UNC Greensboro looks ahead to NIT


March 18, 2019 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

UNC Greensboro coach Wes Miller and his Spartans were dealt a double dose of disappointment this past week, losing to Wofford in the championship game of the Southern Conference Tournament and missing out on the NCAA Tournament.

Now it’s on to the NIT.

“We talked all week there was no guarantee we were going to be in the NCAA Tournament,” Miller said Sunday night. “We can’t let that disappointment affect us.”

Even with the heartbreaking championship loss on March 11, UNC Greensboro (28-6) was hoping to give the Southern Conference its first at-large NCAA Tournament bid and appeared to be in the field until Oregon upset Washington for the Pac-12 title on Saturday night.

The Spartans were forced to settle for the top seed in the National Invitation Tournament.

“It’s been an emotional couple of hours,” Miller said. “Obviously, we felt like we deserved to be in the tournament. We felt like we were good enough.

“To find out that you don’t get in is heartbreaking, and to find out that you were one spot away, maybe one day that’ll be something that makes it feel a little better, but right now it makes it feel a little bit worse.”

Indiana, Alabama and TCU are the other No. 1 seeds for the 32-team tournament, which begins Tuesday on the campuses of the higher seeds.

The Spartans, who open against Campbell, lost to Wofford for the third time in the championship game of the league tournament. Greensboro’s other losses this season were a six-point setback at LSU, a 17-point loss at Kentucky and a conference loss at Furman.

This is the school’s first at-large bid to the NIT, and that was not lost on Miller.

“That’s really, really special. We’re excited about the opportunity,” he said. “It’s a big-time deal to be part of the NIT. It was a lot easier to say on Wednesday or Thursday, but I do think we have the type of group that’s going to wake up tomorrow really excited to play basketball, even if it’s not in the Big Dance. We’ve got to switch gears, be excited to play at home on Tuesday.”