BREAKING: North Texas, Conference USA chosen to host the 2021 NIT
The NCAA announced on Monday that Conference USA and the University of North Texas have been chosen to host the 2021 National Invitational Tournament, per release.
“We are thrilled to partner with the city of Frisco and Conference USA to host this year’s NIT in the DFW area,” Wren Baker, Vice President and Director of Athletics, said. “The NIT has incredible history and tradition, and we are honored to co-host the event. We look forward to working with Conference USA to make the tournament special for participating student-athletes and coaches.”
All games will be played within the Dallas-Fort Worth area at either the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas or the UNT Coliseum in Denton. The tournament will consist of 16 at-large teams with no automatic qualifiers. Participating teams and pairings will be announced on March 14 at 7:30 p.m. CT on ESPNU.
The decision to conduct the NIT in one geographic location was made with the interest of having a safe and healthy environment for all participants, according to the release.
Locations of each specific game have yet to be finalized, but the first round of the tournament will take place from March 17-20. The quarterfinals will take place on March 25 while the semifinals and championship will take place on March 27 and 28. The NIT will also include a third-place game this year for the first time since 2003, which will also be played on March 28.
The 2020 NIT was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The University of Texas won the tournament when it was last played in 2019.
Featured Image: Freshmen guard Rubin Jones drives in the lane against UTEP defenders on Jan. 15, 2021. Image by Zachary Thomas
There are no comments at the moment, do you want to add one?
Write a comment