Oklahoma State Earns Spot in NIT, Will Host First-Round Game
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Oklahoma State’s season isn’t over yet.
On Sunday, the National Invitational Tournament announced its field of 32 teams for the 2025 edition, which featured OSU. After falling to Cincinnati in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament, it appeared the Cowboys’ season would be over, but they will get another chance to take the hardwood this season.
OSU earned its spot as a No. 4 seed in the Dallas region of the bracket, giving the Cowboys an opportunity to host their first-round game. The Cowboys will host Wichita State in that matchup, which is set for Tuesday at 8 p.m. inside Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Should OSU advance, it would face the winner of the matchup between No. 1 seed SMU and Northern Iowa. OSU is also the only Big 12 team in the NIT’s 32-team field.
As for the rest of the field, Dayton has the top seed in the Dayton region, UC Irvine has the top seed in the Irvine region and San Francisco has the top seed in the San Francisco region. The NIT changed its selection criteria for this season, which might have helped the Cowboys get into the field despite their losing record.
OSU enters the NIT with a 15-17 record, including a 7-13 mark in Big 12 play. The Cowboys’ path to the postseason has been a rocky one but still good enough to get them into some more games.
The Cowboys’ inclusion in the NIT field is still somewhat surprising, considering how poorly they played in the early stages of the Big 12 schedule. Yet, as conference play raged on, the Cowboys began to put some things together and started to look like a much more cohesive unit.
OSU’s win over Iowa State in the final weeks of the regular season handed the team a signature win and its only over a ranked opponent this season. That victory likely helped push the Cowboys into the NIT.
OSU is making its first NIT appearance since 2023. In that run, the Cowboys entered as an 18-15 team and earned wins against Youngstown State and Eastern Washington before falling to North Texas in the third round.
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Ivan is a sports media student at Oklahoma State University. He has covered OSU athletics since 2022 and also covers the OKC Thunder for Inside The Thunder and Thunderous Intentions.