The NIT offered the opportunity to keep playing, play at home and play for a national audience, so the SMU men's basketball team took it.

With one of the No. 1 seeds, the Mustangs will host Northern Iowa at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Moody Coliseum in the opening round. While they have to get past a tough loss in the ACC tournament quarterfinals and not making the NCAA tournament, it is another opportunity for them to compete.

"It is mentally a little challenging," SMU head coach Andy Enfield said. "But it's a basketball game on your home court on national television against a quality opponent, so your competitive spirit has to take over and go play as hard as you can and play well together as a team."

The way the regular season and ACC tournament ended provides a little bit of motivation. 

"Of course, we all felt like we could beat Clemson," senior forward Keon Ambrose-Hylton said. "We still feel that way, so we still have that kind of anger finishing like that. We also want to finish on a good note. So playing in this tournament is definitely big-time for us to show that we can play at a high level."

The Mustangs are making their fourth NIT appearance in five seasons, and are in the opposite situation they were a year ago. Last year, SMU went to top-seeded Indiana State which was one of the NCAA tournament snubs.

Now the Mustangs feel like they could have been in the NCAA field and are facing a team that will come to Moody trying to prove it belongs.

"Last year when we were in it, I felt like Indiana State should have been a tournament team, so it was a little different," senior guard Chuck Harris said. "The team that's coming in (Wednesday) wants to win, you've got to understand that. Also, it's an ESPN2 game, it's basketball at the end of the day, so anytime you get a chance to hoop, you've got to come to play."

UNI finished third in the Missouri Valley Conference, but lost in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament quarterfinals by one point. Meanwhile, the Mustangs have been solely focused on ACC opponents since Jan. 4, so preparing for the Panthers was a change.

"Their coach is that outstanding, great guy, know him and their team looks very good on video," Enfield said. "Did not see them play once this year, other than the video we just saw the past two days. Very good, very talented, shoot the ball at a high level and they have some size. Any team that comes in here, it's going to mean a lot to them. We understand that they're going to come ready to play and we have to play a good game to try to beat them."

While SMU has been back at practice and working out, they kept them short and efficient. At this point of the season, and with a veteran team, there isn't much to be taught or learned. It is more about staying sharp and ready to go, especially coming off the ACC tournament.

"It's nice for our guys to rest," Enfield said. "I think we were a little tired coming back from the ACC tournament, more emotionally drained than we were physically. So it was nice to have a few days to prepare and just kind of catch a breath."

In a time when teams and programs are turning down postseason tournament bids, that wasn't something SMU considered.

"I never really understood why teams turned it down, being able to play in the NIT," Harris said. "I mean, historically, it was bigger than March Madness when it first came out. But anytime we're able to play in the postseason in college, because I've experienced not having a game after you lose. So I don't really understand not playing. I myself wanted to play in it, for sure."

The Mustangs were going to play in a March tournament, it was just a question of which one. Now that question has been answered and SMU is focused on winning as many games as possible.

"We're not going into this game just to play, just to be on ESPN, just 'Hey guys, last game,' but we're trying to win, right?" Ambrose-Hylton said. "We're all still in the gym working out before and after practice. We're all still playing hard during practice and we're going to make sure that we're going to try to win each and every possession."