BYU will host UT-Arlington in the first round of the NIT.
BYU is officially in the NIT and the Cougars will host at least one game at the Marriott Center as they will be hosting UT-Arlington out of the Sun Belt. The Mavericks earned an auto-bid to the NIT since they won the regular season title with had a 25-8 record overall, but ultimately fell to Texas State in the Sun Belt tournament.
A quick look at UT-Arlington’s resume shows they have only a single top-100 win which was against St. Mary’s, and played just four games against top-100 teams. A lot of that has to do with playing in the Sun Belt.
In advanced stats, UTA is 76th in KenPom while BYU is 74th then in adjusted offense and defense the two are within 15 spots of each other on both. Going by those numbers this should be a very competitive matchup.
Kevin Hervey leads the Mavericks in scoring and rebounding at 17.1 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. Overall, UTA has three players who score in double figures per game, the other two are Jalen Jones at 12.4 and Erick Neal who contributes 10.4 points per game. Hervey was named the Sun Belt Player of the Year and earned first-team honors while Neal was named to the All-Sun Belt Second Team.
Date/Time: March 15, 7 p.m. MT
TV: ESPN2
Streaming: WatchESPN
Here is the complete NIT bracket.
