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OREM — Utah Valley University earned a 7 seed in the National Invitational Tournament and will play No. 2 seed California in Berkeley, Calif., on Wednesday in the first round.
The Wolverines locked up an automatic NIT bid by winning the Western Athletic Conference regular season title outright with a 64-55 home win over Bakersfield on March 7.
UVU entered the WAC tournament with 13 league wins and toppled Texas Pan-American by setting a tournament record with a 70.5 percent shooting performance in the quarterfinals, before Idaho ended the Wolverines' hopes of making the big dance in a 74-69 loss.
Head coach Dick Hunsaker was named conference coach of the year, seniors Holton Hunsaker and Ben Aird made the all-WAC first team, junior Mitch Bruneel was selected to the all-defensive team and redshirt freshman Zach Nelson landed on the all-newcomer team in UVU's first season competing in a conference with an automatic NCAA bid.
No one had any expectations for us. The opportunity now to play in the NIT is more than what Ben and I ever thought we were going to get coming to UVU.
–Holton Hunsaker
“No one had any expectations for us," Holton Hunsaker said after the semifinal defeat. "The opportunity now to play in the NIT is more than what Ben and I ever thought we were going to get coming to UVU.”
California (19-13) finished fourth in the Pac-12 and was knocked out of its conference tournament in the quarterfinals against Colorado.
The winner of Wednesday night's contest will advance to play No. 3 seed Arkansas or No. 6 seed Indiana State.
