After finishing their 2024-25 season with a loss to UAB in the AAC Championship semifinal, the North Texas Mean Green men's basketball team failed to reach the NCAA tournament.
Their 24-8 record across the campaign did, however, earned them a spot as a No. 2 seed in the annual NIT tournament. After two straight home wins, they headed on the road for a quarterfinal matchup against the 17-18, No. 4 seed Oklahoma State Cowboys.
Wait what?
That's right. Despite holding a higher seed and a better record than Oklahoma State, the Mean Green had to move what was supposed to be a home game at the UNT Coliseum—a.k.a. the Super Pit—to Stillwater, Okla. due to a scheduling conflict.
The scheduling conflict? A staff appreciation lunch.
The North Texas men’s basketball team had to move a home game in the National Invitational Tournament to its lower-seeded opponent’s arena due to a scheduling conflict:
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) March 27, 2025
A staff appreciation lunch.@mgfleming12 has the details ⬇️
"We worked with campus to explore alternative venues but, for a number of reasons, weren’t able to find another suitable venue for so many attendees," North Texas athletic director Jared Mosley said to the Denton Record-Chronicle. "There is no guarantee even if the staff appreciation luncheon could have been moved that we would have been selected to host due to other planning the NIT does and not knowing if television would have slotted our game for Tuesday or Wednesday."
While having to hit the road was unfortunate, the Mean Green still took down the Cowboys 61-59 and are now headed to the NIT Semifinals on Monday.
Thankfully, this one's at a neutral site.
More College Basketball on Sports Illustrated
This article was originally published on www.si.com as North Texas Had Absurd Reason to Move NIT Home Game to Opponent's Site.
