INDIANAPOLIS — Missouri State has earned a berth in the 2022 National Invitation Tournament and will battle one of the tournament’s top seeds in the first round with a Tuesday matchup at Oklahoma at 6 p.m. on ESPN, as announced late Sunday by the NCAA.
The Bears (23-10) finished as runners-up in the Missouri Valley Conference and are making their 10th NIT appearance and first since 2011. Oklahoma is 18-15 overall and finished 7-11 in the Big XII.
Missouri State is 10-9 all-time in the NIT with at least one victory in seven of their nine previous appearances, including quarterfinal-round advancement in 1986, 1993 and 2006.
Coach Dana Ford’s squad maintains its status as one of the nation’s top offensive squads, ranking in the top 25 nationally in every shooting category and several key analytics. MoState ranks 4th nationally in free throw percentage (.795), 15th in field goal percentage (.484) and 25th in 3-point FG percentage (.374), while KenPom rates the Bears 21st in effective FG percentage (.54.9) and 25th in adjusted offensive efficiency (113.6). The Bears lead the MVC in all of those metrics except 3-point percentage, while also leading The Valley in scoring (77.5) and turnovers (10.6), ranking 36th and 34th in the country, respectively, in those two categories.
Missouri State also boasts two of the top offensive players in the country, according to KenPom’s rankings, in All-MVC first-team selections Gaige Prim (Sr., Aurora, Colo.) and Isiaih Mosley (Jr., Columbia, Mo.), who rank 5th and 13th, respectively. Prim leads the MVC in blocks (1.1), field goal percentage (.570) and double-doubles (11), while ranking second in the conference in rebounding (8.0) and fourth in scoring (16.4). Mosley is 17th nationally in scoring (20.1), which is second in The Valley, while also ranking in the top 10 nationally in FT percentage (.907) and field goals (240), both of which lead the conference. The tandem represent the highest-scoring teammates in program history with 1,205 points between them at Missouri State.
The Bears started Sunday ranked 68th in the NCAA’s NET rankings and 63rd in KenPom’s power rankings. Missouri State was 2-2 this season against the NCAA Tournament field (1-1 vs. Loyola, 1-0 vs. South Dakota State, 0-1 vs. St. Mary’s) and 1-3 against teams in the NIT field (1-0 vs. Long Beach State, 0-1 vs. BYU, 0-2 vs. UNI).
The matchups in Missouri State’s NIT quadrant are:
1. Oklahoma vs. Missouri State
4. Colorado vs. St. Bonaventure
3. Mississippi State vs. Virginia
2. North Texas vs. Texas State
