BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — More postseason basketball is coming to the Roundhouse.

Wichita State earned a bid to the National Invitational Tournament Sunday evening, just hours after losing the American Conference championship game to South Florida.

The Shockers are the No. 3 seed in the Tulsa Region of the 32-team field and will play Wyoming at 6 p.m. Tuesday on ESPNU in front of a Koch Arena crowd. The winner will advance to play either Davidson or No. 2 Oklahoma State on Saturday or Sunday.

After a disappointing 70-55 loss to the Bulls in the title game, Wichita State’s NCAA Tournament hopes were gone. But for head coach Paul Mills, accepting the NIT bid was never in question.

“Basketball players want to play basketball,” he said following the game. “There was nobody who wants to go out on a loss.

“I’ve been fortunate to play in a couple of NIT championships, and if you can win your last game of the year and find a way, those were really, really memorable experiences.”

Wichita State is now 22-11 following Sunday’s loss and what started out as an up-and-down season became the most successful, in terms of winning percentage, in the last six years. The Shockers went 4-4 in November, were 10-8 through mid-January, and finished the regular season on a six-game winning streak.

And while Sunday could have been the end to its season, Wichita State will have at least one more chance to play together — in front of a home crowd.

“I gained my joy again,” senior Kenyon Giles said about what this year in Wichita has meant to him. “Joy is easy to lose, but hard to gain. And I gained it this year.”

The last time the Shockers hosted an NIT game was March 23, 2011, when they beat the College of Charleston 82-75 in the quarterfinals before winning two more to claim the trophy. That 2011 NIT championship jumpstarted a seven-year run where they made the NCAA Tournament. 

Wyoming enters the matchup at 18-14, coming off of a loss to Nevada-Las Vegas in the first round of the Mountain West Championship last Wednesday.

The Cowboys’ leading scorer is Leland Walker, a senior guard, who averages 13.7 points per game. As a team, they’ve averaged 77.1 a game.

Wyoming also plays a style similar to Wichita State in that it controls the glass. The Cowboys pull down 35.6 rebounds per game for a margin of plus-4.4. 

But for the Shockers, they’ve earned another game. Another home crowd. Another chance to make a run for a trophy.