After being left out of the NCAA tournament by the selection committee this past weekend, SMU is out to prove a point in the 2014 National Invitational Tournament.

The Mustangs, a No. 1 seed in this year’s NIT, will take on the Big West regular season conference champions, the University of California-Irvine, in the first round Wednesday night at Moody Coliseum.

The Mustangs (23-9, 12-6) are making their third NIT appearance after previous trips in 1986 and 2000.

Larry Brown’s team had one of the best years in program history, including earning the most wins since 1987 and finishing third in the tough American Athletic Conference.

However, the Mustangs’ losses to Temple, South Florida and most recently Houston in the quarterfinals of the AAC Tournament cost them their first trip to the dance in 21 years.

As for the eighth-seeded UC-Irvine, it will be the Anteaters (23-11, 13-3) fifth appearance in the NIT, with their most recent being in 2002. This season, the team tied for the second most wins in program history, but was upset by Cal Poly in the Big West Tournament semifinals.

The Mustangs will need big men like Yanick Moreira, who is still recovering from a knee injury, and Markus Kennedy, who is averaging 12.1 points and a team-high 6.9 rebounds per game, to play well on both ends of the floor to avoid another upset.

Sophomore point guard Nic Moore, who leads SMU in scoring at 13.7 points and in assists at 4.8 per game, will also be a key. However, the matchup to watch in the backcourt will be SMU senior guard Nick Russell on UC-Irvine senior Chris McNealy since it could be the last college game for either player.

“I’m disappointed for our seniors, Nick and Shawn (Williams), that we didn’t make the NCAA tournament because those are the kinds of kids I want to play at SMU,” Brown said. “They exemplify everything that’s good with college athletics. This game is a great opportunity at home. If we compete at a high level, we can still make this season end the right way and hang out with our seniors for three more weeks.”

Both the Mustangs and Anteaters are good defensive teams that give up less than 64 points per game and are in the top-5 in the country in opponent field goal percentage. Offensively, both teams shoot a high percentage from the field and average about 71 points per game each.

The game will be televised on ESPN2 starting at 8:00 p.m. CT. The winner will take on the winner of No. 4 San Francisco vs. No. 5 LSU in the second round of the NIT this weekend.