Dawkins leads Knights to NIT during his first season
The UCF basketball team has been invited to the National Invitational Tournament for the first time since 2012.
The postseason bid capped a strong season under first-year coach Johnny Dawkins, who won the NIT to cap the 2011-12 season while serving as Stanford’s head coach.
The Knights are seeded No. 4 and will play host to No. 5 Colorado Wednesday at 7 p.m. at CFE Arena. The game will be streamed online at ESPN3.com.
“We are excited about this opportunity to compete in the postseason,” Dawkins said. “The NIT is a national tournament with a terrific field.”
Pac-12 member Colorado (19-14) is making its 10th NIT appearance and first since 2010-11. The Buffaloes advanced to the national semifinals that season as a No. 1 seed, winning three games in Boulder, Colo., before dropping a 62-61 decision to Alabama in the semifinals at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Round one of the NIT starts Tuesday, with the championship taking place on March 30 at Madison Square Garden.
UCF players arrived back in Orlando Sunday after falling 70-59 to eventual American Athletic Conference champion SMU during the semifinals in Hartford, Conn., on Saturday night.
Despite the loss, UCF finished well ahead of preseason projections with a 21-11 overall record and an 11-7 mark in league play. The Knights were picked to finish eighth but earned a fourth-place finish behind SMU, Cincinnati and Houston. The Mustangs and Bearcats are the conference’s only two teams in the NCAA Tournament this year.
Overall, just 22 teams received at-large bids to the NIT, which features a total of 32 teams. Houston was also invited to the NIT, receiving a No. 2 seed and will play host to No. 7 Akron.
The top-seeded teams in the tournament are Syracuse, California, Illinois State and Iowa.
George Washington won the NIT in 2016.
The UCF women’s basketball team will learn whether it reached the WNIT today when selections are announced. The Knights finished fourth in the AAC under first-year coach Katie AbrahamsonHenderson.