The Florida Gators basketball team (19-14, 9-9 SEC) has accepted a bid to the NIT Tournament as a No. 2 seed and will open the tournament against No. 7 seed North Florida Tuesday at 9 p.m.. Due to renovations in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center, Florida will be unable to host NIT Tournament games, meaning they will hit the road. This will be the first time Florida has accepted a NIT big since 2009, where they were a No. 1 seed. The Gators beat Jacksonville and Miami before an 11-point quarterfinal loss to Penn State that year.

The Gators were the No. 8 seed in the SEC Tournament, starting with a win over Arkansas before a close loss to No. 1 seed Texas A&M. Florida hasn’t beaten a team in the NCAA Tournament since a January 30 win over West Virginia.

Entering the last two weeks of the season the Gators had a chance to earn a NCAA Tournament bid, but a 1-3 stretch to end the season and just one win in the SEC Tournament left Florida one win shy of 20, a number many thought would have been enough to earn them a bid into the big dance.

This will be first year head coach Mike White’s fourth trip to the NIT Tournament as a head coach. In 2012 he led Louisiana Tech, the first time the school had reached the tournament since 2005. As a No. 5 seed, White’s squad upset No. 4 seed Florid State before falling to Southern Mississippi in the second round. White took the Bulldogs to the NIT in the following two seasons as a No. 3 seed in 2014 and 2015, falling short in the quarterfinals both seasons.

Florida’s bracket:

1 Monmouth vs 8 Bucknell

4 George Washington vs. 5 Hofstra

3 Ohio State vs 6 Akron

2 Florida vs 7 North Florida