Southern Miss learns its NIT fate, will travel to UAB in the tournament’s first round
Southern Miss basketball is back in the postseason.
The Sun Belt Conference regular-season champion has an automatic bid to the National Invitation Tournament and will play at No. 4 seed UAB.
The Golden Eagles (25-7) are enjoying their best season since the 2013-14 team that won 29 games before the NCAA vacated each win and delivered the second-ever 10-year show-cause penalty against then-head coach Donnie Tyndall.
The journey back to relevance has been arduous. From the 2014-15 season through last year, USM went 77-159 and had five 20-loss seasons to one 20-win campaign.
The Blazers are a former longtime Conference USA rival and fell short of an NCAA tournament bid this season after a 78-56 loss to Florida Atlantic in the C-USA championship.
Southern Miss is making its 11th appearance in the 85-year-old tournament and first since 2014. The team played in — and won — the 1987 NIT when current coach Jay Ladner was on the roster. That’s still the only national championship any Division I school from Mississippi has won.
The first-round matchup will be played on March 14 at 6:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN+.
This story was originally published March 12, 2023 at 9:35 PM.
