North Texas Mean Green guard Kai Huntsberry (10) knocks the ball away from Wisconsin Badgers forward Steven Crowl (22) after Crowl attempted to protect a rebound while Mean Green forward Moulaye Sissoko (14) defends throughout the 2nd half in a NCAA college basketball video game in the National Invitation Tournament on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, in Las Vegas. UAB Blazers guard Tavin Lovan (3) and Utah Valley Wolverines guard Trey Woodbury (4) dive for possesion during the very first half in a NCAA college basketball video game in the National Invitation Tournament on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, in Las Vegas. UAB Blazers guard Jordan Walker (10) shoots against Utah Valley Wolverines guard Tahj Small (11) during the 2nd half in a NCAA college basketball game in the National Invitation Tournament on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, in Las Vegas.
All it considered North Texas to put the clamps on Wisconsin's Chucky Hepburn after a red-hot start were some words of encouragement from Conference USA gamer of the year Tylor Perry.

" TP simply type of yelled at me," Kai Huntsberry stated with a smile.

Whatever he said plainly worked. Hepburn missed his last seven shots after beginning 5-for-5 from 3-point range, and the entire Badgers lineup went cold as the Mean Green rallied for a 56-54 win in an NIT semifinal video game Tuesday night at Orleans Arena.

Alabama-Birmingham (29-9) won the 2nd semifinal 88-86 in overtime versus Utah Valley (28-9) and will handle North Texas (30-7) in the national championship at 6:40 p.m. Thursday. The Conference USA opponents divided a set of games throughout league play.

Tuesday's video games continued a program of strength for the conference, with regular-season and competition champion Florida Atlantic set to play in the Final Four on Saturday.

Ty Brewer equated to a career-high with 30 points on 13-of-17 shooting for UAB, and Eric Gaines scored seven of his 13 points in the extra session of the triumph.

Both semifinal games of the very first NIT session in Las Vegas came down to the final seconds.

In the first game, Hepburn wasn't alone in getting closed down by the stifling defense of North Texas. The Badgers (20-15) didn't score over the last 9:07, enabling the Mean Green to close the video game on a 14-3 run.

Still, Wisconsin had one last chance. After an offensive rebound, coach Greg Gard called timeout with 5.8 seconds staying. The Badgers made too many passes and never ever got a shot off, ultimately hearing the final buzzer during a mad scramble for the loose ball in the corner.

" I thought the last play was simply sort of incredible," North Texas coach Grant McCasland stated. "I indicate, we walled them up, made them make an additional pass; walled them up once again and made them make another extra pass, then we had two men dive on a loose ball, and the video game is over. Guy, simply felt like that's how our guys assaulted the whole 2nd half defensively."

The Badgers led by as many as 14 points in the first half, but missed their last 10 shots and 15 of the final 16.

Hepburn led the way with 15 points, all in the first half. Wisconsin made just six of 25 efforts after the break and led 54-46 when Connor Essegian made a 3-pointer with 9:07 remaining.

North Texas took its very first lead of the video game on a brief jumper by Moulaye Sissoko with 2:07 left.

Perry completed with 16 points for the Mean Green. Huntsberry had 12 points, 5 rebounds and four helps.

We understood Wisconsin was an excellent team. They were going to make their run.

UAB likewise let a double-digit lead escape, but the Blazers conquered a 5-for-23 shooting night by the nation's fourth-leading scorer, Jordan "Jelly" Walker, and hung on in overtime to advance when Clark High School item Trey Woodbury's desperation heave from 75 feet was off target.

" I believed I could strike it, however it didn't go in," he stated. "To the buzzer, we thought we might win it and we simply continued to battle, so I'm just pleased with the guys for that."

Woodbury, a transfer from UNLV, had 16 points, 12 rebounds and six helps in his last collegiate game, but it wasn't enough.

After the Wolverines took a quick lead in overtime on a pair of totally free tosses, Gaines scored 5 fast points as part of a 7-0 run, and the Blazers didn't route again.

" We have experience in tight games and we have experience against quality teams, and you simply have to make sure that you execute at a high level," UAB coach Andy Kennedy said. "And eventually teams that advance are teams that can make plays, and luckily for us tonight we made one more play."

Brewer added 12 rebounds, and Walker ended up with 17 points, five rebounds and six helps.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.

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Who: North Texas vs. Alabama-Birmingham

What: NIT championship game

Where: Orleans Arena