With a dominant win over Pittsburgh the Florida Gators (4-1) have advanced in the NIT Season Tip-Off to take on the Baylor Bears (5-0) in the event’s finale.
Baylor, currently ranked 13th in the AP Poll, will almost certainly be the highest quality team on Florida’s non-conference schedule and the work the Gators did to earn this right by taking care of business against Pittsburgh cannot be overstated. Pittsburgh will now have to play Oregon State, currently 170th in KenPom, in the third place game in the NIT Tip-Off which means the Gators not only earned a chance at a high quad-1 game against Baylor, but avoided a low-quality game against Oregon State that wouldn’t do much good if they won, but would do a whole lot of bad if they lost.