2021 National Invitation Tournament

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2021 National Invitation Tournament
NIT North Texas 2021 logo.png
Season 202021
Teams16
Finals site Comerica Center
Frisco, Texas
Champions Memphis Tigers (2nd title)
Runner-up Mississippi State Bulldogs (1st title game)
Semifinalists
Winning coach Penny Hardaway (1st title)
MVP Landers Nolley II [1] (Memphis)
National Invitation Tournaments
« 2020 2022 »

The 2021 National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 16 NCAA Division I men's college basketball teams that had not been selected to participate in the 2021 NCAA tournament. The Tournament began on March 17 and ended on March 28. All rounds were played at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas or the UNT Coliseum in Denton, Texas. First-round games began on Wednesday, March 17, and was played through Saturday, March 20. Quarterfinals also took place Thursday, March 25. The semifinals and championship took place Saturday and Sunday, March 27 and 28. The 2021 tournament also featured a third-place game Sunday, March 28, which had not been played at the NIT since 2003. Also, the final game to be played was not the championship, but, rather, the third-place game. [2] This was the first NIT in which the semifinals and final were not played in New York City.

Contents

Participants

Teams and pairings for the 2021 NIT were released by the NIT Committee at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, March 14, on ESPNU. Because of the reduced field size, halved from 2019's tournament field, all 16 teams were selected as at-large participants, and there were no automatic qualifiers for the 2021 NIT. In 2019, Texas won the NIT title. The 2020 tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [2]

Automatic qualifiers

There were no automatic qualifiers in the 2021 NIT due to the reduced field size. [2]

At-large bids

The following teams were awarded NIT berths.

TeamConferenceOverall recordAppearanceLast bid
Boise State Mtn West 18–87th 2018
Buffalo MAC 16–82nd 2005
Colorado State Mtn West 18–610th 2017
Davidson Atlantic 10 13–89th 2019
Dayton Atlantic 10 14–926th 2019
Louisiana Tech C–USA 21–710th 2015
Memphis American 16–819th 2019
Mississippi State SEC 15–1410th 2018
NC State ACC 13–1013th 2019
Ole Miss SEC 16–1113th 2017
Richmond Atlantic 10 13–810th 2017
Saint Louis Atlantic 10 14–619th 2004
Saint Mary's WCC 14–97th 2018
SMU American 11–54th 2014
Toledo MAC 21–810th 2019
Western Kentucky C–USA 20–715th 2018

Bracket

The field of 16 teams was announced on March 14 on ESPNU. [2] [3]

First round
March 17–20
Quarterfinals
March 25
Semifinals
March 27
Final
March 28
            
1 Colorado State 75
4 Buffalo 73
1 Colorado State65
March 19
March 18
3 NC State 61
2 Davidson 61
3 NC State 75
1 Colorado State 67
1 Memphis90
1 Memphis 71
4 Dayton 60
1 Memphis59
March 20
March 18
2 Boise State 56
2 Boise State 85
3 SMU 84
1 Memphis77
4 Mississippi State 64
1 Saint Louis 68
4 Mississippi State 74
4 Mississippi State68
March 20
March 17
2 Richmond 67
2 Richmond 76
3 Toledo 66
4 Mississippi State84
4 Louisiana Tech 62
1 Ole Miss 61 Third-place game
March 28
4 Louisiana Tech 70
4 Louisiana Tech721 Colorado State 74
March 19
March 17
3 Western Kentucky 65 4 Louisiana Tech76
2 Saint Mary's 67
3 Western Kentucky 69

Media

ESPN, Inc. broadcast all NIT games on ESPN or ESPN2. [2] The semifinals and finals were broadcast on ESPN. [3] Westwood One had exclusive radio rights to the semifinals and the championship.

See also

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References

  1. Wittry, Andy. "Memphis defeats Mississippi State to win 2021 NIT championship". NCAA.com. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "2021 NIT to feature 16 teams, all rounds in Dallas-Fort Worth". NCAA.com. March 1, 2021. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
  3. 1 2 "2021 National Invitational Tournament Blank Bracket" (PDF). NCAA.com. NCAA. Retrieved March 5, 2021.