Madison Square Garden in New York City is one of the most storied venues in basketball history. The Garden has set the stage for many unbelievable games and hosted incredible performances from some of the game’s greatest.

The ISU men’s basketball team will witness the allure of the Garden firsthand when it meets up with the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (19-12) in the National Invitation Tournament semifinal Tuesday.

Rutgers’ road to the NIT final four includes tournament victories over Temple, West Virginia and Villanova, all of which have been played on the Scarlet Knights’ home court.

The trip to New York City will be Iowa State’s second road game of the NIT. The Cyclones (20-12) won on the road at Florida State in between two home victories against Georgia and Marquette.

The NIT is the oldest postseason tournament in the nation. Being from the New York area, ISU head coach Wayne Morgan said the tournament has always been special.

“The NIT’s always meant a lot, especially since the focal point has been New York,” Morgan said. “At the same time, [to] anyone who knows the history of basketball, if you go back a certain amount of years, the NIT was the big tournament, and the NCAA was the small tournament. [But] that’s changed.”

It won’t be Morgan’s first time in the Garden. He said he’s been “fortunate to coach as an assistant at least 50 times there.”

“Madison Square Garden is a place that every single basketball player wants to play one day,” Morgan said. “I’m familiar with [the Garden], but I’m excited for my kids, [the team] and especially our seniors to have that opportunity.”

ISU senior Jackson Vroman will close out his career for the Cyclones on the hardwood of the Garden. He said playing there means a lot after all the Cyclones have gone through in the past year.

“I’m real excited,” Vroman said. “I’ve never been there, and you always hear about Madison Square Garden, and you always see games there so it’ll be fun to have a chance to play there.

“It’s a big accomplishment [to play there], we’ve been through a lot of stuff, I’m real proud of these guys.”

Rutgers boasts two of the tournament’s top guards in junior Ricky Shields and freshman Quincy Douby. Shields leads the team in scoring with 15.5 points per game, but in Rutger’s three NIT wins he’s been averaging 20.3 points and hitting 65 percent from behind the 3-point arch.

Douby was named to the Big East All-Rookie Team and is averaging 12.1 points per game and leads the team in 3-point shooting at 42.9 percent.

Inside, the Scarlet Knights will come at the Cyclones with 6-foot-10 senior Herve Lamizana. Lamizana was a third team All-Big East selection. He leads the team in rebounding with 7.7 per game and blocked shots, averaging 2.9 per game. Lamizana’s 13.4 ppg is second on the team.

“Rutgers is a good team,” Morgan said. “They’ve won a lot of big games. They’ve beaten a lot of good teams in the Big East.”

Vroman said the Cyclones’ defense will be key to sending Iowa State into the NIT finals.

“I think we have to stop their transition game and outrebound them,” Vroman said. “We need to get to their shooters — they’ve got a couple guys who can really shoot the ball.”

ISU freshman Curtis Stinson credits the team’s unified progression as one of the reasons he’ll get the opportunity to live his childhood dream of playing in the Garden.

“Right now we’re more together as a team,” Stinson said. “We fight hard, we play hard, and everyone does it. We dive on the floor, and we do things [now] we didn’t do at the beginning of the year.”

Stinson said the Cyclones’ plan of attack will not differ from previous NIT games.

“We’re going to go out there and do what we do,” Stinson said. “We’ve been playing pretty well in the whole tournament, so we’re just going to continue, nothing’s going to change.”

If the Cyclones are victorious against Rutgers, Morgan said Iowa State will have the opportunity to achieve a special ending to the season.

“I think it’s interesting that as of [Monday] there will only be eight teams left playing, and we’re one of them,” Morgan said. “At the end of the year, only two teams end with a win and 320-some teams end with a loss. I think it’s exciting that we have a chance to be one of the two teams that end with a win.”