NORTHWESTERN EARNS A TRIP TO THE NIT

Northwestern and Tulsa to meet Wednesday night at 8 p.m. CT; game to be televised by ESPNU.

Northwestern has earned its first postseason berth since 1999 after accepting a National Invitation Tournament bid Sunday night.

The Wildcats (17-13), the No. 5 seed in their eight-team bracket, travel to Tulsa to face the fourth-seeded Golden Hurricane (24-10) at 8 p.m. CT on Wednesday, March 18 (ESPNU, WGN Radio). The winner will face the winner of Wednesday's contest between top-seeded Auburn and seventh-seeded Tennessee-Martin.
The meeting will be the first ever between Northwestern and Tulsa. The teams have three common opponents this season. Both teams defeated Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at home with NU winning 66-48 and the Golden Hurricane earning a 66-43 victory. Tulsa lost to Illinois 48-44 at a neutral site in South Padre, Texas, while the Wildcats fell to the Fighting Illini at Welsh-Ryan Arena 60-59. Northwestern topped SMU 66-55 at home and Tulsa beat the Mustangs 64-55 at home and 74-64 in Dallas.

Tulsa finished in second place in Conference USA this season with a 12-4 mark and fell to Memphis on the conference tournament championship game. The Golden Hurricane is coached by Doug Wojcik, a former assistant coach at Michigan State.

The Wildcats are 2-3 all-time in NIT play, having participated in the tournament in 1983, 1994 and 1999.