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With themes of mid-major powerhouses and insanely tight games, the 2025 NIT was a blast all the way through

As the NCAA Tournament has drawn on and many fans have complained about the chalkiness and the lack of intense finishes, the 2025 NIT was quietly delivering an outstanding tournament.

Late on Thursday night in Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse, the tournament came to a dramatic close as Chattanooga outlasted UC Irvine 85-84 in overtime. Each team held an eight-point lead at one point in the game, but other than that, it was played in between the margins and often in a one-possession contest.

After UC Irvine built up a six-point lead near the end of regulation, two Garrison Keeslar three-pointers in the last 2:30 of the game helped send the Mocs to overtime.

As a back-and-forth overtime period that saw five lead changes dwindle down, Keelsar found himself wide open at the free throw line on a broken defensive assignment from UC Irvine and buried the shot to put Chattanooga ahead 85-84. A Trey Bonham steal with four seconds left looked like it would ice the game, but Honor Huff went 0-for-2 from the free throw line to give UC Irvine one final chance.

Going for the Hail Mary, the Anteaters found their 7-1 German center Bent Leuchten on a full court pass. Leuchten quickly dished off to Big West Freshman of the Year Jurian Dixon, who had found himself wide open under the basket. Caught in two minds with the clock quickly heading towards zero, Dixon’s shot left his hands in time but popped off the rim, ending the game and giving Chattanooga its first NIT title in program history.

Bonham and Collin Mulholland each finished with 19 points to lead the Mocs, but it was Keeslar’s 14 points, ten rebounds, five assists, and timely shot-making that stole the show. Keeslar had spent the past four years at Division II Walsh University before making the jump and becomes yet another Division II hero in the college basketball world this season after his NIT championship game performance.

The tournament as a whole was consistently delivering amazing finishes, and this year’s field was littered with more top mid-major programs than ever before. Seven of the eight teams that reached the quarterfinals and all four teams that reached the semifinals at Hinkle Fieldhouse were from non-power leagues.

In the first of two quarterfinal days last week, Chattanooga escaped Bradley on the road with a two-point win while North Texas got the same result on the road against Oklahoma State. In the second quarterfinal day, UC Irvine outlasted UAB 81-77 in overtime, while Loyola-Chicago won the only blowout of the round, defeating Kent State 72-62 after leading by as many as 19 in the second half.

Before UC Irvine and Chattanooga met in the championship game, each won a tightly contested semifinal as the Anteaters topped North Texas 69-67 while Chattanooga outlasted Loyola-Chicago 80-73. After the overtime thriller in the championship, the tournament finished with an average margin of victory of 9.0 per game, an average that decreased to 4.0 when you look at the tournament from the quarterfinals onward.

There were plenty of great moments across the tournament, but it’s unlikely anything will be more remembered than the finish between Chattanooga and UC Irvine in the title game. Chattanooga head coach had spent seven seasons at VMI prior to coming to Chattanooga, and after turning around a struggling Keydets program, he’s done the same in three years at Chattanooga, giving the Mocs great momentum heading into year four after winning the program’s first NIT title.

After averaging 22.2 ppg over the course of the tournament, Chattanooga’s Trey Bonham claimed NIT Most Outstanding Player honors to cap off an illustrious career that saw him make stops at VMI, Florida, and Chattanooga.

Other Things to Note:

• The Final Four tips off on Saturday, April 5 at 6:09 ET on CBS as Florida takes on Auburn followed by the matchup between Houston and Duke