Oklahoma State Inching Closer to NIT Championship

Oklahoma State has never won the NIT, but this season could be the perfect opportunity to change that.

OSU is set for its quarterfinal matchup of the NIT against North Texas on Tuesday night. After scheduling conflicts prevented No. 2 seed North Texas from hosting No. 4 seed OSU, the Cowboys will get one more matchup in Gallagher-Iba Arena this season. 

While OSU didn’t sniff the NCAA Tournament and was near the bottom of the Big 12 standings, the team’s home-court performance has been on par with some of the best teams in the entire country. OSU seemed to finish 13-3 after beating Wichita State in the first round of the NIT. However, the Cowboys could go 14-3 on their home floor with a win in an unanticipated home game against the Mean Green.

Along with potentially going 14-3 on the home floor, OSU could rise above .500 for the first time in over a month and secure a non-losing season after consecutive losing seasons looked inevitable just a couple of weeks ago. While those are big-picture accomplishments, the smaller picture right in front of the Cowboys is the NIT, a tournament OSU has never won or even advanced to the championship in.

OSU’s best technical finishes in the NIT came in the 1940s when OSU made the semifinals, but those semifinal matchups back in the day also marked OSU’s first game in those tournaments. As for most wins, OSU has never won more than two games in the NIT, marking yet another thing OSU could cross off its list on Tuesday.

By all accounts, OSU’s top NIT runs have come in the past decade in the team’s past two appearances. The Cowboys made it to the quarterfinals in both 2018 and 2023. Hosting the quarterfinal matchup in those years as well, OSU fell to Western Kentucky in 2018 and lost to North Texas in 2023 in overtime.

With an opportunity to get the best of North Texas this time around, the Cowboys are playing some of their best basketball of the season and have a legitimate chance to advance. A win for OSU would mean a trip to Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis for the semifinals on April 1 and potentially the championship on April 3.