Pat Knight’s message Friday was simple.

“We’re two wins away,” the Texas Tech basketball coach told his team. “Let’s get to New York.”

That’s been the Red Raiders’ goal since dropping out of the race for an NCAA tournament spot; the National Invitation Tournament holds its semifinal and championship rounds at Madison Square Garden, and Tech wants to be one of the four teams in that field.

It looked like a long shot Sunday, when Tech learned it was a five seed and would have to play a road game against Big East member Seton Hall. By beating the Pirates 87-69 and earning today’s home game against eighth-seeded Jacksonville, Tech got the win it needed to advance and the momentum to believe it can advance even farther.

Texas Tech's John Roberson, right, catches the ball over Colorado's Nate Tomlinson during their game March 10 in Kansas City, Mo. Winning that game 82-67 gave the Red Raiders momentum that helped them defeat Seton Hall on Tuesday to advance to today's NIT second round.

“I feel like we’ve had (momentum) for the past couple of weeks, beating Colorado then playing well against Kansas and beating Seton Hall,” forward Mike Singletary said. “We’ve got it back.”

Fearing its 101-90 loss at Colorado on March 3 would come to define its season, Tech dedicated itself to beating the Buffaloes in the Big 12 tournament’s opening round and remaining an NIT candidate. The Raiders accomplished that goal, then played well in an 80-68 second-round loss to Kansas before beating Seton Hall less than 48 hours after learning of the matchup.

Now Tech returns to United Spirit Arena for a 2 p.m. game against Jacksonville. It will be the first game since that loss in Boulder, Colo., in which Tech is not an underdog road team.

While the Raiders seem to thrive in situations where they stand to prove pundits wrong, Knight said this game alone is not enough to drain them of that hunger.

“How could our ego be big?” he said. “We got beat up pretty good for three weeks. These kids are just happy to keep on playing.”

With the hope for a New York City trip planted in their minds, Knight said he will change his theme when addressing the team before today’s game. He wants the players to look at this as a senior night re-do, in which seniors Nick Okorie and Darko Cohadarevic can avenge the 86-68 loss to Baylor in their final guaranteed home game March 2.

Okorie and Cohadarevic have both played perhaps the best games of their Tech careers in the past weeks. Now they will get the chance to leave their home court with a win.

“I wouldn’t say we have more to play for,” Okorie said, “but seeing as how this is our last couple games, we don’t want to lose.”

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