Wisconsin won’t be playing in the NCAA Tournament this year but the Badgers will still have at least one more game to play in the postseason as part of the NIT.

Hours after they learned they had not made the 68-team field of the NCAAs, the team found out it would be a No. 2 seed in the NIT and face Bradley on Tuesday night (8:30 p.m.) at the Kohl Center. The winner will get either third-seeded Liberty or Villanova on Saturday or Sunday. The top seed in Wisconsin’s side of the bracket is Oregon, with the other No. 1 seeds being Rutgers, Michigan and Oklahoma State.

The Badgers having to settle for the NIT comes after they went just 6-12 over the final two months of the season and got bounced in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament to finish 17-14 overall. That effort meant the team wouldn’t make the NCAAs for the second time in the last five tournaments and just the second time overall since 1998.

“It was a very long shot from all the information that had been put in front of me,” coach Greg Gard said of their NCAA hopes heading into Sunday. “This wasn’t a surprise by any means. We had plenty of opportunities to better our position in terms of the NCAA tournament, and we were not able to do that. So, like I said, this is where we’re at right now.”

At least one program — preseason No. 1 North Carolina — turned down the chance to take part in the NIT, but Gard decided prior to the conference tournament his team would take part if given the chance.

“(We) felt this was important to give our guys another chance to continue to grow through the season, use this as an opportunity,” Gard said. “There are obviously some really good teams in this tournament, as we thought there would be. So to continue to grow this year, and obviously, you always look at propelling you forward. Specifically, when you got the vast majority of your team returning the following year, this can definitely be advantageous.”

There is precedent for teams that normally make the NCAAs like Wisconsin to go into the NIT, make a run and turn that into a springboard for the following season. Seven teams that were in the NIT a year ago made the NCAA Tournament this year, including Xavier and Texas A&M, which met in last year’s final at Madison Square Garden with the Musketeers coming out on top.

“I think you have to keep in context that each year is a different journey. Right now, we’re still in this year’s journey. And hopefully we can play a long time and play deep into this, and it can continue to help us. If it doesn’t work out that way, we’ll find a way for it to help us for next year. They understand what we wanted to do, that we wanted to be in the in the NCAA tournament. But that doesn’t happen, so you move on to next.”

The Braves went 25-9 this year on their way to winning the Missouri Valley Conference and had won 12 straight heading into the conference title game but fell short of an automatic NCAA bid, losing to Drake 77-51. The Badgers are 3-2 all-time against Bradley, though the last time the teams played was in 2011 when Wisconsin won 66-43.

Bradley is led offensively by forward Rienk Mast, who averages 13.8 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. The Braves also get 11.3 points and 6.0 rebounds from forward Malevy Leons, while forward Ja’Shon Henry gives the team 9.8 points and 4.0 rebounds.

There is one local connection, as Milwaukee-native Darius Hannah is a junior forward with the Braves. He’s averaging 5.7 points and 3.4 rebounds. His brother, Davion, is one of Wisconsin’s top targets in the 2025 class.

According to UW, tickets for the game will go on sale Monday at 10 a.m. via UWBadgers.com or by calling 1-800-GO-Badgers. Tickets range from $20 to $25.