SAN MARCOS, Texas – For the first time in program history, Texas State men's basketball has been selected to the NIT as the Bobcats will face North Texas in the first round of college basketball's oldest postseason tournament. The matchup is set for Tuesday at 7 pm in Denton and will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Tickets will go on sale
here through the North Texas athletics website starting on Monday at noon CT.
The Bobcats earned a spot in the NIT after winning their second Sun Belt regular season title in as many seasons. Posting a 21-7 overall record and 12-3 mark in conference, Texas State was the only Sun Belt team to make the 32-team field.
The No. 2 seeded Mean Green enter the tournament coming off a Conference USA regular season championship.
The postseason appearance for the Bobcats becomes their first under second-year head coach Terrence Johnson. The back-to-back Sun Belt Coach of the Year has led the Bobcats to 39 wins and a Sun Belt-best 24-6 conference record over the last two years.
This is Texas State's second postseason tournament in the last four seasons and third since 2017. The Bobcats hosted the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT) in 2019 and reached the quarterfinals in 2017.
It is the fifth postseason tournament appearance in the program's Division I history, adding to the 1994 and 1997 NCAA Tournament showings.
Following the first round of matchups on Tuesday and Wednesday, the NIT field will advance to the second round on March 19-20 followed by the quarterfinals March 22-23. The semifinals and championship will be played at Madison Square Garden in New York City on March 29 and 31, respectively. The NIT returns to its normal home in MSG for the first time since 2019 after last year's edition was held in the Dallas area. The NIT champion has been crowned in New York every year since 1938 except for the last two seasons.
All NIT games will be broadcast across the ESPN family of networks.
The higher seeded teams have the first option to host the first, second and quarterfinal round games as they advance.
The winner of the Texas State-North Texas matchup will play the winner of No. 3 seed Mississippi State vs. Virginia in the second round.
Oklahoma is the No. 1 overall seed and in Texas State's regional.
