Arizona State Sun Devils receive NIT bid, will face UConn in 1st round
Mar 16, 2015, 12:34 AM | Updated: 12:55 am
The Arizona State Sun Devils didn’t receive an NCAA Tournament bid, but they’ll get a crack at last season’s NCAA champions.
ASU earned a No. 5 seed in the 2015 National Invitation Tournament on Sunday. The Devils will travel to face fourth-seeded Connecticut on Wednesday at 4 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN2.
UConn went on an improbable run to win the 2014 NCAA championship as a No. 7 seed.
The 32-team NIT is a single-elimination tournament. The better-seeded team hosts games in each of the tournament’s first three rounds. The semifinals and finals will be played at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Under ninth-year head coach Herb Sendek, the Sun Devils ended the 2014-15 season with a 17-15 overall record and 9-9 mark in the Pac-12 after opening conference play 0-4. Their season ended with a loss to USC in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament on Wednesday.
ASU last appeared in the NIT in 2013. In that tournament, the third-seeded Devils defeated Detroit before falling to Baylor in the second round. This year’s NIT bid is the 13th in school history.
Richmond is the top seed in Arizona State’s eight-team region. Temple, Colorado State and Old Dominion are the other top seeds.
