Tulsa To Host William & Mary In NIT

The Tulsa basketball team has been selected to play in the National Invitational Tournament as the No. 2 seed in its bracket, and will play host to No. 7 seed William & Mary at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. The game will be televised on ESPN3.

The Golden Hurricane (22-10) finished second in the American Athletic Conference with a 14-4 record, and advanced to the semifinals of the American Conference Championship, where it fell to UConn, 47-42, on Saturday. William & Mary (20-12) was one of four teams to tie for the Colonial Athletic Association regular season championship with a 12-6 mark, and fell in the CAA Tournament finals to Northeastern, 72-61, on March 9.

Tulsa and William & Mary have met one time on the basketball court, during the 1986-87 season. The Hurricane won that meeting, 79-60 on Dec. 29, 1986 at the Convention Center in Tulsa, as part of the First Tulsa Classic.

This is Tulsa's 28th appearance in postseason play, and its 11th appearance in the Postseason NIT. TU played in the NIT most recently in 2010, and has an 11-8 all-time record in the tournament. The Golden Hurricane has won the tournament twice – in 1981 and in 2001. The Hurricane is making its third consecutive postseason appearance. TU played in the NCAA Tournament last year, falling to UCLA, 76-59, in San Diego, and played at Wright State in the 2013 College Basketball Invitational, falling, 72-52.

The winner of the Tulsa-William & Mary game will advance to play the winner of Murray State and UTEP.