UNCW basketball to open NIT at home against Yale
· Yahoo Sports
The UNCW men’s basketball season is not over just yet.
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Late on Sunday, March 15, the Seahawks were placed into the field for the 2026 National Invitation Tournament as one of 32 teams aiming for that title.
UNCW will open the NIT with a home game against Yale (24-6) on Tuesday, March 17 (7 p.m., ESPN+).
The Seahawks (26-6) finished the regular season by tying a program record with 26 victories and claimed the Coastal Athletic Association title outright before being knocked out of the CAA Tournament by longtime rival Campbell.
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UNCW is making its third NIT appearance and is searching for its inaugural win in the event. The Seahawks played in this tournament in 1998 and 2001, both times losing in the opening round.
The tournament begins Tuesday, March 17, with the semifinals and final scheduled for April 2 and 5 in Indianapolis.
Players to watch
- UNCW is led in scoring by senior guard Nolan Hodge from Greensboro, who averages 14.4 points. He also leads the team in made 3-pointers with 88 at a 39.5% clip.
- Junior 7-footer Patrick Wessler is a force for UNCW, averaging 13.8 points and a team-high 9.6 rebounds as an All-CAA first-teamer.
- Madison Durr was named CAA Sixth Man of the Year after averaging 10.2 points per game.
- Yale 6-7 senior forward Nick Townsend, Ivy League Player of the Year, is the Bulldogs' leading scorer and rebounder with 16.4 points and 7.4 boards per game. And he leads the team with 124 assists as a nice-passing big.
- Casey Simmons is a long senior guard who transferred from Northwestern as was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year.
How does the NIT work?
After the NCAA Tournament bracket is announced, the NIT — which is now owned and managed by the NCAA — selects 32 teams for its field.
First, any regular-season conference champion with a KNIT score of at least 125 who did not make the NCAA Tournament receives automatic qualification. The KNIT score is an average of seven major rankings used throughout the season for tournament consideration (BPI, KPI, NET, Ken Pomeroy, SOR, TOR, WAB).
Next, two ACC and two SEC teams are guaranteed spots in the field with the ability to host first-round games. Then, a single team from the top 12 conferences in the KenPom rankings are also guaranteed places in the bracket.
Any remaining spots are filled by at-large bids, determined by the NIT committee.
After its 32 teams are chosen, the committee seeds the field in order.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: UNCW basketball in NIT 2026 schedule