Penn State basketball (24-13) is in the NIT semifinals for the sixth time in program history, as it faces Mississippi State (25-11) on Tuesday night.

The fourth-seeded Nittany Lions tallied one of their best offensive performances of the season to knock off No. 2 seed Marquette in the quarterfinals, as the team shot 53 percent from the field in Milwaukee. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs of Mississippi State needed a buzzer-beater on the road against top-seeded Baylor before blowing out No. 2 Louisville on the road to advance from their corner of the bracket with a ticket to Madison Square Garden.

In the five prior semifinal appearances made by the program, Penn State has notched a 2-3 record, including a victory in 2009 that led to the only NIT championship in school history. The Nittany Lions have won three of their five games in New York City this year, including two victories in the Big Ten Tournament at MSG.

These two teams have faced off only one other time, as Mississippi State took a 58-57 decision in the Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational in El Paso, Texas in December 1997.

Zeroing In On Mississippi State

The Bulldogs are led by a duo of brothers who were recruited from Canton, Mississippi to stay in-state — junior guard Quinndary Weatherspoon and freshman guard Nick Weatherspoon. Quinndary nailed a three-pointer as time expired in Mississippi State’s second round win over Baylor. The older Weatherspoon also leads the team this season in scoring, putting up nearly 15 points per game to go along with six rebounds on average. Nick is a worthy sidekick, averaging 11 points per night in his first season.

Forward Aric Holman might be the X-factor for both teams in this game. With Mike Watkins out indefinitely with a right leg injury, it will be up to Julian Moore and John Harrar to continue their recent success in order to stop the Bulldogs. Holman is averaging nearly 11 points and seven rebounds a game for Mississippi State, and is the team’s leading shooter with a 44 percent mark from three-point range and 57 percent from the field overall.

While the defense from Penn State’s role players is very important in this game, finding an additional scoring option takes precedence in the offensive game plan for Pat Chambers. Tony Carr, Shep Garner, and Lamar Stevens combined for 74 of Penn State’s 85 points in the win over Marquette, with Stevens reaching the 30-point mark. While the trio turned in a phenomenal performance, the odds of that happening for a second consecutive game aren’t great. Instead, the likes of Josh Reaves, Moore, and Jamari Wheeler must supply some offensive production for the Nittany Lions to take pressure off of the sharp-shooting trio from Roman Catholic.

Penn State shares two common opponents from the regular season with the Bulldogs — Texas A&M and Nebraska. The Nittany Lions went 1-1 this season against the Cornhuskers, while they lost in a shootout against A&M in Brooklyn. On the other hand, Mississippi State defeated the Aggies by double digits in a road SEC game and beat Nebraska in the first round of its current NIT run.

That Texas A&M win, along with a win over Alabama, were the best games on Mississippi State’s résumé, a key reason why the Bulldogs fell short of the NCAA Tournament field. Eight other teams from the SEC made the big dance, compared to only four teams from the Big Ten.

How To Watch

Penn State and Mississippi State will tip off after the first semifinal game between Western Kentucky and Utah. The Nittany Lions should take the court around 9 p.m., and you can watch the game on ESPN.