North Texas accepts NIT bid to make 4th consecutive appearance

[Coach Andy Mac]

For the fourth consecutive year, the North Texas men’s basketball team (24-8, 14-4 American Athletic Conference) accepted a bid to the National Invitational Tournament. 

As the No. 2 seed in the Dallas region, the Mean Green will host a home game against Furman (25-9, 13-3 Southern Conference) on March 19. The team received its invitation after its 66-56 March 15 AAC semifinals loss to UAB. 

Three days removed from the UAB loss, head coach Ross Hodge said the team took time in its meeting to talk on fully refocusing on the NIT.

“These guys were all in on wanting to play again,” Hodge said. “They love playing basketball. They love each other. They’re human beings so obviously there’s a disappointment level associated with not being able to reach a goal you set.”

Senior guard Jasper Floyd said the team needed to turn the page quickly after failing to reach its season-long goal of winning the conference championship. 

“Because of the work that we put in starting last summer, we were confident in our abilities to go and as a group win the American Conference Championships,” Floyd said. “But we weren’t able to do that and that was kind of shocking to us. [...] We’ve been blessed with another opportunity.”

In its previous three NIT appearances, North Texas has gone a combined 7-2 in the tournament and won the championship in the 2022-2023 season. 

read more:  https://www.ntdaily.com/sports/north-texas-accepts-nit-bid-to-make-4th-consecutive-appearance-blessed-with-another-opportunity/article_943b2ea4-036d-11f0-bd0a-f3c54ceef5f5.html