NEW ROCHELLE, NY - The Iona College men's basketball team drew the SEC's Florida in the first round of the 2022 National Invitation Tournament. The Gaels and Gators tip off at 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday, March 16, on ESPN2. The Maroon & Gold makes its 11th straight postseason appearance and in the NIT for the first time since 2015.   Florida holds a No. 3 seed in the tournament.
 
Iona enters its matchup with Florida with a 25-7 record and was the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular season champions with a 17-3 conference mark. After falling to Rider in the MAAC Tournament, the Gaels retained the league's automatic bid into the NIT.
 
Florida holds a 19-13 record and was 9-9 in Southeastern Conference regular season play. Holding the ninth seed in the SEC Tournament, the Gators were stunned at the buzzer 83-80 by No. 8 Texas A&M.
 
Iona and Florida shared one common opponent, Alabama, this season. The Gaels stunned the then No. 10 Crimson Tide at the ESPN Events Invitational on Thanksgiving Day. The Gators lost 83-70 in their second SEC contest in early January.
 
The two teams met once before, 37 years ago with Iona earning a 71-70 win at the Rebel Roundup hosted by UNLV at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
 
The Gaels make their seventh appearance in the NIT holding a 1-6 record all-time.  Iona also competed in the event in 1982, 1983, 1996, 1997, 2014, and 2015.   The Maroon & Gold began its current postseason streak in 2011 as finalists in the 2011 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament and appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021.
 
The winner of the first-round matchup takes on the winner of No. 2 Xavier and No. 7 Cleveland State on March 18 or 19.