Loyola Stands Between USD’s 19 Wins and a Place in NIT Field, Coach Says

Despite winning 19 games, the team’s best record in NCAA Division I, the University of San Diego basketball team will not be in the National Invitation Tournament.

Loyola Marymount, which finished second in the West Coast Athletic Conference, made the 32-team field and will play Cal Thursday night. Pepperdine, the WCAC champion, qualified for the NCAA Tournament.

USD (19-9) finished third in the conference and won five of its last six games. Seventeen teams picked to the NIT had worse records than the Toreros. Defending champion UCLA (15-13), UC Irvine (16-12), Brigham Young (16-13) and Ohio State (14-14) were among those teams.

“I can understand how Loyola made it instead of us,” USD Coach Hank Egan said. “They beat us twice during the regular season and they were second in the conference. The way to prevent this happening again is to beat them next year.”

Other teams with 19 or more victories not invited to the NIT are Canisius (21-8), Siena (21-8), Chicago State (21-6), Eastern Washington (21-8), Pan American (19-8) and Marshall (19-11).