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SMU Basketball to face Nicholls State in NIT after missing out on NCAA Tournament

On3 imageby: Billy Embody03/14/22BillyEmbody
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Marcus Weathers against Tulsa. (Matt Visinsky - On3)

After landing a No. 1 seed in the NIT, SMU Basketball will face Nicholls State in the first round on Wednesday at 7 p.m. CT inside Moody Coliseum on ESPN+. The Mustangs missed out on the NCAA Tournament, but instead will get a chance to make a run at an NIT championship.

The winner advances to play No. 4 Washington State/Santa Clara in the second round on Saturday or Sunday. Nicholls and SMU have one previous meeting, playing on Dec. 16, 2015 with the Mustangs cruising to a 86-42 victory.

SMU Basketball brings AAC Player of the Year Kendric Davis to the table along with Second Team All-AAC forward Marcus Weathers. The Mustangs are coming off a loss to Memphis in the AAC semifinals on Saturday.

The Southland Conference named Nicholls State fifth-year senior Ty Gordon as the Men’s Basketball Player of the Year. Gordon won the award after leading the Southland in scoring at 21.4 points per game, which ranks ninth in the NCAA. He ranks sixth in the nation with 3.61 3-pointers per game, setting a program single-season record with 99 made 3-pointers.

Guard Devante Carter (Second Team), and third-team selections center Ryghe Lyons, who was named to the five-member All-Defensive team, and guard Latrell Jones joined Gordon on the All-Southland team.

Nicholls State dropped its contest to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the Southland Conference Championship on Saturday, 73-65. Nicholls State won the Southland Conference regular season.

SMU Basketball’s AAC finish not enough

SMU Basketball head coach Tim Jankovich stumped for his team leading up to Selection Sunday. Despite finishing No. 2 in the AAC during the regular season, including a win over Houston and two wins over Memphis, it wasn’t enough. He felt like the league’s much better than it gets credit for.

“I’ve got a really, really good feel for the difference of teams,” Jankovich said on Saturday after the Memphis loss. “And I’m here to tell you it’s about that far, you know. If you’re the 41 on the NET versus the 86 on the NET, well, that game is going to be this close most of the time, (indicating). And I just think that a full season in a great league, I think a team should be rewarded across the country, not just us.

“So of course I’m biased, but I promise you I’d be saying this if I was in a whole other league, and you asked me should that team that just got second in the American and won the games — yes.”

SMU Basketball earned its fifth postseason berth in the past nine seasons. That included a run to the 2014 NIT championship game and a No. 3 seed in the 16-team 2021 NIT field.

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