Toledo Rockets to host Dayton Flyers in first round of 2022 National Invitational Tournament

The Toledo Rockets saw their season come to a shocking end in the Mid-American Conference men’s basketball tournament, but their season will not end in Cleveland, Ohio, as they secured a bid to the National Invitational Tournament by virtue of winning the MAC regular season championship.

Toledo will have the rare opportunity to host the bracket’s #1 seed, as Dayton will be unable to host the game due to the NCAA Tournament’s First Four being a traditional series in Dayton’s home court.

The Rockets finished their 2021-22 campaign 26-7 overall, with a 17-3 record in the MAC. Toledo has a number of fascinating out-of-conference results, winning the Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship over Charlotte, Tulane and Coastal Carolina, and also securing a win against Bradley. Key losses include Oakland, Michigan State, and (especially relevant today) the Richmond Spiders. Toledo fell to the eventual tournament champion Akron Zips in the MAC semifinals, snapping a six-game winning streak and resulting in their inclusion in the NIT.

The Dayton Flyers, of the Atlantic 10 Conference, suffered an unfortunate loss in the A-10 Tournament in the form of starting point guard Malachi Smith due to injury, narrowly missing out on an NCAA Tournament at-large bid in the process. Their last game was a loss to the Richmond Spiders, who ultimately earned the conference’s automatic bid.

Dayton finished 23-10 overall (14-4 in-conference) in the 2021-22 campaign, with key wins against both Miami [FL] and Kansas in the ESPN Events Invitational, which the Flyers eventually won over Belmont, and also hold a win over Virginia Tech, who won the ACC Tournament on Saturday night. For all the winning, however, Dayton also had some questionable non-conference losses, with UMass-Lowell, Lipscomb and Austin Peay all finding favorable results against the Flyers.

Ultimately, the losses early in the season, combined with the upset to Richmond, kept the Flyers out of the at-large NCAA picture.

The game is set to be played either Tuesday or Wednesday night in Toledo, with the winner of this game going on to face the winner of the Vanderbilt/Belmont game.

Information for exact time and date was unavailable as of publication.