

This is a great tribute to some of the accomplishments our team had this year. Obviously, we would prefer to play at home but it doesn't always work out the way you want. We haven't gotten to look at Murray State a great deal yet but I'm aware they won 25 straight games and that tells me they probably should be in the NCAA Tournament.

"

The team's three seniors—Cedrick Lang, C.J. Cooper and Julian Washburn—have all made significant contributions to the team this season, and Floyd is happy to give them an opportunity to play at least one more game of roundball after all they've done for the program.

Player	MPG	PPG	FG %	RPG	APG
Lang	26.8	10.5	.621	6.8	1.8
Washburn	33.7	10.4	.422	4.1	2.6
Cooper	30.7	7.8	.381	1.8	3.2

"I'm thrilled that our seniors will have an opportunity to play again," Floyd said, per Knight. "They came here four years ago after we'd lost 11 seniors and helped us start this program over and they set a tone for this program."

Floyd is likely hoping the team will rally around the seniors and put in a strong performance. However, it's possible the seniors won't be the only ones leaving the squad after this season.

CBS Sports' Seth Davis believes Hunter has the ability to go pro after this season:

The potential—speculative sure, but not unreasonable—for Hunter to leave makes the trip to Murray, Kentucky, even more meaningful for this Miners squad.

Look for the Racers to start a little sluggish in this one, before pride kicks in and they turn the second half into a hotly contested ballgame.

Prediction: Murray State 63-UTEP 59