2014 National Invitation Tournament Bracket

UC Irvine travels to SMU for a first-round game of the National Invitation Tournament Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. (PDT) on ESPN2.

The Big West regular season champion Anteaters lost in the Big West Tournament semifinals to eventual champion Cal Poly and enter their first-ever meeting against SMU with a 23-11 record.  The 23 wins are tied for the second-most in the history of the program.

UCI has played in the NIT on four previous occasions, owning a 2-4 record all-time.  The Anteaters made back-to-back NIT appearances in 2001 and 2002, and fell to Tulsa and BYU, respectively, in first-round action.

This is the second straight postseason appearance for the 'Eaters, which reached the second-round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament during the 2012-13 season.