By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Fran McCaffery was in no mood to discuss teams declining to play in the National Invitation Tournament.

“This is a ridiculous conversation,” McCaffery said when asked what the main value is in playing in the NIT. “It’s obvious what the value is.

“If people don’t want to play, that’s on them. Ask them why they don’t want to play. We’re playing and we want to play. We’re going to continue to play. We’re going to get better.

“It’s obvious.”

Iowa (18-14) will face Kansas State (19-14) in the first round of the NIT on Tuesday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Iowa is one of three Big Ten teams in this year’s NIT field, along with Ohio State and Minnesota.

There could have been four Big Ten teams in the 32-team tournament, but Indiana declined to participate, choosing instead to focus on roster building.

Fran McCaffery was asked Monday if he would ever consider not playing in the NIT.

“I would never consider it,” Fran McCaffery said. “We want to keep playing. We want to keep coaching and the players want to keep playing.

“And that’s what we’re supposed to be doing now.”

Indiana is among several teams that have opted to not play in this year’s NIT. Some others include St. John’s, Pittsburgh, Ole Miss, Oklahoma and Memphis.

Iowa, on the other hand, has embraced the opportunity to keep playing games. This will be Iowa’s ninth appearance in the NIT and first since the 2016-17 season.

Iowa is also making its 11th postseason appearance under Fran McCaffery (seven NCAAs, 4 NITs). This marks the 17th time in McCaffery’s career he has led his team to postseason play.

The Hawkeyes, who are seeded third in this year’s NIT, advanced to the NIT championship game in 2013, losing to Baylor 74-54 in the title game.

“I just have great respect for that tournament,” Fran McCaffery said. “I think if you look at the quality of teams that are in it, especially this year. I’ve coached in it. I’ve played in it. Every team that you play is really good. Every team now in particular has veteran guys.

“For us, it’s an opportunity to play in a prestigious event and continue to play in March.”

As for Kansas State, it lost to eventual Big 12 Tournament champion Iowa State 76-57 in the tournament quarterfinals. K-State
finished with an 8-10 record in Big 12 play and went 4-3 down the stretch with wins over Iowa State and Texas.

The Wildcats beat the Cyclones, 65-58, in the regular season finale in Manhattan.

Tylor Perry leads Kansas State in scoring (15.5 points), assists (144) and 3-point field goals (91), while Arthur Kaluma averages 14.7 points per game.

“A very impressive team on film,” Fran McCaffery said. “Well coached team, a lot of really good players, so they can hurt you in a lot of ways. They play hard. They play defense. Obviously, battle tested in that conference.

Kansas State is ranked 29th nationally in 3-point field goal defense (.307) and 31st in field goal percentage defense (.408).

Jerome Tang is in his second season as the Kansas State head coach. He led the Wildcats to the Elite last season.

Kansas State (19-14) vs. Iowa (18-14)

When: Tuesday, 8:01 p.m.

Where: Carver-Hawkeye Arena

What: NIT first-round game

TV: ESPN

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network

Series history: Tuesday’s game will be the ninth meeting between Iowa and Kansas State. It is tied, 4-4.

Iowa is 3-1 all-time against K-State in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes have won the last two meetings, winning 89-70 in 2001 and 65-63 in 2008 in Las Vegas.

Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery has never faced K-State.