All three of the major Division I men’s basketball postseason tournaments announced their fields on Selection Sunday, with three programs from Utah making the cut.
Here are the matchups and details of the three teams who will continue their seasons beginning next week.
Utah State
After finishing as runner-up in both the Mountain West regular season and tournament to San Diego State, the Aggies were announced as an at-large selection for the NCAA Tournament.
At 26-8 (13-5 Mountain West), USU was selected as the No. 10 seed in the South Region and will take on seventh-seeded Missouri from the SEC.
The Aggies will travel to Sacramento, California, and battle the Tigers on Thursday, March 16 at 11:40 a.m. MT. The game can be seen on TNT.
The NCAA Tournament bid is the 24th in school history for Utah State, including an automatic bid secured in 2020 before the event was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The postseason invite is also the fifth consecutive for USU (4 NCAA, 2022 NIT), the second-longest streak in program history and bested only by the 13-year run from 2000-12 (8 NCAA, 4 NIT, 2012 CIT).
Utah Valley
After winning the WAC regular season title for the second time in three seasons, Utah Valley secured an automatic bid to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT).
The Wolverines will travel to Albuquerque, New Mexico to face the New Mexico Lobos of the Mountain West Conference in the first round on Wednesday, March 15. The game will tip off at 8 p.m. MT and can be seen on ESPN+.
UVU enters the NIT sporting a 25-8 record (15-3 WAC), with 25 wins equaling a program-best first set in 2018-19. It is also the second straight season the Wolverines have tallied 20 or more wins after finishing 20-12 last season.
This is the second appearance in the NIT for Utah Valley, which was also selected in 2014. It is also the sixth postseason appearance all-time for UVU, having also appeared in the CBI three times (2017-19) and the 2012 CIT.
Southern Utah
After making a run to the WAC Tournament final in their debut season in the conference, SUU was selected to participate in the 16-team College Basketball Invitational.
Southern Utah drew the No. 4 seed in the tournament and will face 13th-seeded North Alabama from the ASUN Conference in the first round.
The T-birds will take on the Lions on Saturday, March 18 at 11 a.m. MT and the game can be seen on FloHoops. The entirety of the CBI will take place at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida.
This is SUU’s fourth appearance in a postseason tournament, and their first in back-to-back seasons. The T-birds qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2001, along with the 2019 CIT and The Basketball Classic in 2022.
At 22-12 overall (12-6 WAC), SUU has also recorded its third straight season with 20+ wins for the first time in its Division I history.
