N.J.I.T. has a student population of about 10,000, most of them commuters to the 40-acre urban campus. Several students, approached outside the Microelectronics Center on Summit Street, shrugged at the mention of the Michigan victory and said they had little interest in intercollegiate sports.

Inside the campus center, around lunchtime, a dance class took its final exam by performing for a gaggle of students munching on sandwiches and concluded with an N.J.I.T. chant. That was the only visible collective demonstration of school community fervor.

“We all got emails telling us that the basketball game was on television and that we should watch,” said Somer Soliman, one of the dancers. Her friend Pedram Mirhaji added, “We’re just so busy with assignments and exams.”

The basketball team, which used to play an occasional game at Prudential Center, has a home-court gymnasium that seats about 1,100. For several years, it competed against universities like Utah Valley, Houston Baptist and North and South Dakota as a lone East Coast outpost in the Great West Conference, which disbanded in July 2013.

Being in any conference was better than none, Athletic Director Lenny Kaplan said. It provided a sense of belonging, a postseason tournament and, he had hoped, a springboard to the more geographically sensible Northeast Conference or America East.

Neither issued an invitation, hinting that N.J.I.T.’s facilities and its lack of a football team were a deterrent. Although there are plans for a $100 million multipurpose arena, and although N.J.I.T. will introduce a lacrosse team early next year, Kaplan said, football is not an option.