No bull: UNM may be able to host third-round NIT game after all
Next week's professional bull riding event in the Pit won't buck the Lobos out of their home gym for a possible third round game in the NIT, after all. That is if Eric Olen's squad can first hold on long enough to get to that game. First, the team will need to focus on getting by a tough George Washington team in the Pit on Sunday night at 6 p.
m.. As one of four No. 1 seeds in the 32-team National Invitation Tournament, the Lobos were awarded one of four "regions" in the event, affording them the luxury of being able to host games in the first three rounds before the NIT semifinals and championship game relocate to a neutral court in Indianapolis on April 2 and 5.
Unfortunately for the Lobos, who advanced past the first round with a 107-83 blowout of Sam Houston on Wednesday night, pre-booked facility access to the Pit was already contractually agreed upon with the annual PBR Ty Murray Invitational event that draws tens of thousands of fans each year over several days every March. So, when UNM put in its initial bid to host NIT games, it indicated it would not be able to host third round games, which take place next Tuesday and Wednesday (March 24-25). After Wednesday's win, UNM Athletic Director Ryan Berryman confirmed to the Journal that Assistant AD Matt McKernan had spoken with PBR, with whom the university has a longstanding, healthy working relationship, and the logistics were such that the Lobos could actually pull off a Tuesday night game and be out of the facility in time for the PBR crew to start hauling in their tons of dirt for the bull riding event first thing Wednesday morning.
The NIT doesn't announce the sites, dates and times of the next round of games until the subsequent round is done (meaning an official answer on whether or not the Lobos host a third-round game won't be known until Sunday night, and only if they beat George Washington in the second round). UNM's first round announced home attendance of 7,286 — with all ticket prices and sales overseen by the NCAA — was by far the best of the first round's 16 games of the NIT. The second highest attendance was 5,588 at fellow Mountain West school Nevada, third (3,733) at Wichita State and the other 13 games selling between 542 and 2,565 tickets.
With that in mind, and any logistical hurdles now cleared for a Tuesday night game in the Pit, it would seem unlikely the NIT would force one of its top seeded teams to travel for a third round game against a lower seed (either Saint Joseph's out of Philadelphia or the Cal Bears of Berkeley). Reach Geoff Grammer at ggrammer@abqjournal. com or follow him on Twitter (X) @GeoffGrammer.