SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Runnin’ Utes (19-11) will head to the postseason for a fifth straight season after earning an at-large bid to play in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT). The Utes will host Cal Davis at the Jon M. Huntsman Center on Wednesday, March 14 at 7 p.m. MT. The 32-team bracket was announced Sunday night on ESPNU.
Notre Dame, Baylor, USC and St. Mary’s earned No. 1 seeds in the 32-team NIT field released Sunday. The field features 22 teams with at least 20 wins, 12 automatic qualifiers and representation from 21 of the 32 Division I conferences.
Utah earned the No. 2 seed in the St. Mary’s quadrant, while Cal Davis is the No. 7 seed. The game will be streamed live on ESPN3. The winner between Utah and Cal Davis would go onto face the winner of No. 3-seeded LSU and No. 6-seeded Louisiana. With Utah earning the No. 2 seed, as long as there were no facility issues, a win in the first round would allow the Utes to host the second round.
Cal Davis finished first in the Big West Conference regular-season, going 22-10 overall and 12-4 in league-play. The Aggies went 1-1 in its conference tournament, falling to eventual tournament champion, Cal State Fullerton, in the semifinals.
Utah and Cal Davis will meet for just the third time in both program’s history. Utah is 2-0 all-time, with its last meeting coming back in 2013. The first-ever meeting took place back in 1990. Both games against UCD have been played in Salt Lake City.
First round play is scheduled for Tuesday, March 13 and Wednesday, March 14, with the second round running March 16-19. Quarterfinals will be held on March 20 and 21 and four teams will advance to New York City for the semifinals on Tuesday, March 27. The NIT will conclude with the Championship game on Thursday, March 29. The semifinal and championship games will be played at New York’s historic Madison Square Garden for the 81st year.
NIT games are being televised by ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3. Additional NIT information can be found on www.NCAA.com/NIT.
UTAH NIT HISTORY
This marks the 44th post-season appearance in school history, and the 14th appearance for the Utes in the NIT. Utah will make its second-consecutive NIT appearance after earning an at-large bid into the tournament last season.
The Utes are 11-12 all-time in the NIT. Utah won the NIT in 1947 as head coach Vadal Peterson’s team defeated Kentucky (49-45) behind the play of Vern Gardner, who was named the tournament’s MVP. The Utes reached the NIT Championship again in 1974, but fell to Purdue. Despite the loss, Mike Sojourner was named MVP.
In 1992, Utah lost in the semifinals to Notre Dame but won the third-place game against Florida. The Utes fell to Memphis in the first-round of the 1992 NIT Championship. The last time Utah played in the NIT, the Utes fell to Boise State in the first-round a year ago.
This marks the fifth time a Utah program has hosted a game in the NIT after hosting Boise State last season. Utah is 2-2 all-time when hosting a game in the NIT.
