Penn State men’s basketball will take on Mississippi State in the semifinals of the National Invitation Tournament on Tuesday night.

The Nittany Lions are deep into their eleventh run in the NIT — a tournament that has been kind to Penn State in the past. To recap, the team defeated Temple, Notre Dame, and Marquette this season to earn the opportunity to take on Mississippi State at Madison Square Garden.

Entering Tuesday’s game, Penn State’s all-time record in the NIT stands at 25-9. The team’s first-ever appearance in the NIT came in 1966, but ended abruptly with a 89-77 loss to San Francisco in the first round of the tournament. The Nittany Lions returned to the NIT 14 years later, losing a 53-49 barnburner to Alabama in the first round.

Penn State’s first NIT victory in program history came in 1989, as head coach Bruce Parkhill led the team to an 89-73 victory over Murray State in round one. However, Villanova ended the Nittany Lions’ season in the next round with a 76-67 victory.

The 1990 season saw Penn State make its first-ever deep NIT run. The Nittany Lions earned a third-place finish in the tournament after taking down Marquette, Maryland, and Rutgers in the early stages of the bracket. Vanderbilt beat Penn State in the final four, but an 83-81 victory over New Mexico State in the third-place game capped off a 25-9 season for Bruce Parkhill’s squad.

Parkhill’s 12-year tenure as Penn State’s head coach ended in 1995, but he didn’t leave Happy Valley without making one more deep NIT run. After an NCAA tournament bid in 1991 saw the Nittany Lions upset UCLA in the first round, the team regressed back to the NIT in 1992, losing to Pitt in the first round to put an end to a disappointing 1991-92 campaign.

The 1995 NIT brought yet another third-place finish to Penn State after victories over Miami (FL), Nebraska, and Iowa in the first three rounds of the tournament. Marquette ended Penn State’s NIT title hopes, but a third-place game victory over Canisius gave Parkhill his second third-place finish in the competition.

Under the direction of new head coach Jerry Dunn, Penn State finally got over the hump of the NIT semifinals to appear in its first-ever NIT championship game in 1998. The Nittany Lions squared off against Georgia in the semifinals, taking it down before losing to Minnesota 79-72 in the championship game. Penn State star Jarrett Stephens missed the final due to a sprained ACL after Georgia’s Larry Brown intentionally fouled him during the two teams’ semifinal.

Dunn’s final NIT appearance in charge of the Nittany Lions came in 2000. He guided the team to yet another third-place finish after a tournament run that included a 105-103 regulation(!!) victory over Siena in the second round. Penn State had no trouble keeping up with Siena’s high-flying offense, which ranked No. 3 in the nation entering the tournament.

Head coach Ed DeChellis’ first NIT appearance in 2006 featured a first-round loss to Rutgers, but his second crack at the tournament brought Penn State its first victory in a national tournament. Led by tournament MVP Jamelle Cornley, the Nittany Lions took down Baylor 69-63 in the championship game to win the tournament.

Penn State needed overtime and a Talor Battle buzzer-beater to escape the first round of the tournament against George Mason, but victories over Rhode Island, Florida, and Notre Dame paved the way for the Nittany Lions to win the title and cut down the nets at Madison Square Garden.

Pat Chambers’ first NIT appearance continues Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden. Tip-off is at 9:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.